Rule 15

Having just read Mark Rushalls pre race rule explanation in Y & Y i wondered if someone could clarify something. The situation is as follows; i am lining up on starboard in the last minute before the start. As I'm close to the line i am virtually stationary with sails flapping- A boat approaches from behind and leeward and establishes an overlap. According to rule 15 he has to give me the opportunity to keep clear : However as a boat with a long narrow keel/centreboard i can't sheet in otherwise i will drift sideways and touch the boat to leeward ; and without any forward momentum i can't tack, So my only option would be to bear away but i can't because he is now occupying the space. So my question is what are my alternatives and what exactly entitlement does Rule 15 give me ??

Keep Clear A boat keeps clear of a right-of-way boat (a) if the right-of-way boat can sail her course with no need to take avoiding action and, (b) when the boats are overlapped, if the right-of-way boat can also change course in both directions without immediately making contact.

Edited by Presuming Ed - 27 Mar 15 at 9:22am

Disagree that you must do something.

The requirement is to keep clear. Otherwise the rule would say if the situation happened "you must do something"!

You might not need to do anything to keep clear. Certainly if you decide to pull your sails in in the knowledge that you will go sideways then you are not going to keep clear. This is about racing rather than being seamanlike.

The error was being early and you have to take the consequences. Essentially this is allowing the other boat to start, and anyone else to leeward of them. To avoid a collision because you think that you might touch you might volunteer to take a penalty. That is your alternative in my view.

Originally posted by Paramedic The trouble with this rule is it does give licence to people to barge in.

Is that a bad thing?

I must confess I really don't like way these days everyone hovers on the start line way before the start with considerably reduced control. I think I'd rather see boats travelling close to speed approaching the start line from a distance. Obviously under current rules this isn't really an option, especially in large fleets and even more especially one class fleets.

In mixed fleets you get problems with boats with big foils that will hold station, and boats with smaller foils that will simply stall out and go sideways.

I don't have an answer on how the rules could be rewritten to change things, but I think it would be a bad thing to strengthen the rights of the windward boat because then you'd be even more prone to have a packed mass of boats racked up for minutes before the start, all almost stationary and with minimal control, and that, I think, would be even worse than the current situation.

The issue is that the boat sat on the line may be stationary and is under no obligation to react until the overlap is established......