I've been teaching the RRS for some years now and whilst 10-17 are pretty good rules, but I find that 18, 19 and 20 are just too complex for casual sailors to comprehend off the water, let alone whilst racing.
Some clubs instead use colregs, but they are entirely unsuitable for contested marks. Ultimately we end up teaching simplifications like "just go round the outside". This is a safe simplification, but it's not ideal to have to tell the competitors that it is best to ignore the details of the rules!
So I'm wondering if it is possible to come up with a simplification of 18, 19 and 20 for club racing that would be broadly compatible with the normal RRS. Something that the majority of club racers could remember and apply on the water.
This is my attempt:
Simplified Racing Rules – 18S to 20S
These rules replace Rules 18–20 of the Racing Rules of Sailing for casual club racing.
All other rules, including Rules 10–17 on right-of-way and general limitations, remain unchanged.
18S. Marks
(a) Marks of the course, other than starting marks, are treated as obstructions, and Rule 19S applies.
(b) If within her zone, a boat becomes the right-of-way boat through her own actions, then she shall give the keep-clear boat room to pass the mark.
(c) If a boat establishes an inside overlap within her zone, and the outside boat is fetching the mark, then the outside boat must not be forced to alter course to avoid contact.
19S. Passing Obstructions
At an obstruction, an outside right-of-way boat will give an overlapped inside keep-clear boat room to pass the obstruction, unless it was not possible to do so from the moment the overlap was established.
20S. Tacking at an Obstruction
If a boat must tack to safely avoid an obstruction, she may hail other boat(s) for room to tack. The hailed boat(s) must respond as soon as reasonably possible by either tacking or hailing “you tack.” The hailing boat must then immediately tack.
The intention of these alternative rules is to let right of way do most of the work and only introduce an additional rule when a keep clear boat needs room. Late tacking at marks is discouraged by 18(b). Late overlaps at marks is discouraged by 18(c). Hailing for room to tack at a mark is discouraged by making it only for safely avoiding an obstruction.
Would these rules work? How different in practise to the real 18-20 are they? What are the problem cases? Would there be a problem if boats racing under these rules interacted with boats under the normal 18-20?
Why not use the DN right-of-way rules ?
They have been working SAFELY since almost a century and hold on a single page of paper...
https://www.dniceboat.org/dn-class-info/rules/
When I have been asked to explain 18 to a general gathering: Clear ahead at the zone, you go around first. Overlapped at the zone, inside goes around first. If in doubt, go outside.
Mostly correct - with the added statement, sailing is not a contact sport.
Just my thoughts.
A rule that competitors don't understand fully is useless at avoiding the complex situations it describes. A simpler just go round the outside rule is easy to understand and enforce.
It might not always be exactly fair, but that's a different matter.
I don't disagree that there are many erratic sailors who have insufficient knowledge of the rules. That's a general problem and I fully support (and participate) in efforts at club level to increase knowledge of the rules.
But I also think there are many fine sailors, with a good working knowledge of the rules but who still do not understand the complexities of 18, 19 and 20.
For example, two boats on starboard layline to a starboard upwind rounding: initially 18 will apply to them and 18.2(a) will give one of them mark room; one of them tacks to round the mark, now 18.2(a) is turned off by passing head to wind and all of 18 is turned off because boats are on opposite tacks; then the other boat tacks as well and 18 switches back on, but now 18.2(c) applies to determine which of them has mark room. This is a bizarrely complex change of rules switches that can happen in seconds or less. It mostly doesn't affect how sailors round the mark, because you can't react to such short transient rule switches.... except when it does because perhaps one of the boats under laid to mark, tacked onto port and thought they were protected by mark-room and that tacking was just rounding the mark. I have seen many rule-induced-collisions as a result of this kind of situation!
Simply rule 18 while at the same time keeping the game the same as much as possible. I think they did a really good job with their proposal ... but that is all it was ... a proposal to WS. WS then made the adjustments they wanted to see.
I think it would cause more confusion than solve to have 2 sets of rules which are so different.
I'm not trying to avoid game changers. I'm proposing rules that better match how the game is actually played on the water at the club level, whilst making the sailing much safer by having comprehensible rules. People have died in club racing collisions, and whilst I don't know if rules contributed to any particular fatality, I do know that rules confusion has caused many non-fatal collisions at club level.
With the current game, too often boats collide with both skippers convinced they are in the right and amazed that the other boat is acting as they do. Most skippers are aware of the zone and that your mark rounding rights are somewhat set as the zone is entered, but yet there are still late established overlaps at pretty much every twilight race I've been in. Sometimes they are from erratic idiots, but often it is just circumstances of big fleets and no brakes. With the current rules, they should not do it, but it happens. The outside boats get all agro about it and start yelling rather than reacting.... legs are between boats... it's a mess! The current rules do not prevent this even though we run regular training and stress these points.
I think my proposal is better in this regard as it treats marks as obstructions and doesn't care when an overlap is established. If somebody gets inside you, then go around the outside if you can. If this was considered the norm, then there would be less angst and yelling when an inside overlap is established. If you don't want them inside you, then don't open the door. There are issues with late established overlaps, but I think my clauses 18(b) and 18(c) resolve the safety issues of those, plus most of the fairness issues as well.
I had not seen Dave Perry's proposal before (https://www.ussailing.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022-Test-Rule-18-Information.pdf), so I will have a read and consider...
Meanwhile, what is the most significant game changer you see in my proposal? Give me your worst scenario that my simplified rules would just not handle!
cheers
I've had a quick read of David Perry's proposal. I think it is primarily a cleanup and simplification of the wording, but fundamentally works the same way that the current rule 18 does. I.E. it is all about being "entitled to mark-room", which I think is a really bad psychology ! Once a person thinks they are "entitled" they start acting "entitled" and that normally is not good.
The RRS are minimally about who has ROW and mostly then about putting limitations on that ROW. My proposed 18, 19, 20 try to build on that good psychology. These rules are putting limits on the power of ROW, they are not entitling anybody. If skippers are thinking about sailing within their limitations rather than taking advantage of their entitlements, then things will go a lot better!
Ah .. I see where you are coming from (and where you are missing a key component).
Being entitled to "room" is part of what the RRS are "minimally about". Mark-room is fundamentally just "room" to do 3 things in relation to a mark.
Without "room", we don't have 15 or 16 (2 of the limits in ROW boats) ... or 19, the rule you based your new 18 on ... the "entitlement" problem you cite is pervasive even in your concept.