Racing Rule Question

A

Amory Klein

New Member
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Boats A and B are running and approaching the downwind mark, which they must leave to port. Their courses are parallel but Boat A is ahead, outside, and on starboard tack, while Boat B is behind, inside, and on port tack. Boat B has overlap as they enter the three boat-length circle. Does Boat A have to allow room for Boat B to go around the mark, or does Boat A have right of way?

If possible, please provide a link to the relevant rule. Thanks!
 
I don't have a link to the rulebook, but I'd say that yes Boat A must make room for Boat B to round the mark..... and if i were on B, I'd deliberatly go straight a little longer than normal.... just to force A off his line even more and mess up his jibe. (he really is in a bad position here) Then when A was jibing, I'd round the mark, sheet in hard..... and take off like a bat out of... um .... really fast.
 
beldar boathead said:
Blue Heron II be careful as you can easily violate 18.4 with your tactic. BB
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Rule 18.4 says this:
18.4 Gybing

When an inside overlapped right-of-way boat must gybe at a mark to
sail her proper course, until she gybes she shall sail no farther from
the mark than needed to sail that course. Rule 18.4 does not apply at
a gate mark.
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(Thanks for the link, by the way. That's where I got this.)

Anyway, Blue Heron II was talking about if he were sailing Boat B, and in the scenario I described above Boat B does not have to jibe. Only Boat A has to jibe. So is it a good tactic? I don't know, but it doesn't appear to involve Rule 18.4.
 
Amory Klein said:
Rule 18.4 says this:(Thanks for the link, by the way. That's where I got this.)
So is it a good tactic? I don't know, but it doesn't appear to involve Rule 18.4.
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Yes, I forgot exactly what the diagram laid out when I was writing. Blue Heron II is still going to have trouble based on part b of the definition of mark room. Dave Perry has a good book that interprets the rules and is helpful here. Here is the defintion. Anything in italics is a definition and is defined in the front of the book.

Mark-Room
Room
for a boat to leave a
mark
on the required side. Also,
(a)
room
to sail to the
mark
when her
proper course
is to sail close
to it, and
(b)
room
to round the
mark
as necessary to sail the course.
 
I just received an opinion by email from a fellow who's regarded as an authority by our club members. Basically, I think he's saying that Boat A has to give room to Boat B, but at the same time, because starboard tack has right-of-way over port tack, the tactic that Blue Heron II described would not be legal.

I asked him exactly the same question that I opened this thread with, and this was his response:

The answer is "Yes!" to both of your questions. Let me explain...

As of this 4-year period of the RRS, both right-of-way rules and mark-room rules apply at marks. Boat B, as inside, overlapped boat at the zone, is entitled to mark-room. This means she can take room to sail to the mark and room to round the mark as necessary to sail the course. Her moves must be done in a seamanlike manner. At the same time, she must keep clear of Boat A who continues to be the right-of-way boat during the mark rounding.

In this case, if Boat B is sailing to the mark and Boat A tries to shut her out by sailing closer to the mark thus forcing Boat B to change course to avoid her, Boat A would be breaking RRS 18.2b. On the other hand, if Boat B sails wide around the mark trying to make a tactical turn rather than simply taking the room necessary to sail the course, she would be breaking rule 10 if she fails to keep clear of Boat A.
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Interesting.
 
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