All,

This is a standard cross... the windward boat is going to bear off and cross on leeward's rudders and clear it with inches to spare. From windward's point of view...he will see the cross as a near collision almost every time. Windward could plan to jibe or bear off hard.... or he could screw up and nail leeward. As Mike reported... you sort of have some trust in the fleet on the course.

So... what is a good cat protocol to negotiate the cross in a new to you fleet of pricey boats. ...

Do you hail well in advance... or do you hail when you decide the collision is pending and windward better alter course in a second or two. I understand that there is no requirement for windward to acknowledge any communication nor me to hail.

My practice is as the leeward boat to Hail ROW and start counting when the cross is going critical. I am very happy to hear windward hail "hold your course" but there is no requirement for that. After that it gets dicey. Because the rule says you don't have to alter course to avoid contact until the windward boat is clearly not keeping clear and this is very hard to determine. I think the protocol is that you have to sail on as the ROW boat and swallow hard even if you don't hear from windward....

If windward screwed up and you collide and you could do nothing you are not penalized... but have to clean up the mess and are more then pissed.

In fact... I think that if you bail out early and windward has started his bear off to duck your transoms and turns into leewards bailout it's much worse. (I remember that was a tradewinds situation this year where boats went boom)

So... what's a good cross protocol.

How do you decide the Protest with these witnesses saying this. (leeward)... I knew he was going to hit me... I hailed early and he did nothing. It still looked like a collision to me as it played out. He did not alter course and I knew he could not bear off and duck my sterns so I rounded up .. not quite head to wind and he crossed in front of me.. Question. HOW FAR in Front... OH... I don't know ...Within a boat Lenght... maybee with 10 feet to spare... the wind was 8 knots. Question... how long did it take for him to cross you... Answer... Oh aI don't know ...I guess about two seconds. I just have experience and I knew he could not alter course to avoid a collision so I took action to protect my kid on the boat and avoid a collision.

Windward... I had it covered, He hailed very early and in this amount of air, I was going to bear off hard within a boat length if need be and take his transoms... At worst I can jibe within a half a boat lenght in the event that I miss judged. I thought I could cross in front of him. He hit the bailout button too early. No I did not return his hail with a hold your course... I am not required to do that. I did not do a turn.

Is there enough factual information presented here to throw windward out? Did leeward provide enough evidence to ding windward. What else would you need to hear fact wise? What can a witness add to clear up the facts. Oh... I saw the cross... from 25 yards away on the same jibe as windward ... I saw X Y and Z. I saw leeward bail and windward cross a few seconds later with 10 feet to a boatlength to spare. Leeward was not happy.

Do you let the witness offer an opinion on the cross... (I thought windward would safely duck leewards transom. I thought leeward bailed to early, I thought that leeward bailed to save both their butts.)