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.
That makes a world of difference! The original post implied that the ROW boat did nothing to prevent a collision, which seemed silly. Now it's a case of the ROW boat simply reacting too late. At the kinds of closing speeds I would imagine were involved to do that kind of damage, that is not a criticism at all. It must have been a matters of seconds or less and friggin' scary.
DSQ takes care of the racing aspect, but port would be slapped with a lawsuit immediately if it was me he hit. Proving negligence in court to recover damages would be interesting, you'd have to make sure the judge understood the ROW rules first
.
Plenty of witnesses to the hailing, etc. should make it a slam dunk. Maybe he'd have to sell the boat to pay the fines - cosmic justice?
PS. I haven't raced in many years - if I get back into it, be assured that for the first season or two if you want to gain an advantage on me just yell out "RIGHT OF WAY" and some random rule number
. I'll move right out of your way!
