Q&A 2013-017
Definition <%= def_link('Mark-Room') %>
Rule <%= rule_link(18.2) %> Giving Mark Room
Rule <%= rule_link(18.2) %> Giving Mark Room
A boat clear astern when enters the zone must give Mark-Room
Question
The wind strength is 10-12 knots and there is no current. Yellow (Y) enters the zone of an offset windward mark to be left to port clear ahead of Blue (B). The next leg is a run. Y makes a wide turn onto a starboard-tack downwind course. B bears away to sail close to the mark and then holds her course. Y bears away further and B becomes overlapped inside her. While still in the zone Y gybes onto her port-tack downwind course directly in front of B. B protests. What rules apply?
Answer
Because B is clear astern when Y enters the zone, rule <%= rule_link(18.2) %>(b) applies and B must give Y mark-room. The definition <%= def_link('Mark-Room', 'mark-room') %> requires B to give Y the space she needs to manoeuvre promptly and in a seamanlike manner to
(i) leave the mark to port,
(ii) sail to the mark when her proper course is close to the mark, and
(iii) round the mark as necessary to sail the course.
From position 3, Y’s proper course is no longer to sail close to the mark so (ii) above no longer applies. At position 4, Y has left the mark on its required side and is on her downwind starboard tack course, so she has rounded the mark as necessary to sail the course. At that point B has therefore fulfilled her obligation to give Y mark-room as required by rule <%= rule_link(18.2) %>(b). Because Y in positions 1 through 3 has been given the mark-room to which she was entitled, B is not required to continue to give mark-room, so rule <%= rule_link(18.2) %>(c) no longer applies. Even though Y’s course from position 4 to 5 is her proper course, no rule requires B to give her room to sail that course.
After Y gybes to port she breaks rule <%= rule_link('10') %>. Rule <%= rule_link('15') %> does not apply because it was Y’s change of course that caused B to become right-of-way boat. Rule 16 does not apply because B did not change course after she gained right of way. Rule <%= rule_link('21') %> does not apply because when Y breaks rule 10, she is not sailing within any room or mark-room to which she is entitled.
The wind strength is 10-12 knots and there is no current. Yellow (Y) enters the zone of an offset windward mark to be left to port clear ahead of Blue (B). The next leg is a run. Y makes a wide turn onto a starboard-tack downwind course. B bears away to sail close to the mark and then holds her course. Y bears away further and B becomes overlapped inside her. While still in the zone Y gybes onto her port-tack downwind course directly in front of B. B protests. What rules apply?
Answer
Because B is clear astern when Y enters the zone, rule <%= rule_link(18.2) %>(b) applies and B must give Y mark-room. The definition <%= def_link('Mark-Room', 'mark-room') %> requires B to give Y the space she needs to manoeuvre promptly and in a seamanlike manner to
(i) leave the mark to port,
(ii) sail to the mark when her proper course is close to the mark, and
(iii) round the mark as necessary to sail the course.
From position 3, Y’s proper course is no longer to sail close to the mark so (ii) above no longer applies. At position 4, Y has left the mark on its required side and is on her downwind starboard tack course, so she has rounded the mark as necessary to sail the course. At that point B has therefore fulfilled her obligation to give Y mark-room as required by rule <%= rule_link(18.2) %>(b). Because Y in positions 1 through 3 has been given the mark-room to which she was entitled, B is not required to continue to give mark-room, so rule <%= rule_link(18.2) %>(c) no longer applies. Even though Y’s course from position 4 to 5 is her proper course, no rule requires B to give her room to sail that course.
After Y gybes to port she breaks rule <%= rule_link('10') %>. Rule <%= rule_link('15') %> does not apply because it was Y’s change of course that caused B to become right-of-way boat. Rule 16 does not apply because B did not change course after she gained right of way. Rule <%= rule_link('21') %> does not apply because when Y breaks rule 10, she is not sailing within any room or mark-room to which she is entitled.
This call is valid until: 2016-12-31