Page 23 - Case Book 2017 - 2020 April 18

boat, and the outside boat may luff provided that she Rule 18.4, Mark-Room: Gybing
gives the inside boat room to keep clear.
CASE 75
CASE 81 When rule 18 applies, the rules of Sections A and B
When a boat entitled to mark-room under rule 18.2(b) apply as well. When an inside overlapped right-of-way
passes head to wind, rule 18.2(b) ceases to apply and boat must gybe at a mark, she is entitled to sail her
she must comply with the applicable rule of Section A. proper course until she gybes. A starboard-tack boat
that changes course does not break rule 16.1 if she
RYA 1976/2 gives a port-tack boat adequate space to keep clear and
When two close-hauled boats are in the zone of a the port-tack boat fails to take advantage of it promptly.
windward mark, rule 18.2(b) ceases to apply when one RYA 2003/7
of them tacks. An inside overlapped boat that obtains right of way
When two boats are subject to rule 13 at the same time inside the zone is entitled to sail to windward of the
the one astern must keep clear. room to sail to the mark to which she is entitled, but
If they then become overlapped on the same tack inside only if in the process she complies with rule 18.4, and
the zone, the outside boat shall give the inside boat with rules 15 and 16.1 with respect to the outside boat.
mark-room under rule 18.2(a).
RYA 2004/8
RYA 1981/3 The room an outside overlapped boat must give at a
When at a windward mark a boat that was clear ahead mark to an inside right-of-way boat includes room to
on the same tack at zone entry tacks to pass it, her gybe when that is part of the inside boat’s proper
entitlement to mark-room ends. Rule 10 applies, as if course to round the mark.
the mark were not there.
Rule 19, Room to Pass an Obstruction
Rule 18.2(e), Mark-Room: Giving Mark-
Room CASE 23
On a run, rule 19 does not apply to a starboard-tack
RYA 1992/9 boat that passes between two port-tack boats ahead of
A protest committee should have recourse to rule her. Rule 10 requires both port-tack boats to keep clear.
18.2(e) only when there is insufficient reliable evidence
for it to decide the case otherwise. CASE 30
A boat clear astern that is required to keep clear but
RYA 2002/15 collides with the boat clear ahead breaks the right-of-
Rule 18.2(e) is addressed to the protest committee. It way rule that was applicable before the collision
does not change rights and obligations on the water. occurred. A boat that loses right of way by
unintentionally changing tack is nevertheless required
Rule 18.3, Mark-Room: Tacking in the Zone to keep clear.
CASE 93 RYA 1977/7
If a boat luffs immediately after she becomes When two overlapping same-tack boats are less than one
overlapped to leeward of another boat and there is no hull length apart, and when another boat clear astern is
seamanlike action that would enable the other boat to closing on them, the right of way boat will rank as an
keep clear, the boat that luffed breaks rules 15 and obstruction to the other two boats. The boat clear astern
16.1. The other boat breaks rule 11, but is exonerated. may establish an overlap between the boats ahead, with
an entitlement from the windward boat to room, provided
CASE 95 that the windward boat is able to give room. When a boat
If two overlapped boats on the same tack are on a beat is required to act to keep clear, no rule entitles her to
to windward and are subject to rule 18.2(b), rule 18 room to avoid becoming OCS.
ceases to apply when either of them turns past head to
wind. When a boat is required to give another boat RYA 2001/14
mark-room, the space she must give includes space for The question of whether a moored vessel is an
the other boat to comply with rule 31. When the boat obstruction depends on the definition of the term, which
entitled to mark-room is compelled to touch the mark cannot be changed in sailing instructions.
while sailing within the mark-room to which she is When overlapped boats on the same tack are
entitled, she is exonerated for her breach of rule 31. approaching an obstruction that could be passed on
either side by both of them, the leeward right-of-way
RYA 1974/8
When a port-tack boat tacks to starboard within the boat may decide that both shall pass to windward. If the
zone at a windward port-hand mark, and a boat that is leeward boat decides to pass the obstruction to leeward,
she must be prepared to give room to the windward
approaching the mark on starboard tack becomes
overlapped inside her, the boat that tacked must not boat to do the same.
prevent the other boat from passing the mark on the
required side, and must keep clear of her. RYA 2011/1
An inside boat that reasonably believes that she is at an
obstruction and acts accordingly is entitled to room
from an outside boat. The inside boat is not required to

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