12/10/19 CROSSING SITUATIONS (CONTINUED).

December 10, 2019

RULES AND CROSSING SITUATIONS (CONTINUED)

CHRIS HOFMANN

This was another excellent presentation by Chris about crossing situations. There was a lot of audience participation and kudos to Chris for keeping order with multiple participants in the discussion.

The discussion started with a situation where a port boat is approaching a starboard boat.  The port boats hails “tack or cross”.  The starboard boat can hail either “tack”, “cross” or “starboard”.  If the starboard boat hails “cross” starboard must avoid the port tack boat, even if he must alter course.  By hailing “starboard” the indication is “I have right of way, do not cross unless you are sure you can clear me”.  In any event, the starboard boat should avoid contact (rule 14).  In a close situation, the starboard boat should dip to avoid collision.  In a situation where it is not close (possible T-bone), a protest should be hailed and STILL avoid contact.

A lengthy discussion ensued about the port tack boat Lee-bowing the starboard boat.  Mike Gross presented a dynamic demonstration of how the wind approaches and wraps around a boat and how to use this “altered wind” in when lee-bowing.  In short, the wind on the leeward side of the windward boat accelerates and if you are lee-bowing a windward boat, you can capitalize on the accelerated wind and pull ahead of a windward boat while also slowing them down with disturbed wind from your sails.  The ultimate concept presented by Fred Molnar was that if you cannot comfortably cross in front of a boat, you should not attempt a lee-bow.

There was discussion about how to protest a boat that has fouled you.  In short, you must hail the word “PROTEST”.   Anything else said does not count!  “Do your turns”, “You just fouled me” do not count.  You must hail “PROTEST”.  You must also fly a red flag (immediately) indicating you are protesting the actions of the other boat.  People that are really prepared for racing will have a red flag tucked away on the body somewhere to be able to comply with the “immediate flying of a red flag” requirement.  It is important to be aware that the protesting boat MUST appear at the protest hearing to present the case.  I once filed a protest in a national regatta, but never showed up to the protest hearing so it was dropped.

I think the biggest point of the evening was the acronym presented by Chris: IWIWHD.  This acronym stands for “I WISH I WOULD HAVE DUCKED” and refers to the situation where a port boat is sailing in front of a starboard boat and not quite clearing. It is much better for starboard  to duck to avoid contact than to keep on your course and collide and then protest. 

There was also discussion about the penalty for fouling another boat.  The RRS indicated a 2 turn penalty for fouling another boat.  The final word on this is indicated in the sailing instructions which will frequently indicate a 1 turn penalty for fouling another boat.  So if you are a port boat, and you think you can clear a starboard boat and they protest you, you can do your turn(s) to exonerate yourself.  For our Tuesday night sails the sailing instructions (as indicated on the back of the course card) is a one turn or a 270 degree turn to exonerate (#4 on the course card).

A good reference for crossing situations can be found at: https://www.yachtingworld.com/5-tips/5-tips-port-starboard-cross-simplest-rule-70870

These crossing situations can be close calls.  I remember once when it was certain I was going to clear a starboard boat and a power boat crossed in front of me and it’s wake slowed me down enough that I didn’t clear.  It is important to consider all aspects of a crossing situation. 

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Something that was not discussed is the concept that a person on the bow can be gauging the crossing and will see that he is clearing the starboard boat while the guy at the stern (assessing the range) indicates you will not cross.  In this situation, you are headed for a T-bone situation unless someone alters course. The part of the boat that must CLEAR a starboard tack boat is the stern, the person judging the ability to cross MUST be at the stern of the port boat.

Because of the impending holidays we will not be meeting for the next 3 weeks.  Keep an eye on your e-mail for the next meeting announcement.  We will continue with rules in the next few meetings (after the holidays), but many people have expressed interest in presenting.  Homer Lighthall would like to talk about modifications to improve boat speed.  Some people would like to talk about destinations they have sailed.  Stay tuned for future topics to be presented.

Thanks to all of you for your participation.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

12/3/2019 TRS: RULES GOVERNING CROSSING SITUATIONS

DECEMBER 3, 2019

TRS: RULES GOVERNING CROSSING SITUATIONS

CHRIS HOFMANN AND FRED MOLNAR

This was a fantastic presentation and introduction to the racing rules of sailing.  Reference sources were presented and examples of protests and resolution of appeals were explained.  There was active participation and questions from many of the 30 people that attended.

Some other websites that may be interesting regarding racing rules.

An animated Rules Quiz (poke around a bit, there is a lot there):  http://game.finckh.net/indexe.htm

RacingRulesOfSailing.org, a GREAT site with the rules, links to the cases and appeals, and a discussion forum:  https://www.racingrulesofsailing.org/

Another site is:   https://www.sailing.org/documents/racingrules/index.php

Below is the simple, one-page explanation of the rules of racing from the Latitude 38 web site.  In the first paragraph is a reference to the US sailing web site for the rules of sailing. 

 Examples for this presentation were taken from the “case book” of protests, appeals and resolution.  The web site for this case book is:   www.sailing.org/documents/caseandcall/case-book.php

We made it though these cases in the case book website on Tuesday night.

Case 17  Definition of tacking and on a tack.

Case 6 starboard tack boat changing course

Case 3 room to tack at obstruction – port boats as an obstruction to oncoming starboard boat

Case 10 room to tack at an obstruction two boats on starboard-tack keeping clear of unresponsive port tack boat

Case 11 allow a boat to pass on the same side of the obstruction. If you duck you must allow other boats room to duck too

A few more crossing situations are on the plan for the next session, then we will start into mark roundings.  In particular we will look at some of the situations that often appear at black point buoy after the start in the easterly since its a short leg and often we have lots of boats in close quarters at that mark.

-Chris

The plan is to continue to pull from the case book.  The following cases (from the web site) will be discussed in the coming weeks. If you want, you can check these out for discussion on Tuesday.

Case 17  Definition of tacking and on a tack.

Case 6 starboard tack boat changing course  

Case 3 room to tack at obstruction – port boats as an obstruction to oncoming starboard boat

Case 10 room to tack at an obstruction two boats on starboard-tack keeping clear of unresponsive port tack boat

Case 11 allow a boat to pass on the same side of the obstruction. If you duck you must allow other boats room to duck too

Case 54 room to tack at an obstruction.

Case 9 starboard tack boat not required to tack on a starboard windward mark rounding

Case 15 port boats approaching a port tack rounding

Case 27 port tack boat flops to starboard without enough room.

I learned a lot from Tuesday’s presentation, but my biggest takeaway was that a starboard boat cannot change course in a crossing situation, even with a shift (header or lift) in the wind.

There is a lot of information and many websites referenced in this blog that should provide a source of information for anyone that wants to delve deeper into the topic.

We will continue this discussion next Tuesday with the barbecue open from 5:15 to 5:45. Seminar will start at 6pm.

See you next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

Latitude 38's Basic Racing Guidelines

Since sailboat racing is a recreational sport, we think the number one rule should be to have fun. Beyond that, some basic guidelines help prevent collisions and ensure that racing is both fun and fair. Below is an outline of the ten basic rules which cover most racing situations. For completeness and total accuracy, refer to Racing Rules of Sailing 2013-2016, published by US Sailing. See www.ussailing.org/rules for details.

1. Port tack keep clear of starboard tack.

2. If boats are on the same tack, and overlapped, the windward boat must keep clear of the boat to leeward.

3. If boats are on the same tack, a boat clear astern must keep clear of a boat clear ahead.

4. When tacking or jibing, keep clear of boats on a tack.

5. Avoid collisions. If you have the right of way and hit the other boat, causing damage or injury, you both will be penalized.

6. Don’t obstruct. Don’t make it hard for the ‘keep clear’ boat to do so. (No hunting allowed.)

7. Sail the course prescribed. You have to round the marks in the directions specified in the Sailing Instructions and can’t touch a mark.

8. Proper Course (same tack, within two hull lengths). If the leeward boat came from astern, leeward boat shall not sail above its own proper course during the overlap. (Remember that the windward boat still has to keep clear, even if windward is forced above what it believes is windward’s proper course. Leeward still has right of way.)

9. Give room at marks and obstructions to yachts overlapped on the inside, except:
a. When the overlap did not exist before the lead boat reaches the three-boatlength zone.
b. When approaching a windward mark on opposite tack.
c. At a starting mark surrounded by navigable water. That is, you don’t have to let a barger in at the start except to avoid collision (then protest).

10. Acknowledge your fouls and protest those who don’t.

A free rule book comes with US Sailing membership. The new rule books are printed on waterproof paper! See www.ussailing.org.