Keith,

My experience is with one incident and this is what I understand: First; the protest hearing is not to determine "fault". Only to assess scoring penalties for the boat(s) that broke a rule. This keeps the race committee out of any legal crap. Second; the insurance company will take the findings of the race committee into account - but they will likely consult someone for the general "rules of the water" as well. The documentation of the protest hearing are just one thing they use to try and establish facts when evaluating the claim for fault.