rules query

we all make mistakes mike - don't worry about it...

surely though port boat should have seen it coming and gybed early or sailed  by the lee before hand to creat space and then gybe, which would in theory put them ahead assuming sailing by the lee in said boat was faster or even by slowing and gybing you would then be in a position to cover starboard boat or by just seeing it coming and gybing early you could have held your lane and thus water at the mark had it been a starboard rounding, and also if starboard boat had forced you up they would be sailign above their proper course as they were already on teh rhumb line.... many options and probably many more

what a complex sport we follow

Originally posted by limey The two boats in question were Lasers and had been parallel and overlapped for a good 500-600 metres since roundind the windward mark.. They were both running directly for the leeward mark about a further 300 metres away. The slight alteration in course (about 10 degrees above the layline) by the starboard boat brought them much closer together and the port boat reacted by bearing away until the inevitable gybe at which point there was contact from the boom of the boat previously on port. As port was sailing by the lee there was no chance os slowing down as sheeting in would also have caused an involuntary gybe. Had starboard boat informed port of his intention then the port boat could have gybed before they were at such close proximity. Does this not constitute giving sufficient opportunity to keep clear ???

No, It is the Port boat that has to keep clear.  Simple as.  On port you need to take care, simple as that - "I did not think you would do that" is no defense.

Originally posted by CurlyBen no need to anticipate what someone might do, only to respond appropriately?

To a very small extent: if starboard changes course radically in an unpredictable manner port has a few rights, but keeping clear is an active not a passive action. If you course is converging with a right of way boat then you must act.

If they were overlapped since the rounding then it is still a case of the port boat must keep clear.

We get a lot of this in our Wednesday night series when winds are generaly light and boats like Lasers tend to sail strange courses looking for wind (I used to do it all the time). When you get close to the mark you would find an Enterprise on port telling you that you had no rights because you had come from half way across the lake. The usual reply was I am on Starboard, you are on Port you must keep clear (this was outside 2 boat lengths). They would then gybe hit you and call you to do turns for not giving them room.

It only went to protest once and for some reson the protest committee went against the starboard boat (don't know why I was not involved). This was when a run would take 10 minutes and the Laser would be approaching the Enterprise overlapped for 5 of them...

Hard choice but if you are on Port then you should keep clear (IMO) of a starboard boat unless you are running downwind and inside the 'zone' in which case you are entitled to water (if you are inside boat)