This posting deals with a new, added definition called Mark-Room.As you will see, there is a lot to this definition and, in my opinion, there will be a lot of discussion about some of the wording in it. I will post enough to get you thinking but for sure you'll be seeing a lot more written about Mark-Room.
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.
First of all, to understand what mark-room is, you will have to have your rulebook handy because it uses a bunch of other definitions as part of the text e.g. room, proper course, mark, etc.
Second, note that a boat will be entitled to mark-room while sailing to the mark and then room to sail her proper course while at the mark.
I predict that "sailing to the mark" and being "at the mark" are phrases that will create no small amount of "opinion".
There is one thing that jumped right out at me and that's the part about room to sail your proper course while at the mark.
As things stand now, Rule 18.2 (a) requires an outside boat to give an inside overlapped boat room to round or pass… and if the inside boat is a right of way boat, the outside boat must also keep clear.
In practice what this means is that the inside boat gets room to do a tactical rounding if she's a right of way boat but if not, she is entitled to just enough room to round in a seamanlike way.
Under the new rules, the inside boat will always be entitled to do a tactical rounding because she can sail her proper course while at the mark.
THIS IS A GAME CHANGE!
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