jonathan_twite
Member
I had a situation while racing on a river at the weekend after which I decided that if I had done the correct thing I wasn't sure if I would be in the wrong or not. I was heading on a run on port-tack towards a mark with a boat either side of me.
Boat A was leeward of me and next to the shore. Boat B was to windward. Both were also on port-tack.
Another boat (Boat X) came towards us having rounded the mark, close-hauled on starboard-tack. His course was taking him between myself and Boat B (windward of me). He called starboard and I tried to leave him room to pass between myself and Boat B by moving as close as I dare to Boat A (rather than cutting across Boat X's bow and risking a collision with both Boat X and Boat B) expecting Boat B to also give him room (we are a fairly friendly club and usually don't moan about moving course slightly to miss other boats). Boat X then yelled that he wanted both of us to do 360's for not getting out of the way. I didn't complain as I didn't want a DSQ (it was a 1 race competition).
My question was this. There was no way I could have got completely out of the way due to Boat A who couldn't give me water as the shore was in the way. Is my conclusion (from after the race) that as Boat A couldn't give me water he was considered an obstacle to me and therefore Boat X had to give me room to keep clear of the obstacle, with Boat B giving Boat X room to keep clear of me (I am effectively an obstacle to Boat X). Would the correct sequence of events that should have happened be Boat X calling "starboard", Boat A calling "water to clear bank", myself calling "water to clear obstacle", Boat B giving enough room for Boat X to pass between us while not hitting me?
Thanks for any ideas
Boat A was leeward of me and next to the shore. Boat B was to windward. Both were also on port-tack.
Another boat (Boat X) came towards us having rounded the mark, close-hauled on starboard-tack. His course was taking him between myself and Boat B (windward of me). He called starboard and I tried to leave him room to pass between myself and Boat B by moving as close as I dare to Boat A (rather than cutting across Boat X's bow and risking a collision with both Boat X and Boat B) expecting Boat B to also give him room (we are a fairly friendly club and usually don't moan about moving course slightly to miss other boats). Boat X then yelled that he wanted both of us to do 360's for not getting out of the way. I didn't complain as I didn't want a DSQ (it was a 1 race competition).
My question was this. There was no way I could have got completely out of the way due to Boat A who couldn't give me water as the shore was in the way. Is my conclusion (from after the race) that as Boat A couldn't give me water he was considered an obstacle to me and therefore Boat X had to give me room to keep clear of the obstacle, with Boat B giving Boat X room to keep clear of me (I am effectively an obstacle to Boat X). Would the correct sequence of events that should have happened be Boat X calling "starboard", Boat A calling "water to clear bank", myself calling "water to clear obstacle", Boat B giving enough room for Boat X to pass between us while not hitting me?
Thanks for any ideas