Tuesday 8 July 2008

Racing Rules of Sailing 2009-2012 | 4

The next changes in part 2 after the preamble start in rule 14.
Rules 10 trough 13 have NOT been changed in any way.

In rule 14 a new definition has been added:

14 AVOIDING CONTACT

A boat shall avoid contact with another boat if reasonably possible. However, a right-of-way boat or one entitled to room or mark-room

(a) need not act to avoid contact until it is clear that the other boat is not keeping clear or giving room or mark-room, and

(b) shall not be penalized under this rule unless there is contact that causes damage or injury.

Intent en purpose of rule 14 is not changed! Only a new "room" definition is added; the room at a mark.

Mark-room is defined as:

Mark-Room Room for a boat to sail to the mark, and then room to sail her proper course while at the mark. However, mark-room does not include room to tack unless the boat is overlapped to windward and on the inside of the boat required to give mark-room.

Room at the mark has not been changed by this. In the preamble of rule 18 in the current rule book this was already added to the definition of room. Now it has been structured by making it a defined word. The second sentence in this new definition gives a boat who is overlapped to windward and inside boat, the right to tack in rounding a leeward mark.

He has to to do it before he himself or the other boat has passed the mark. After that the outside boat is no longer required to give mark-room. A tacking boat would then be subject to rule 13.

5 comments:

  1. Hi Jos,

    Yesterday I got a first good look at the changes of the rules and definitions.

    The thing that struck me the most about the mark room, was that an inside boat now has the right to "room to sail her proper course while at the mark". Even if the inside boat isn't the ROW boat!

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  2. ...this new definition gives a boat who is overlapped to windward and inside boat, the right to tack in rounding a leeward mark.

    While the definition is new here, in practice I don't think anything has really changed. Under the current rules, a boat with an inside overlap must be given room to tack if that's a "normal part of the manoeuvre". The new rules cast it in terms of sailing a proper course, but from where I sit, the boats are still required to do the same thing.

    Now, I'm it's possible come up with a scenario or two where the old rule and the new rule differ, but for most ordinary roundings it seems like business as usual.


    He has to to do it before he himself or the other boat has passed the mark. After that the outside boat is no longer required to give mark-room.

    Not quite. A boat entitled to mark-room continues to be entitled to it after passing the mark. However, mark-room only includes the right for the inside boat to sail a proper course (i.e. to tack) while at the mark. After passing the mark, mark-room still applies, but it no longer includes the right to tack. A subtle and probably unimportant distinction.

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  3. Little question. This is the case:
    0 Blue on starboard tack
    0 Yellow on port tack
    0 Yellow on Blue's starboard side
    0 Entering the 3 blz of a leeward mark to be left to starboard.

    Blue now has to give Yellow room 'to sail to the mark, and then room to sail her proper course at the mark'.

    Where does 'at the mark' begin? Does Yellow have the opportunity to luff a little first, to round the mark better?

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  4. frank,

    'at the mark' is a new term, so I can't definitively say what it means. Hopefully the new case book will give an example that makes it clear.

    The way *I* read it is that a boat is not "at the mark" until she is right along side it. In your example, if P "luffs a little first" that activity occurs before she is at the mark. So, no, she is not entitled to do a wide rounding.

    Under the current rules, she's not entitled to a wide rounding either. As I said earlier, I don't think anything substantial has changed for "ordinary" mark roundings, although the language in which it is stated has changed.

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  5. Hello experts,
    Can anyone of you present a diagram to show what you are talking about? “… a boat who is overlapped to windward and inside boat, the right to tack in rounding a leeward mark …” is abracadabra to me.
    Thanks in advance.
    Adriaan Pels.

    ReplyDelete

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