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Tornado sailors Will Howden and Rob Wilson explain their actions in Kiel

We would like to give a full account of the incident you have talked about at Kiel Week, write Will Howden and Rob Wilson (pictured above) of the British Tornado Squad.

"We were lining up for the start and had a clear transit on the line. We knew it was a black flag and we didn't need to push the line because we had pace on all bar a few boats and were in a strong position for the series.

"We hung back on the start on purpose keeping a close eye on our transit. With about 30 seconds to go boats around us started moving forward. At this point we were about three to four boat lengths off the line and we thought this was risky and let them go. To our disbelief they carried on moving forward at pace and were clearly over the line. Looking up the line there was a bulge in the middle and it was clear that a majority of the fleet was over the line, so we thought, with about ten seconds to go, there would be a general recall. This made us hang back even more.

"On the gun I had our transit behind many of the boats and we were about two boat lengths behind the line and about four boat lengths behind the group in front of us. We had no reason to believe we were over as we weren't. Then when the numbers came up we were on the list but all of the boats immediately around us were not on the board. So at this point we protested the race committee and decided to do the race, with our coach Hugh Styles in agreement, believing that with five witnesses we would be exonerated as under rule 64.2 once redress has been given the jury can override any other ruling and make as fair an arrangement as possible.

"At this point having two 10ths in the score line average points would not be as good as the result which we believe we could have and did achieve in the race. So we raced and finished fourth followed by a first in the next race.

"To start with the jury held a protest for redress under Rule 62.1a so they believed we had a case or they would not have held the proceedings.

"The race committee had on the RC boat two line spotters both speaking into Dictaphones and one at the pin end. In the hearing the RC had only picked us up on one of the Dictaphones, which left two people checking the line either unable to see us but definitely not seeing us over the line.

"The case we put forward was relying upon the FIVE witnesses we had spoken to on the water who had seen us behind them or next to them during start time, but none of which were shown as being OCS. So after the hearing the decision was then given that the international jury could not be 100% certain that the RC made a mistake, but they said we put forward an excellent case and it was a very close call, so they awarded us a DSQ and not a DNE.

"After leaving the jury room we were very disappointed that we had lost our case but still pleased to be leading and wanted to forget the incident and focus on the next day's racing. It was only after dinner when getting some results that we noticed the DNE, at which point the jury office was closed.

"We assumed they had made a mistake and left to return early the next morning. On arriving at the jury office they initially ignored us until we found the chief juror. He openly admitted that the finding from the international jury after hearing all the evidence was to NOT give us a DNE, but he overruled their decision.

"His case was obviously based around the rule 30.3, but without hearing any of the evidence. The only possibility we had was to get redress and have the ruling overturned, but with no new hard evidence (like video) we would not be able to re-open the case.

"At this point in the day we would have to go sailing instantly and race for a best position of sixth. After leading the regatta from day one we were very angry that a decision as bad as this had wrecked our chances of winning an Olympic International Regatta.

"At the time rightly or wrongly we decided that it would be better to finish the regatta on a first rather than go sailing very angry with the RC and jury and possibly have two bad races.

"The one thing that we have learned from this is that unless you have video evidence it is impossible to overturn the race committee or jury's decision, but conversely if that is the case then surely the RC should also be using video on the line?

"In the last couple of years there have been many cases of people being misidentified as being over the line. One which springs to mind is Iain Percy's experience at his Worlds last year when, only after finding video evidence and a couple of hearings was he finally given the all-clear!

"As the sport is becoming more professional so should the race committees. So much money is being spent now by the World Class Performance, and RYA in our case, along with other private sponsors (Harken, Gul, Construction Development and Design) and they need a feedback based around results. It seems harsh that a bad decision can affect funding etc.

"On the positive side, Kiel Week has shown that the British Olympic World Class Performance Tornado team is one of the most competitive in the world and is capable of winning an international regatta. Our focus and the team's is now on the Europeans in August where we hope that either we or one of the other British team can come away with the Gold Medal. This would make the British team's target of achieving a Gold medal at the 2004 Olympics a very real possibility."

Best regards Will Howden, Rob Wilson British Tornado Squad