Note: This is the third in my series of blogs on the new Section C rules that come into effect January 1, 2009. In these blogs, I’ll refer to the 2005-2008 Racing Rules of Sailing as the “old rules” and to the 2009-1012 version as the “new rules”.
The focus of these blogs is on changes in the game induced by the new rules of Section C, and on places where it looks as if there might be a game change, but I believe there will be none.
In my last blog, we looked at a restriction placed by the new rules on mark rounding – under the old rules a boat clear ahead was granted right of way and freedom from rule 16 (Changing Course) as long as she was turning to round the mark; under the new rules she is only given room to sail her proper course and only gets freedom from rule 16 as long as she is doing so. I argued that, at the end of the rounding, the old rule allowed her to turn past her course to the next mark without breaking rule 16, while the new rule only allows her to turn to that course – after that, she risks breaking rule 16.
In this blog, we’ll look at what appears to be a huge difference between old rule 18 and new rule 18 (Mark-Room): the old rule granted boats right of way to boats that would ordinarily have to keep clear under the rules of Section A (port/starboard, windward/leeward, etc.). The new rule 18 doesn’t do that. And although that looks like a huge game change, I don’t think it will make any difference at all, other than making it easier to remember which boat has rights.
Non-Game Change 2. The preamble to Section A of Part 2 (When Boats Meet) says “A boat has right of way when another boat is required to keep clear
of her” Old rule 18 says, in several places, that such-and-such a boat “shall keep clear of” the other boat. Putting two and two together, we get that the other boat was just granted right of way. So, for example, whereas a starboard-tack boat has right of way over a port-tack boat on the open race course, under the old rules a port-tack boat that was clear ahead at the zone got right of way over the starboard-tack boat behind her, and she kept that right of way throughout the rest of the rounding. Under the new rule 18, the words about keeping clear have been removed, so throughout the rounding, a starboard-tack boat always has right-of-way over a port-tack boat, a leeward boat always has right-of-way over a windward boat, etc.
Let’s see how this works for two boats overlapped at the zone at a leeward mark to be left to port. There are four cases: (1) they’re both on port tack; (2) they’re on opposite tacks with the starboard-tack boat inside; (3) they’re on opposite tacks with the port-tack boat inside; and (4) they’re both on port tack.
Case 1: Both on starboard tack. The inside boat is also the leeward boat, so she has right of way. She can do a “tactical rounding” (see my last blog) and the other boat has to give her room to do so. If she’s not restricted by rule 17, she can sail any course she wants as long as she doesn’t turn too sharply and break rule 16. If the inside boat falls astern of the other boat, she is technically required to keep clear, but usually there’s no issue as she’s going slower than the other boat. If there’s any danger of fouling the other boat she has to sail toward the mark (no tactical rounding!), and the other boat has to give her room to do so. No change in the game from old rule.
Case 2, inside boat on starboard, outside boat on port. The inside boat has right of way, and can sail anywhere she pleases, subject to rule 16. However, under rule 18.4 she cannot sail farther from the mark before she jibes than her proper course. No game change here, except at gate marks, which I’ll cover in another blog. When she jibes onto port tack, she becomes the keep-clear boat and only gets room to sail to the mark and then round it – no change in the game.
Case 3, inside boat on port tack, outside boat on starboard. Now the inside boat is required by rule 10 to keep clear, so she only has the right to sail to the mark, and the outside boat is required to give her room to do so. Room to sail to the mark generally means room to sail to a point where she can begin a tight, seamanlike rounding, but if there are other boats around that she is required to keep clear of or to whom she owes room, she is entitled to additional room to sail around them (because it would be unseamanlike to break the rules). If she wants a tactical rounding, she should jibe to starboard so she’ll be the leeward, right-of-way boat. No game change. When the outside boat jibes to go around the mark, the inside boat must still keep clear under rule 11. No game change.
Under the old rules, if the outside, right of way boat fell astern of the inside boat she lost her right of way and had to keep clear. This would appear to have given the inside boat more power, but in practice in fleet racing the previously inside boat would normally continue on the course she was originally on, and if she swung wide for a tactical rounding it wouldn’t matter because the other boat was clear astern and unable to prevent such a move regardless of right of way. At the mark, the rights of the inside/clear-ahead boat are substantially the same under the new rules as under the old ones (see my first blog).
Case 4, both boats on port tack. The analysis here is identical to that for case 3, except that the outside boat never jibes. No game change.
Now let’s look at what happens when one of the boats is clear ahead at the zone. This time, there are three cases: (1) They are on the same tack; (2) they’re on opposite tacks with the starboard-tack boat ahead; and (3) they’re on opposite tacks with the port-tack boat ahead.
Case 1, boats on same tack. No change from the old rules because the boat ahead has right of way under rule 12. If they are on starboard tack and the boat ahead jibes, she keeps her right of way under the old rules but loses it under the new rules; however, in practice she will only jibe when she’s at the mark, and at that point the boat astern has to give her room to go around the mark on her proper course, so she’s lost no actual rights. If they’re both on port tack, it’s a parade around the mark under both sets of rules. (Note that in team racing the situation is much different – under the old rules if both boats were on port tack the boat ahead could sail wide and then slow down, and if the boat astern sailed into an outside overlap, the inside boat could just sit there, allowing teammates to go inside her while the other boat had to sail all the way around her. Under the new rules she can still sail wide at first, but if the other boat sails into an outside overlap so the boat ahead becomes the windward boat, she is only entitled to mark-room. At that point she has to sheet in and go around the mark, because the definition of mark-room only includes room to round the mark “promptly” on her proper course; sitting there with sails luffing is not “promptly” rounding, and letting other boats without rights to pass inside her is surely not her proper course. But in fleet racing this ploy makes no sense – there’s no benefit to holding another boat up and letting the leaders get away while the boats behind close up the gap.)
So the only change from deletion of the change in right of way will be that now everybody will be able to see and remember who has right of way – it’s the same as on the open course.
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