a)    A boat, the Race Committee, or Protest Committee may request a hearing with the Chairman of the Protest Committee to assist with rules disputes.

b)    The request shall be made within the protest time limit, and shall identify the race in question (if applicable) or time of incident, the other party or parties, and when necessary contact information.  The Chairman of the Protest Committee will log these details.

c)    The party requesting the hearing shall inform the other parties of this request.

d)    Hearings may take place when and where convenient to all concerned.

e)    If a boat is identified as having broken a rule, but no party takes any further action, the penalty for this infringement is zero.

f)    If a boat is identified as having broken a rule, and a party thereafter submits a protest, a boat may exonerate herself by taking the exoneration penalty (SI 16.2) prior to the start of the protest hearing.

g)    If a boat initially requests an advisory hearing, and then submits a protest for the same incident, the protest committee will use its flexibility under rule 61.3 to extend the protest time limit to allow the protestor to submit a written protest promptly after the conclusion of the advisory hearing.

h)    The Protest Committee Chairman will update the log in b) above with his findings and the time they were given. A summary of the findings will be posted on the official notice board.