Originally Posted by JeffS
...As soon as you enter the 3 boat length it is closest to the mark has the rights so if the AC 72 gets within 216ft of the mark first it is entitled to rights and all other boats have the same rights in that 216ft circle, in order of entering it even if the rest of the fleet are moths. If the moth got there 1st the 3 boat length rule would mean the AC72 would only have a 36ft circle to work with. Therefore if they all got to that mark in the order shown the circle is 54ft, in the photos the outside boat is very late and has absolutely no rights. Port starboard has no meaning in this zone, should not even be thought about and I would be very wary of the skipper on the boat yelling it

Be careful about paraphrasing the rules. When trying to simplify them, it's easy to get it wrong. In a mixed fleet, the size of the zone may vary when considering the relationships of different pairs of boats. It's incorrect to say that port and starboard have no meaning in the zone.

Sincerely,
Eric
US SAILING Certified Judge
Member, Area D Appeals Committee