"Not long ago we had a serious port/starboard collision at my club. One boat was damaged to the point of having a hull replaced, one person was injured so badly he is still under a physicians care. The ensuing sh!t storm was so bad there was much talk of Rule 69 complaints, and one of the injured parties has left sailing, probably for good."
It's just a race, people. I don't care if I have 10 rules on my side that say I'm the ROW boat. If some ***hole looks like he's going to hit my boat, I'm going to manouver to avoid a collision first, worry about how that affects my position second, and protest last. Waving a drivers handbook at the idiot coming at you on the wrong side of the highway is the very definition of futility.
In this case the port tacker was hailed repeatedly and made no attempt to alter course. Contact occurred as the starboard tack boat attempted to avoid the collision.
The port tacker subsequently received a dsq for the race. Is that sufficient punishment for causing personal injury and property damage?
