I understand a).... If I have a collision and retire from the race I have not admitted liability. Makes sense to me.

I understand b) It lets the protest committee off the hook... They declare some facts and make decisions on the rules and they make NO judgments or opinions on damages and liability.

article c) This is the problem.

There are several parties involved in a collision. IE. the two boats who collided, a protest committee and two insurance companies plus any eye witnesses.

Say you loose a protest and damages have occurred.
Your insurance company can say... No.. we don't care what the protest committee decided... We evaluate the accident using the col regs or some other standard and the evidence you provide and they collect and say... "Eh... we will only pay the other guy 40% of his damages.... that was all you are liable for. He says.... NO... you were at fault see RR of sailing... Pay me the balance. I don't want to file with my insurance company for your mistake.

So... does responsible mean... you pay... or you tell him NO and to go file a claim with his company.

What happens when His insurance company says... Ah!... he agreed to "BE RESPONSIBLE for the damages under the RR... Or perhaps they agree... that he was 60% at fault and tap him as the mostly responsible party and raise his rates.

And it gets even more confusing.
Most of the regattas that I go to don't have a standing protest committee... they get some old experienced guys who are not involved in the incident and hear the protest. The A cat's use arbitration panels. No matter... Who is to say that the protest committee is qualified to evaluate the protest and accurately decide facts. Eye witness accounts are notoriously inaccurate. What do I know about how to cross examine a witness... Nor do I have a clue to make the case that even if the other boat is 1 % in violation of a rule.. he is DSQ.. Or do i know what the standard is for deciding on the rules or how well this committee does it's job. At best... it's like a police report at an accident scene.... at worst it's a self inflicted shot in the head. Hell... I could make the case that if there is a collision with damage... I should retire and say nothing at a Protest hearing. (That is the advice of your car insurance agent).

This is one of those areas that I really don't understand. My solution was to get racing insurance from USSA for my T cat. However... They won't include A cats in their program. grhh.

I would prefer US Sailing One design insurance because I ASSUME that it will honor the RR of sailing and that I will not find myself squeezed between my insurance company who won't pay and my agreement that I am "responsible" for damages.

I posted this cycles prescriptions which are vastly better then the last one's. Dave Perry spent three or four pages trying to interpret those and I still thought it was a mess.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Hoping I never have to figure it out with personal experience.