At its 3rd HYGA committee meeting, held at the Maldon Little Ship Club on Wednesday 11 December, the HYGA committee considered and discussed a number of concerns raised by Member clubs regarding rules 5.6 & 7.2 and the inconsistency between both a 1 & 5 minute penalty requiring just one 360° turn to remove the time penalty.

Decisions taken:

1. Rule 7.2 has been amended to:

“A penalty of 1 minute will be applied to any boat that is less than a whole boat length over the start line. A penalty of 5 minutes will be applied to any boat that is more than whole boat’s length over the start line. Penalties will be announced over VHF and a boat that is less than a full boat length over may then decide to effect rule 5.6.”

2. Rule 5.6 has been amended to:

“Any boats deemed less than a full boat length over the line at the start will be notified over VHF of their penalty and, when they will not impede another boat, may complete a full 360° turn to remove any time penalty incurred. The coxswain must radio the race officer when starting, and completing the turn.”

The HYGA Rules of Racing have been updated to reflect these changes: https://harkersyardrowers.teamapp.com/documents/686626-hyga-rules-of-racing