Port & Starboards

Originally posted by rich96 If you are the port tacker sailing upwind (remote from any marks etc) and tack directly in front of a starboard tacker, also sailing upwind, and, whilst you have completed your tack, you are not up to speed - where is the starboard tacker supposed to go ?  Have you fouled him ?

See the bolded bit.  I'll interpret that into 21st century rules-speak as 'you have reached your close hauled course'.

Boats are now on same tack, with the other boat clear astern.

Rule 12 requires the boat clear astern to keep clear.

To answer the OP question 'where is the starboard tacker supposed to go ? '

Either to port or to starboard so as to keep clear.

If there is insufficient space for her to do so in a seamanlike way, then the tacking boat has broken rule 15, did not initially give room to keep clear.

Otherwise, she keeps clear and no rule broken.

Not like you to miss a rule 15 <g>

I actually wonder whether the change from "astern" to "leeward" is intentional?
My logic here is that "sailing to pass" seems to lean in the favour of the port tack boat, in that you don't specifically have to be overlapped or even pointing behind the other boat's stern to be "sailing to pass astern". It could be argued that the simple act of beginning to bear away satisfies the test that you are now "sailing [with the clear intent] to pass astern", so is the distinction between "leeward" and "astern" actually relevant?

I think the real difference here is the changing of the wording from "after the starting signal" to "on a beat to windward". So the significant change is to permit dial-ups on downwind legs in TR, in situations where 16.2 might otherwise prevent them.

Also worth noting that in neither discipline does 16.2 apply until after the starting gun, so it would appear that aggressive dial downs are always fair game before the starting signal.