Introduction

Click to Enlarge Photo
This picture shows the tear in Nancy Rios's sail that changed the U.S. representative in the 2008 Olympics. Jury members Larry White, Doug Campbell and Chris Luppens determined it was serious damage and gave Rios redress so she ended up replacing Farrah Hall as the winner of the Olympic Trials. Photos introduced at a reopened hearing showed the slice was only 4 inches during the race, but that did not change the jury's mind.

The final race of the U.S. Windsurfing Olympic Trials in October of 2007 should have decided whether Farrah Hall or Nancy Rios would compete in the 2008 Olympics. As it turns out the jury decided the winner of the trials based on a 4 inch slice in a sail.

After the final race, the number two ranked competitor, Nancy Rios, filed for redress because of an incident and collision that happened moments after the start. Monica Wilson, on port tack collided with Hall and then Rios, slowed both for a short time. A third competitor fell into the water, avoiding the pile-up. Rios claimed the collision caused an 8-10 inch tear in her sail that prevented her from “properly sailing for the rest of the race”. The resulting decision from the redress was made without consideration for the ISAF judges manual for the standards of granting redress.

On this one year anniversary of the decision, there are many reasons for making this information public. First, there was a grave injustice done to Farrah Hall, who won the Olympic Trials on-the-water. Secondly, the ISAF Judges Committee will likely review this decision in the coming months to see where it went wrong. Finally, it is a great case study for racing sailors to better understand and learn about the redress rule and procedural issues. However, the most significant issue is the ramifications of the jury’s decision to reopen the redress hearing six months after the regatta. These ramifications extend to every racing sailor anywhere in the world.

Juries effect all competitive sailors. Juries make mistakes all time. They are made of up humans. This is part of the reason why a jury is allowed to reopen a hearing to rectify a mistake. But are there times when juries might be incompetent, or even worse? If any of that were ever proven, what can anyone do? As it seems, not much. Why is there no due process for judicial review, with the authority to decertify Judges and Race Officers? There is an ISAF code about this, but it too is vague, the process is secret, and it is all nearly toothless for the average sailor. Do we as a sport want to continue to be judged by people over whom we have no real ability to evaluate the standards of their performance as judges?

When the ISAF Judges Committee reviews the case, they also need to review the reopening decision, including the procedures the jury followed, and provide transparency by publishing their findings. What good is it if these things are kept in back rooms and the knowledge is only shared amongst the top judges?

Nothing will change the outcome of the 2008 US Sailing Women’s Olympic Windsurfing Trials. The Olympics are over. But the residual impact of the manner in which redress was awarded in the Rios matter gives us enough of a body of evidence to examine multiple elements of the rules that potentially impact everyone.

At this point, the only justice for Hall is if her case can help bring about change to the rules and process, so in the future, no other sailor will be faced with what happened to her at the Olympic Trials a year ago.

The US Windsurfing Olympic Trials highlight why it is critical to have competent and skilled judges. Regatta organizers and sailing federations should not just fill seats arbitrarily, or have seats offered as perks to officials. Judges should be ranked or graded just like sailors based on past performances and current accreditation. As part of the process, judges should submit their decisions. Only A+ judges should judge the top events. Don't schedule the Olympic trials to run the same week for all the classes at venues scattered around the country when there aren’t enough top judges to support that format. Judges need to be familiar with the boats they are judging, especially the Windsurfer events. Why eliminate the right to appeal when the time between an elimination and final series is eight months? And finally, US Sailing needs to take sailors’ due process rights seriously. U.S. Sailing's obvious philosophy seems to be "we'll just ignore them and they'll go away" which is anything but the Olympic standard.