Here's a serious question. Can a sailor who is not even sailing in the race, protest another sailor who is?

In the above scenario, the sailor filing the protest about the dad adding the son was not even out on the course, because 10 minutes into day 1 racing he busted his mast. He then protested the dad sailing Uni for getting help righting his boat, fair enough, we all know you can't get outside assistance. But then, on day 2, from the beach, protested adding the jib and kid, while another boat, left his spinnaker kit on the beach and was -not- protested.

How -fair- is that?

This was a personal vendetta type move, nothing more, and the last I heard, the protester has reconsidered and dropped his protests.

So maybe once he got home and cooled off he realized he was making a big deal out of nothing. Oh, the only reason the kid was not on board on day 1, he had a soccer game, nobody was trying to -go light- downwind and then heavy upwind.

Like I said, it's local, let it go. But, back to my original, serious, question, can a sailor who is not in the race but on the beach, file a protest against other sailors who are racing? And, if you were "flicked" on day 1, can you change your config. and race day 2?