Forum: The Racing Rules of Sailing
continuous obstruction
Morgan Brodie
Nationality: New Zealand
Certifications:
- Club Judge
0
Hi there
First time posting here, so any feedback welcome,
We sail in a harbour full of sand backs and big tides to staying in and out of tide and pushing the limits ( hitting the banks) is reasonably common
2 boats were sailing along the edge of the sand bank, marked with Markers, this is a dredged back so goes from 10-1m over the period of around 20m, the 2 boats have different draft's the Inside or blue boat at 2m, the outside boat at 3m,
- The yellow boat was sailing what it considered the Closest possible to the bank (3.2m of water for arguments sake),
- between 10-15 Boat lengths from the next channel marker ( not a mark of the course) the Blue boat created a clear overlap inside this boat in around 2.5m of water, the blue boat sailed clear inside with plenty of room, the yellow boat was yelling at the time "you have no room to go in there" but did not have to alter its course
- they carried on for about 5 lengths well overlapped around Bow to mast, at around 3 boat lengths from the marker the yellow boat had no intentions of going inside the marker as it was to shallow for them,
- the Blue boat potentially could have gone inside but called for room to get around the inside of the marker,
- yellow boat had to go down and give the Blue boat room to round,
- yellow boat kept arguing that they should not have gone inside them as there was no room and protested for sailing inside where there was no room, yellow boat does admit it only had to change course at the marker.
If you consider the markers and sand bank are 1 continued obstruction
- I Found that at the time that a clear overlap was established there was room to enter inside, although a deeper draft boat may not have had room,
- as the Yellow boat could not go inside the marker the bank and markers should be considered 1 continuous obstruction,
- as they closed in on the marker, the gap was getting smaller so Blue boat needed room/ water, requested by blue boat,,
if you consider that there was a "continued obstruction" then the marker was a separate "obstruction"
- clear room Inside when Blue got overlapped on yellow
- at the marker Yellow made a call to go below the Obstruction
- Because Yellow made a call to go inside the obstruction they must offer blue room to do so also,
Would you say that blue boat was well within its Rights?
I have tried to include a rough sand bank on the photo for each boat,
First time posting here, so any feedback welcome,
We sail in a harbour full of sand backs and big tides to staying in and out of tide and pushing the limits ( hitting the banks) is reasonably common
2 boats were sailing along the edge of the sand bank, marked with Markers, this is a dredged back so goes from 10-1m over the period of around 20m, the 2 boats have different draft's the Inside or blue boat at 2m, the outside boat at 3m,
- The yellow boat was sailing what it considered the Closest possible to the bank (3.2m of water for arguments sake),
- between 10-15 Boat lengths from the next channel marker ( not a mark of the course) the Blue boat created a clear overlap inside this boat in around 2.5m of water, the blue boat sailed clear inside with plenty of room, the yellow boat was yelling at the time "you have no room to go in there" but did not have to alter its course
- they carried on for about 5 lengths well overlapped around Bow to mast, at around 3 boat lengths from the marker the yellow boat had no intentions of going inside the marker as it was to shallow for them,
- the Blue boat potentially could have gone inside but called for room to get around the inside of the marker,
- yellow boat had to go down and give the Blue boat room to round,
- yellow boat kept arguing that they should not have gone inside them as there was no room and protested for sailing inside where there was no room, yellow boat does admit it only had to change course at the marker.
If you consider the markers and sand bank are 1 continued obstruction
- I Found that at the time that a clear overlap was established there was room to enter inside, although a deeper draft boat may not have had room,
- as the Yellow boat could not go inside the marker the bank and markers should be considered 1 continuous obstruction,
- as they closed in on the marker, the gap was getting smaller so Blue boat needed room/ water, requested by blue boat,,
if you consider that there was a "continued obstruction" then the marker was a separate "obstruction"
- clear room Inside when Blue got overlapped on yellow
- at the marker Yellow made a call to go below the Obstruction
- Because Yellow made a call to go inside the obstruction they must offer blue room to do so also,
Would you say that blue boat was well within its Rights?
I have tried to include a rough sand bank on the photo for each boat,
Comments
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2. Rule 19.2(c) has been satisfied because at the precise moment the O/L was established there was room for Blue to pass between Yellow and the continuing obstruction and nothing prevented Yellow from giving room. (Once the O/L was established, the boats sailed for between 7-12 lengths before reaching 3 lengths from the next marker). Blue was therefore entitled to room at the continuing obstruction. Had Blue been ROW when the O/L was established, Yellow was required to keep clear and give room.
Phil.
For an explanation of the 'freezing' or 'snapshot' method of applying rule 19.2c see
RYA Case RYA2014-04
Other issues raised by the OP are largely issues of fact.
The room B is entitled to is space to pass between Y and the obstruction in the existing conditions in a seamanlike way.
OP narrative says that there was sufficient depth for B to sail inside the channel marker. The question then to be answered is, 'was it seamanlike to do so [in the existing conditions]?'.
On the face of it, seamanlike prudence would require a boat to stay outside the channel marker, particularly if it was an IALA Port or Starboard Lateral Mark.
On the other hand, if it was well known that the channel was dredged and marked to large ship depth, and that channel markers were laid in the channel, (particularly if there was charted safe sailing depth for small boats inside the channel markers), it would be reasonable and seamanlike for a small boat to sail inside the channel marker. It would be necessary to prove that B was aware of this.
Again, OP narrative says there was sufficient depth for B to sail inside the channel marker. Therefore the channel marker did not form part of the continuing obstruction, which was the bank.
I disagree with Norm's generalisation. In my experience, permanent government navigational marks are usually substantial and steel. Seamanlike prudence requires that they be given sufficient clearance. They are more likely to be obstructions than not, but again this is a matter of fact that a protest committee would need to find.
So the shallower draft boat (Blue, yes?) would be entitled to go inside the deeper draft boat at the shoal water. If Blue was on the outside with ROW and Yellow entitled to room at the continuing obstruction, Blue wouldn't be able to drive Yellow any further inshore than Yellow felt safe - Blue would have to give Yellow room at Yellow's continuing obstruction even though absent Yellow, Blue would be able to cut closer inshore.
Another approach might be to add a SI that defines a line connecting the channel marker buoys as a continuing obstruction so nobody is tempted to cut too close to the sand bar and the location of the continuing obstruction is visible and the same for everybody.
The wind is coming across the sand bank so the boats are sailing at 90deg to the wind. Blue boat establishes overlap to windward. So yellow is ROW boat