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.
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.