Four general principles apply to umpire decisions:
1. 'Last Point of Certainty'
There are many occasions when umpires are required to judge (often from imperfect
positions) the exact moment when the state of a boat, or her relationship with
another boat, changes. Examples include passing head to wind or establishing
an overlap.
In such cases an umpire will assume this state or relationship has not changed
until he is certain that it has changed.
2. Disagreement between Umpires
There are occasions when umpires disagree over what the decision should be.
In such cases, even if there has been contact, the umpires will signal 'no penalty'
rather than penalize one boat or other.
3. Rule 14: Avoiding Contact
Any incident involving contact will also involve rule 14. However, when the
umpire decides that a boat required to keep clear or give room is to be penalized
for breaking another rule of Part 2, a breach of rule 14 will not result in
an additional penalty unless there is damage. Except in this case, rule 14 has
no impact on the immediate umpire decision, and is therefore not addressed separately
in each call in this book.
4. Definition: Room, and meaning of 'in a seamanlike
way'
ISAF Case 21 states that ‘extraordinary’ and ‘abnormal’
manoeuvres are unseamanlike. Some actions that are abnormal and therefore unseamanlike
in a fleet of many boats will be considered normal and therefore seamanlike
in a team race. However any manoeuvre that puts a boat or crew at risk of damage
is unseamanlike. The umpire will judge each incident on the basis of the boat’s
actions in relation to the wind and water conditions she is experiencing at
the time.