GWB needs room to gybe to give water

You guys may be able to help here.

2 boats on a dead run, both on starboard, overlapped with WB less than 1 boatlength away. Been like this for most of the (shortish) leg. Both boats will need to gybe to lay a starboard rounding mark and then gybe again to round it.

When the entering the 2 boatlength zone WB is so close to LB that LB cannot gybe without making contact. WB says he's gybing, LB says give me room to gybe. WB gybes and barges LB forcing LB to gybe and the 2 generally raft up for 20 seconds or so.

Who was in the wrong? I guess it depends if LB should have anticipated the situation and luffed to give himself room to gybe before the zone or whether WB should give LB room to gybe within the zone.

Any ideas? I'll let you know which was me after a few responses

Edited by Matt Jackson

Yeah give me an hour or 2.

Once the WB had gybed, he was on port and so has no right to barge the starboard tack boat and force him to make a gybe. 

One other thing - if you are both on a dead run, then IMHO the windward boat is the one who's bow is less far forward, not necessarily the boat on the starboard side (in this starboard tack case).  So are you sure who was WB and who was LB?  Not that it matters because I see this as a port/starboard incidence.

This one is pretty simple...Once in the zone the inside boat is entitled to room. If the gap has closed so much that LB cannot keep clear of WB then I would say LB should have anticipated the situation.

If WB caused contact by gybing and 'barging' then this I believe is an avoidable collision and WB should be thrown out.

LB could also be thrown out for not giving WB room.

I would say that LB should have anticipated what was going to happen and accepted that WB was going want room and planned accordingly.

Not sure which part of Rule 18 this comes under as I dont have my rule book to hand....

My first thought is that I'm amazed that the two boats could be inside the two length zone and have to gybe twice to get round the mark... I suppose its just about possible, but only just... It seems to me much more likley they were outside the zone.

But that's only of partial relevance. This gets complicated, because rule 18 switches "when the boats are about to pass a mark", not at 2BL. 2BL only defines when an overlap is or isn't broken, and not when rule 18 applies. I have trouble believing that a boat that must gybe to reach the mark can be said to be about to pass the mark, even if it is two boat lengths from it. Are they spinnaker boats? Have they dropped the kites yet? Is it a kite drop mark?

If the boats are not about to pass the mark, because they have to gybe to make it, then rule 18 doesn't apply, and L can take W as far from the mark as they like. That's a controversial interpretation though, and I have little confidence in it. I think I'd pass this one to the RYA rules query guys! I think this depends lots what the boats are... If they are Lasers then they were definitely about to pass the mark. If they were asymettric boats that will be dropping the kite at the mark I'm not so sure... If I were W I would have been asking for water for the mark well outside the 2BL zone and planned to soak down rather than gybe.