Protest Board & Regatta Hearings

The Regatta Hearings module gives you a single place to file, schedule, run, and publish protests, redress requests, and scoring inquiries for a regatta. It connects the public micro site (where competitors file requests and follow what's happening), the dashboard (where the protest committee, race office, and admins manage the workflow), and an optional TV-style display board for the protest room.

This article walks through the whole module from end to end. If you're a competitor looking to file a protest, you can jump straight to Filing a hearing request (competitors). If you're a regatta admin getting set up, start with Turning hearings on.

The hearings module is organized around the lifecycle of a single hearing:

1. Request — A competitor or a member of the race / protest / technical committee files a request (a protest, redress, request to reopen, etc.). It can be filed publicly through the regatta micro site or directly by an admin in the dashboard.

2. Scheduled — The protest committee assigns a judge (optional), date & time, and location, and the hearing moves onto the schedule.

3. In progress — The committee starts the hearing. While in progress, all the hearing-room fields (validity, facts found, rules, conclusions, decision, etc.) become editable.

4. Resolved or Withdrawn — The hearing is completed and the decision (or decision abstract) is published. Withdrawn hearings stay accessible for reference.

Scoring inquiries follow a slightly shorter path: they're submitted as their own type, reviewed in their own tab, and can either be answered directly or converted to a hearing request to enter the full workflow.

Every status change, hearing-type change, and creation event is captured in an Activity timeline so you have a full audit trail.

Hearings are configured per regatta, on the Regatta → Hearings → Settings page.

Three master toggles control how the module shows up:

• Enabled — Turns the entire hearings module on for this regatta. When off, the Hearings section is hidden from the regatta micro site and admins can't file hearings either. Existing hearings are preserved if you toggle this off and back on later.

• Accept submissions — When on, competitors can file hearing requests and scoring inquiries themselves through the regatta micro site. When off, only regatta admins can file hearings (the public form shows a "Submissions closed" message). Use this to enforce the time limit — turn submissions off after the deadline has passed.

• Show time limits on micro site — When on, the configured submission deadlines are published beneath the Hearings heading on the micro site so competitors can see exactly when they need to file by. Turn this off if you want to manage time limits internally without publishing them.

Disabling Enabled also automatically disables Accept submissions.

This section lets you publish hearing time limits directly on the regatta micro site and use them to flag late filings in the dashboard. There are two settings that combine to give you four configurations:

Set deadlines by:

• Race area (default) — Each race area gets its own deadline. A hearing is matched to its race area through the initiating boat's class.

• Class — Each class gets its own deadline. A hearing is matched to its class through the initiating boat's class.

Number of deadlines:

• Single deadline — One deadline applies to every hearing filed against that row (or against the regatta as a whole).

• Multiple deadlines — One column per racing day. The deadline that applies to a hearing is the column whose date matches the day the hearing was filed; if no column matches, the hearing is automatically considered within the time limit.

In the table:

• The All race areas / All classes master row sets a deadline that overrides every individual row.

• Click any cell to edit a deadline. Single-deadline mode collects a date and time; multi-deadline cells inherit the date from the column header and only collect a time.

• In multi-deadline mode, click Add date to add a new column, or the X next to a column header to remove one.

When the regatta is configured to display time limits, the same table appears on the micro site under the Hearings heading.

Add notification recipients here to get the protest committee, race office, jury chair, and any other key stakeholders looped in automatically. For each recipient you can store a name, email, and mobile number — Clubspot will email and/or text them whenever a hearing is filed, scheduled, updated, or resolved.

In addition to the recipients you list here, the initiating boat and any respondent boats are notified automatically (using the contact info on their registration). You don't need to add competitors to the recipients list for them to hear about their own hearing.

A notification is sent at most once per save, prioritized as: created → converted to hearing → status changed → schedule changed. Notifications are silently skipped if hearings are disabled or the hearing has been archived.

When hearings are enabled and submissions are open, competitors see a File a hearing request button in the Hearings section of the regatta micro site. This opens the public submission form.

The form supports the standard set of hearing types from the Racing Rules:

• Scoring inquiry (public micro site only)

• Protest / Protest by RC / Protest by PC / Protest by TC

• Request to Reopen

• Request for Redress / Request for Redress by RC / Request for Redress by PC / Request for Redress by TC

• Consideration of Reopening by PC

Scoring inquiries are only available through the public form. Admins working in the dashboard can create any of the other types from the Requests tab, and can create scoring inquiries from the dedicated Scoring inquiries tab.

After submitting, the competitor sees a confirmation screen with options to go back to the regatta or file another request.

The public Hearings section on the regatta micro site is built for spectators, competitors, and coaches. It's organized into five tabs that each show a count next to the label:

• Scoring inquiries — All scoring inquiries.

• Requests — Hearings that have been filed but not yet scheduled.

• Scheduled — Hearings with a date, time, and location, sorted by hearing time.

• In progress — Hearings the protest committee is currently running.

• Decisions — Resolved hearings, with the published decision.

Each row shows the hearing number, race, type, initiator, respondents, and the relevant detail for that tab (submitted timestamp, hearing time/location, or decision text).

The header strip above the table includes:

• Updated … — Timestamp the data was last fetched.

• Display → — Opens the Hearings display board, useful on a TV in the protest room.

• File a hearing request → — Opens the public submission form (only shown when submissions are open).

If submissions are closed, the section shows a notice telling competitors to contact a regatta official.

By default the Decision column on the Decisions tab shows the Decision abstract — a one-line summary written by the protest committee. If the committee chooses Full decision as the visibility for a hearing, the column shows the full decision text instead. This is set per hearing on the admin side and lets the committee publish a quick public summary while still recording the full reasoning internally.

The Display link on the regatta micro site opens a full-screen, TV-friendly hearings board (/regatta/<id>/hearings-display). It's designed to be cast to a screen in the protest area so competitors can see what's happening at a glance.

A dropdown in the top-right switches between:

• Schedule — Scheduled and in-progress hearings.

• Decisions — Resolved hearings with their published decisions.

• Schedule + Decisions — Side-by-side split view.

• Hearing requests — Filed but not yet scheduled.

You can pre-configure the display by appending a ?view= parameter to the URL (e.g. ?view=split).

The Auto-scroll toggle starts a slow continuous scroll through long lists, pausing briefly whenever a viewer touches or scrolls the screen. This is great for unattended displays in a busy protest room. Auto-scroll preference can also be pre-set in the URL.

The display polls automatically and shows an "Updated …" timestamp in the header so it stays current without anyone touching it.

The admin side lives at Regatta → Hearings, and is split into five sub-pages:

• Requests — All filed hearings that haven't been scheduled yet.

• Schedule — Hearings with a date/time and location, plus any in-progress hearings.

• Decisions — Resolved and withdrawn hearings, with optional filters.

• Scoring inquiries — All scoring inquiries (separate workflow).

• Settings — The configuration covered in Turning hearings on.

Every table on these pages supports sorting (by hearing #, created date, hearing time, or date heard, depending on the page), pagination at 25 per page, and a refresh button.

The Requests tab lists every filed hearing whose status is still Request (excluding scoring inquiries). For each row you see the hearing number, race, type, initiator, respondent(s), a Time limit indicator (Within / Outside time limit, based on the deadlines configured in Settings), and the created date.

From here you can:

• Click a row to open the hearing details overlay.

• Add a request with the + button to create a new hearing as an admin (handy when a competitor files a paper protest).

• Bulk schedule multiple requests in one go (see below).

Click Bulk schedule to enter selection mode, tick the hearings you want, then click Schedule. You'll be prompted for:

• Assigned judge (optional)

• Date & time (required)

• Stagger hearings — When on, hearings are scheduled sequentially in ascending hearing-number order, offset from each other by the number of minutes you specify.

• Offset (minutes) — Only shown when staggering is on.

• Location (required)

Each selected hearing moves to Scheduled status, the schedule fields are saved, and the appropriate notification fires.

The Schedule tab lists hearings that are Scheduled or In progress, sorted by hearing time. Each row shows the assigned judge, hearing date & time, location, and a status pill (Scheduled / In progress).

Clicking a row opens the details overlay on its Hearing tab so you can start work straight away.

The Decisions tab lists every Resolved or Withdrawn hearing. Two filters at the top let you narrow it down:

• Status: Resolved or Withdrawn.

• Scoring needed: Yes – Corrected, Yes – Uncorrected, or No scoring needed.

Each row shows a short preview of the decision and a Scoring needed pill that flags any hearing where the result is supposed to affect the scores. Clicking a row whose Scoring needed flag is set surfaces a quick action menu so you can:

• Mark scoring as Corrected (e.g. once you've published the updated results), or back to Not corrected.

• Open the details overlay to view the full decision.

Marking scoring as corrected is only a flag — it doesn't actually edit any race scores. Use it as a checklist to make sure no decisions slip through unscored.

Scoring inquiries are filed through the public form and stored separately. The Scoring inquiries tab lists them with the inquiry text preview and submitted date. Clicking a row opens the details overlay on its Scoring inquiry tab. From the overlay you can:

• Edit basics — Change the race or initiator. The hearing type stays locked to "Scoring inquiry".

• Edit description — Update the inquiry text.

• Add attachments — Upload supporting files.

• Convert to hearing — Promote the inquiry into a regular hearing request. You'll be asked to choose the new hearing type and add at least one respondent. After conversion the full hearing workflow (Request / Schedule / Hearing / Activity tabs) becomes available, and a "converted to hearing" notification is sent.

You can also create scoring inquiries directly from the dashboard with the + button.

Clicking any hearing in any of the dashboard tabs opens the full hearing details overlay. The overlay has five tabs (some are disabled depending on status):

• Scoring inquiry (scoring inquiries only)

• Request — The original filing details.

• Schedule — Judge, date & time, location.

• Hearing — All the protest-room fields.

• Activity — The audit timeline.

The header shows the hearing number and type. To the right of the header are two dropdowns:

• Status — Manually change the status (Request / Scheduled / In progress / Resolved / Withdrawn). Each change is recorded in the activity timeline.

• Decision visibility (only shown once Resolved) — Choose whether the public micro site shows the Decision abstract or the Full decision text.

A Save as PDF action in the Request tab generates a print-ready PDF of the hearing for filing.

The footer button changes based on where you are in the workflow:

There's also a Remove button in the bottom-left that lets you Withdraw the hearing (keeps it for reference, marked Withdrawn) or Archive it (removes it from all active views).

The Request tab is a read-with-edit layout. Each section has a pencil icon that opens a focused edit overlay for just that section:

• Basics — Race, hearing type, initiator, respondents.

• Incident — Time & place, rules alleged to have been broken, witnesses.

• Informing the respondent — Hailing (with timing and words used), red flag (with timing), and/or some other way (with details).

• Description of the incident — Free-text description.

• Attachments — Upload, rename, or remove files attached to the request.

A warning banner appears at the top if the request was filed outside the time limit configured in Settings.

The Schedule tab collects:

• Assigned judge (optional)

• Date & time

• Location

Once date & time and location are filled in, the Schedule hearing button becomes active and moves the hearing to Scheduled status. After that you'll be redirected to the Schedule page.

This is the main protest-room workspace and only becomes editable when the hearing is In progress. Until then a banner reminds you to start the hearing first.

The tab is organized as:

1. Overview — A collapsible read-only summary of the request and schedule details (handy when you're flipping back and forth without leaving the Hearing tab).

2. Validity — A series of dropdowns with optional comments. The standard set is: Conflict of interest, Time limit, Incident identified, Hail / Red flag (only shown if those informing methods were used), and Valid?.

3. Procedural matters — Free-text area with a Suggested wording library button (see below).

4. Facts found — Free-text area.

5. Rules — Single line for cited rules.

6. Conclusions — Free-text area with the Suggested wording library.

7. Decision — Free-text area with the Suggested wording library.

8. Decision abstract — Single line, shown publicly when Decision visibility is set to "Decision abstract".

9. Scoring needed? — Checkbox. When checked the hearing appears flagged on the Decisions list as a reminder to update scoring.

10. Decision visibility — Abstract or Full (controls what's published on the micro site).

11. Attachments — A separate scope from request attachments (so you can keep submitted evidence and committee documents apart).

12. Protest committee — Committee type, chaired by, jury members, and Date the hearing was heard.

All fields auto-save on blur, with a brief "Saving…" indicator in the footer. The Complete hearing button moves the hearing to Resolved and redirects you to the Decisions page.

Procedural matters, Conclusions, and Decision each have a Suggested wording button that opens a searchable library of pre-written paragraphs (organized by matter and rule reference). Pick the ones that apply, click Apply, and they're inserted into the textarea — saving the protest committee from typing the same standard language repeatedly.

A chronological timeline of every meaningful event for this hearing — created, hearing-type changed, scheduled, rescheduled, started, reopened, resolved, withdrawn — with the user who made each change. Toggle between Oldest first and Newest first with the icon in the top-right.

Notifications go out automatically based on what changes:

At most one notification is sent per save (prioritized in the order above), and nothing is sent if the regatta has hearings disabled or the hearing has been archived.