Matt,
My take on your comment about opposite tacks at a mark.

The Fundemental Rule says " When boats are on opposite tacks, a port tack boat SHALL keep clear of a starboard tack boat.

In this there is no ambiguity, it is simple cut and dried, The starboard tack boat does have rights (all of them), but iaw with international rules for All vessels it is still the responsibility of both to avoid a collision. Somewhere there is still in law about safe and prudent seamanship.

And I have as Chairman of a protest committee had to uphold this rule, it cost the guy a national championship for which he has not ever forgiven me for,

Again, my two bobs worth

David

When making observation on rulings the thing to remember is the circumstance of the situation .I have been discussing room at th gybe mark ,I don’t have a problem with rule 10 when two boat meat at the top mark or any were on the course but when it comes to the gybe mark and room at the mark inside the zone ,that is where rule 18a comes in . I don’t know the circumstance of the your protest so can`t comment on that. Here is case 02
Rule 12, On the Same Tack, Not Overlapped
Rule 14, Avoiding Contact
Rule 15, Acquiring Right of Way
Rule 18.2(a), Mark-Room: Giving Mark-Room
Rule 18.2(b), Mark-Room: Giving Mark-Room
If the first of two boats to reach the zone is clear astern when she reaches it and if later the boats are overlapped when the other boat reaches the zone, rule 18.2(a), and not rule 18.2(b), applies. Rule 18.2(a) applies only while boats are overlapped and at least one of them is in the zone.
USSA 1962/87
Summary of the Facts
A and B were both on port tack, reaching to a mark to be left to starboard. The wind was light. At position 1, when A came abreast of the mark she was clear ahead of B but four-and-a-half hull lengths from the mark. B, who had just reached the zone, was three lengths from the mark. Between positions 1 and 2 A gybed and headed to the mark, becoming overlapped outside B. Between positions 2 and 3, after B had gybed and turned towards the next mark, she became clear ahead of A. When B first became clear ahead of A there was about one-half of a hull length of open water between the boats. A few seconds after B became clear ahead, A, who was moving faster, struck B on the transom. There was no damage or injury. A protested B under rule 18.2(b). B protested A under rule 12. A was disqualified and she appealed.
Decision
A apparently believed that the second sentence of rule 18.2(b) applied when the two boats were at position 1 and that B, then being clear astern, was obliged to give A mark-room. As that sentence states, it applies only if a boat was clear ahead when she reached the zone. At position 1, B had reached the zone, but A was well outside it. Moreover, the first sentence of rule 18.2(b) never applied because the boats were not overlapped when B, the first of them to reach the zone, did so. However, while the boats were overlapped, rule 18.2(a) did apply, and it required A to give mark-room to B. During that time B had to keep clear of A, first under rule 10 and later (after she gybed) under rule 11.
After B gybed she pulled clear ahead of A. At that moment rules 18.2(a) and 11 ceased to apply and rules 12 and 15 began to apply. Rule 15 required B initially to give A room to keep clear, and B did so because it would have been easy for A to keep clear by promptly bearing off slightly to avoid B’s transom after B became clear ahead. When A hit B’s transom, she obviously was not keeping clear of B, and so it was proper to disqualify A for breaking rule 12. A also broke rule 14 because it was possible for her to bear off slightly and avoid the contact with B.
After it became clear that A was not going to keep clear of B, it was probably not possible for B to avoid the contact. However, even if B could have avoided the contact, she could not have been penalized under rule 14 because she was the right-of-way boat and the contact did not cause damage or injury.
The appeal is dismissed, the protest committee’s decision is upheld, and A remains disqualified for breaking rules 12 and 14.

hmmm thanks, i think i better buy a rule book

You definitely gotta have a rule book Matt!




This is dangerous talk, because it is simply not true. Starboard does NOT always have all the rights over Port. This is very important.

Rule 18 is one of those that "limit the actions of a right-of-way boat".
Rule 18 does apply to two boats approaching a downwind or gybe mark on opposite tacks. Outside the 3-boat zone, port gives way to starboard. Inside the 3-boat zone, if the boats are overlapped when the leading boat reaches the zone the outside boat must give the inside boat mark room - port/starboard is not an issue.

This is very important at a starboard-hand leeward mark where a boat on starboard must give way to one on port as the one on port will be the inside boat.

Also I should mention, a boat coming fast from behind on Starboard at the gybe mark cannot call starboard on another boat that is on port and rounding the mark.

If the boat on starboard had the overlap in time then he could call for buoy room, but "starboard" is not relevant.

thanks tim, so i was in the right at the nats

(b) If boats are overlapped when the first of them reaches the zone,the outside boat at that moment shall thereafter give the insideboat mark-room.
If a boat is clear ahead when she reaches thezone, the boat clear astern at that moment shall thereafter giveher mark-room.
(c) When a boat is required to give mark-room by rule 18.2(b), she shall continue to do so even if later an overlap is broken or a new overlap begins. However, if either boat passes head to wind or if the boat entitled to mark-room leaves the zone, rule 18.2(b) ceases to apply.

Does this also apply at a leeward Port rounding mark? You know the classic, spinnaker aproach on Starboard with a gybe drop.

Outside the 3-boat zone port has to give way to starboard. Once the first boat enters the zone and if there is an overlap then the inside boat has mark-room.

In practice, with a port-hand rounding, there is no difference. It is the same boat that has to give way, all the way. There is one small difference though. Outside the zone the starboard tack boat could hold her course to force the other boat to gybe, but inside the zone the inside boat that has to gybe around the mark, has to get on with it and not take any more room than she needs.

Strangely the rule (18.4) that says the inside gybing boat has to gybe and not delay, doesn't apply at a gate. I can't quite imagine yet why that would be the case.

Gates.. mmmmm... It would be good to have the rule book handy and be a speed reader It's interesting when you have 10 or so boats including A's Taipans, Mozzies, Skiffs,Pacers, Sabres, Tasers and a Minnow, all descending on the gate, on both tacks, fetching opposite marks, and some of them paying more attention to the kite drop than the traffic. With all the different boat speeds and lengths who can tell who's in the zone and when, let alone who has an overlap with who?

I find that discretion is often the sensible option... rather get through a bit slower and be heading to the winward mark with the boat in one piece... or maybe I'm getting soft as I get older

If only everyone sailed a Mozzie... it would be so much better

Its definitely faster to sail a little slower sometimes, a couple of "S" turns to get rid of the speed and set yourself up for a good mark exit and you will be past most of them 100 meters after the mark.
There is no point having a crash and being in the right, spending hours fixing the boat in the shed or 2 months sorting out the insurance/boatbuilder hassle seems pointless when with a bit of planning and the willingness to be 10 seconds slower around the course the whole hassle can be averted.

Darryn
Bullet
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