I would like to start some rules discussions going on this forum, as it seems to me from the discussions at State and National titles that we're not all clear on some areas. As I've looked into it I've been quite surprised at just how complicated the right-of-way rules can be.

So to start the ball rolling, the gybe mark on a triangular course seems a simple enough situation. Who gives way to who when rounding the gybe mark?

One area of difficulty seems to occur when there is a boat that has sailed high (A) that is then running down to the mark (and may even gybe before reaching the mark) and a boat that has gone low and is reaching up to the mark (B).

B will be travelling much faster than A, so there is a good chance that B could get an inside overlap too late (after A has already entered the 3-boat-length zone). That would mean B will either have to duck around the back of A or go the wrong side of the mark.

On the other hand if A is sailing well off the wind (or gybed) the line across the back of her rudders could well be overlapping B, so B could have an overlap from a long way off.

If A has already gybed on to Port by the time they converge, can B call "Starboard"?

From reading rule 18 it looks to me that port/starboard is completely irrelevant at this mark, and only the question of the inside overlap and when it was established matters.