Forum: The Racing Rules of Sailing

Room to tack at an obstruction

Colin Huggett
Nationality: Canada
Rule 20 allows a boat to hail for room to tack if she is “approaching an obstruction and will soon need to make a substantial course change as a result.” But  how soon is “soon”??  

In our local situation the obstruction is a large wharf just upwind and to port of the start. It has plenty of water around it but a wind shadow to leeward. Boats approaching it on  starboard routinely need to hail any trailing boats to windward for room to tack. They would like to hail as early as possible so they can tack and avoid the wind shadow of the pier. The trailing boat would of course like to force them to wait until they are in the wind shadow.  

  • Can a boat hail for room to tack when it is (for example) still 8 or 9 boat lengths out from the obstruction or must it wait until the need to tack is more urgent?  
  • How soon is “ soon”?  The trailing boat, when hailed, has no choice but to either tack or hail “you tack”,  but if it tacks and then protests the hailing boat on the basis that it hailed “too soon”, what is the test?  
  • Can the hailing boat simply say “I knew I would soon have to tack, so I hailed. It is irrelevant whether tactical considerations caused me to hail sooner than I might have if there had been a tactical advantage to delaying my tack.”
Created: 21-Aug-03 12:56

Comments

Leo Reise
Nationality: Canada
Certifications:
  • International Judge
0
RRS 20 is an interesting rule.  It is the boat nearest the "danger" point that gets to make the call.
And whether you may agree or not, if they call for room to tack, the hailed boat has three choices: 
a - tack as soon as possible
b - hail "yout tack" and then keep clear
c - hail "protest" as she completes either "a" or "b"

See World Sailing Case 33, 54, & 113 if it applies

Case 54 may give you more insight into the timing.




Created: 21-Aug-03 13:22
Peter Thomas Hansen
Nationality: Norway
Certifications:
  • National Umpire
  • National Measurer
  • National Judge
  • Regional Race Officer
0
Case 33 - answer 1, second sentence gives a good identication on how soon is too soon:
quote:  "...To avoid breaking rule 20.1(a), SL most not hail before *the time when she needs to begin the prosess described in rule 20 to avoid the obstruction safely*. 

Created: 21-Aug-03 13:34
‫Shlomo Goldstein
Nationality: Israel
Certifications:
  • International Judge
  • National Umpire
  • International Race Officer
3
before rule 20 read carfuly the definiton obstraction. than decide if the obstraction is the wind shadow area or the wharf. after it rule 20 is very simple.
Created: 21-Aug-03 13:35
Craig Priniski
Nationality: United States
Certifications:
  • Club Race Officer
0
 How soon is judgement on the part of the hailing boat, it wouldn't be appropriate to force them to crash tack at the obstruction, but how soon is too soon?  A wind shadow is not an Obstruction So of course the inside, hailing boat is only entitled to hail when approaching the pier. 
The answer is yes when there is a difference of opinion it goes to the room, and I'd say it'll be a tough case to win.  Document everything (seconds, boat lengths, witnesses)  so it's not a total he said-she said protest. The hailing boat, if wise, would never say it was tactical at all because that's not permitted under the rule.  I Think of Mark Room, Room to clear the obstruction in a seaman like manner. That being said Without the hailing boat or witness corroborating they tacked earlier than needed it's a hard one to win. 

Another difficult one: I sail at a couple venues where the start line is a pier, and that means the inside boat can essentially tack the entire fleet, however they have to hail in time for the boats to respond, how soon before the start can you hail for room at a continuous obstruction....
Created: 21-Aug-03 13:45
Al Sargent
Nationality: United States
0
I'm not a judge, but offering my perspective as someone that's sailed in similar venues: Clipper Cove/Treasure Island, and Cityfront, both in San Francisco Bay, where boats approach a shoreline on starboard tack, and thus boats that tack to clear the shore are on port.

My perspective on your questions:

Can a boat hail for room to tack when it is (for example) still 8 or 9 boat lengths out from the obstruction or must it wait until the need to tack is more urgent?

It's significant that Rule 20 uses "soon", a measure of time, rather than "close", a measure of distance. You're talking about 8 or 9 boatlengths, a measure of *distance*, but Rule 20 uses a measure of time ("soon"). The time to cover 8 or 9 boatlengths is very very different for, say, foiling boats in breeze, versus boats in no wind.

So, I'd suggest you reframe your question to, "How many seconds in advance can someone request room?"

If I were on a jury, I'd say 3-5 seconds in advance, assuming the boat on your hip can respond.

How do you ensure that the boat on your hip can respond? One practice that works well in crowded, windy, close-to-shore venues like the San Francisco Cityfront is to say, "In 10 seconds, I WILL need room." This is a signal to the boat(s) on your hip to start to prepare for a tack so they can respond immediately once you request room. Then count down "5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 - room!" This practice means that boats don't have to request searoom several seconds before they actually need it, as a hedge in case the boat on their hip is blocking them.

Now, if a boat sails into a wind shadow, they're going to slow down. Assuming boats need a 3-5 second warning, that means they'll need to get quite close to the wharf given how slowly they're moving through the water. Perhaps as close as one boatlength. (This situation is similar to our venue at Clipper Cove, where a wind shadow extends several boatlengths out from high cliffs.)

Question about the wharf: are there people fishing off of it, and if so, how far are they casting their lines? Seems quite likely that any fishing lines would go out further than 8 or 9 boatlengths, and I'm guessing they'd count as an obstruction.
Created: 21-Aug-03 17:11
Philip Hubbell
Nationality: United States
Certifications:
  • Club Race Officer
  • Judge In Training
0
Would a port rounding mark before the obstruction urge more boats to tack to the right side of the course after starting and avoid the wharf?
Created: 21-Aug-03 18:41
Craig Priniski
Nationality: United States
Certifications:
  • Club Race Officer
0
Philip,
At my home dinghy club where we run the races from the club house, we set an inner marker for the line and define it in the SIs as such (boats must start between the marker and the pin) the clubhouse is the "boat" but you can see how that could be problematic...  It's an old school club races solution from before we all got obsessed with the perfect W-L course and perfect start line. 
Created: 21-Aug-03 18:46
Eric Meyn
Nationality: United States
0
In my opinion, unless the wind shadow would cause a collision with the obstruction, hailing before necessary to avoid collision with the obstruction would validate a protest from the right of way boat. 
Created: 21-Aug-04 14:53
P
Angelo Guarino
Nationality: United States
Certifications:
  • Regional Judge
  • Fleet Measurer
0
Craig, "... Document everything (seconds, boat lengths, witnesses)  so it's not a total he said-she said protest" 

This is great advise not only at obstructions and Rule 20's but also Rule 18.3 as well.

  • If you are approaching a windward mark on port and "think" you are outside the 3 BL's circle, but want to be sure ... start counting seconds out-loud (or stopwatch function on your watch) as soon as you pass HTW and record how long it takes to get to the mark as well as your speed as you approach.  For a J/105 ..  6kts ~ 3.1m/s .. so just over 6kts is about 3 sec's per BL.
  • If you are called by another boat for room to tack, and your response is to tack, start counting out-loud (so your crew can hear) as soon as you pass HTW.  If they don't start their tack within 1-2 sec's of you passing HTW, I might think to protest.  They should be watching and ready to tack ASAP if they've called for room to tack.  Sometimes boats will call for room to tack and then delay their tack to grab some vertical separation to windward (avoid the wind shadow) .. this is not part of the room they are entitled to.
Created: 21-Aug-04 16:15
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