Forum: The Racing Rules of Sailing
Leeward Gate Mark - Room Required?
Eric Meyn
Nationality: United States
0
If the course is using a gate for the downwind mark and a port tack boat is overlapped with a starboard tack boat when the starboard tack boat enters the zone, and they intend to round opposite ends of the gate without gybing, does the starboard tack boat have to give "room", since they are not rounding the same end of the gate?
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As it is a gate, R 18.4 does not apply.
John
I disagree with this interpretation.
Rule 18.1 does not factor in “what they are heading for” (the intent) of the racer, it is a factual test based on the factors listed in 18.1.
When going thru a gate, boats are required to pass between the gate-marks, therefore they “are required to leave a mark on the same side”. If also, “ at least one of them is in the zone.”, then we move onto 18.1(a-d), which none apply.
18 applies between these boats if one of them is inside the zone of one of the gate-marks and they are overlapped, relative to the zone of the gate mark one of them is in.
The real complication comes when the zones overlap enough that you can't tell how the rule 18 obligations. Then you really have to look at what 'regular' rules a boat may have broken and then decide whether the boat is sailing within the room she is entitled to to determine if she will be exonerated for breaking that rule. This is the proper way to approach rule 18 for the inside boat. Decide what rules were broken and then look at exoneration. For the outside boat it is simply whether she gave the room required.
So I guess the answer is that the SB boat is the stand on boat based on her tack and the only way that changes is if the P boat changes her mind, tacks in the zone for the left mark to the inside of SB and doesn't point high enough to cause SB to luff in her attempt to give room.
If Yellow (in my diagrams) were to change her mind and gybe toward the right-hand mark, she would be entitled to room to sail from her gybe point to the mark and Blue would have to give her that room.
How about this?
Unrelated to the question at hand but what software are you guys using to make the diagrams of the situations? This could come in very handy for some of the rules discussions I give at our local club. Thanks!
In your scenario, which is still interesting, the first boat in the zone is P and is not on a collision course. But (and I may be wrong here) yellow gybes in the zone and even if the resulting position put her inside of blue, she wouldn't have room rights because of the gybe? And blue still retains the room rights she had at the point that she had overlap on yellow when yellow entered the zone, so blue doesn't have to alter course, even as the windward boat?
How about this situation?
Tim H, the yellow (inside) boat would be entitled to mark room if she has overlap when the first boat entered the zone. But yellow has to gybe. And I'm going through all the caveats in Rule 18 and I can't find anything that would negate her room rights because she didn't pass head to wind and she didn't start off as the stand-on boat. She ends up being windward after the gybe but I think her room rights still stand in this case.
How about the Gate 3 scenario where Yellow crosses & then gybes to the right-hand mark?
Now you’re just being mean :-)
Better? ;-)
It still isn't that hard though once you remember that it doesn't matter which mark you are going to, all the rights, obligations, and limitations in the rules apply. So you...
In Gate 5a.
Let's assume the boats continue straight after position 3
If the marks weren't there
The end result is that B breaks 10 and 18.2(b) and is not exonerated for breaking either rule. Y does not break any rules and does not need exoneration. B is DSQ.
Easy-peasy.
Note, in match racing, they intentionally set the gate about 3 boat lengths wide so that the zones overlap and create this situation on purpose!
At 1, Yellow is on port & Blue is on starboard, overlapped and approaching a gate mark. Blue is aiming for the right-hand mark (looking downwind) and Yellow is aiming for the left-hand mark.
At 2, the boats reach the zone of the right-hand gate mark. As drawn Yellow reaches the zone first but I don’t think it really matters. They are overlapped with Yellow inside with respect to the right-hand mark. Yellow is entitled to mark room. Yellow gybes to go to the right-hand mark, becoming windward keep clear boat on starboard.
Blue went from starboard ROW to leeward ROW as a result of Yellow’s action so rule 15 does not apply, but Yellow’s gybe does not end her entitlement to mark-room.
At 3 it appears that mark-room is not being given by Blue. On valid protest, penalize Blue for breaking 18.2(b). If contact occurs between boats (without damage or injury) or if Yellow hits the mark, Yellow is exonerated by RRS 43.
Anyone want to try Scenario 3? Or 5/5a [looks like John already did it…]?
I think what I take away from it is (a) this is a good illustration of why it's important to set your gate mark up properly (b) if the boats do indeed go to opposite ends of the gate then it's a simple Rule 10 situation and (c) when the first boat enters the zone and there is overlap, both boats need to know who has room rights at that point and watch very carefully for any last minute decisions that result in both boats going to the same mark. And if either boat is at all in doubt of who has rights to room, just avoid a collision and win it on the next leg.
Thanks again for the info.