PART 3


A decision of this sort can be very frustrating to the virtuous but less-sharp competitors who go all the way to a mark to loop it when in fact it may be treated as a ‘passing mark’ and never approached. They have not broken rule 28.1, since, if it is a port-hand mark, when they loop it their string will leave it to only port as required (and vice versa). Might they be entitled to redress? The Deva appeal and the Poole Harbour questions from the club, both RYA cases, suggest that there was no improper action by the race committee, just low-grade course planning, unless boats were put in harm’s way. I think that a race committee would be entitled to abandon the race, either during or even after the race, under rule 32.1(d) as a reason directly affecting the safety or fairness of the competition. If that was contested by a request for redress, the abandonment (as opposed to the setting of a poor course) would not appear to be improper.


US 103 comes to the same conclusion as the RYA’s Deva case, based on similar facts. Rule J2.1(5) requires that sailing instructions ‘identify all rounding marks.’ When a mark is not specified as a rounding mark, or the requirement is ambiguous, a boat that loops it complies with rule 28.2 – but so does a boat that passes it on the required side, but at a distance.


The string test at a gate mark


As with a rounding mark, a gate can be explicitly identified, as with two leeward marks described in the sailing instructions as ‘2a- 2b (gate)’. It is for the boat to decide which of the two marks to round, and her string will pass between the marks and caught on the chosen mark. The requirement to round is implicit, not explicit. The commonest mistake, which can happen after an incident with other boats or a capsize, is not to comply with the explicit requirement to pass between the gate marks, either by rounding both of them, or passing through after rounding, not before. Blue’s string is correct, but the string of both Yellows is incorrect (fig 1).


A gate can also be implicitly created when the sailing instructions fig 1


require a boat to pass through what was the starting line at the end of each lap, usually for recording purposes. If this happens upwind, there is no requirement for the string to touch any starting mark, just to pass between them1


Right and Wrong at a Finishing Line The string test at a finishing mark


WS 106 shows that what is true at a starting mark, as in WS 90, is equally true at a finishing mark.


Course from the last mark


Finishing line


The case as published relates only to Blue, saying ‘When the course requires boats to pass between two marks at a finishing line or at a gate, a boat complies with rule 28.2 if the string representing her track when drawn taut passes between the marks from the direction of the previous mark. She complies with rule 28.2 even if the string also passes one mark of the finishing line or gate on the non-required side2


.’ fig 2


Contrast this with Yellow’s finish (fig 2), which has been added to the case diagram. Her first crossing of the finishing line is not a finish, as it is not in the direction of the course from the last mark (WS 129).


When she turns back to cross the finishing line from the correct direction, and now finishes as defined, without further correction the taut string will never lie as required with the correct side nearer the required mark. Yellow may unwind to correct her mistake (see overleaf), otherwise she will be recorded as finished, but may be protested.


1 Listing the starting line as part of the course is nothing new, but rule 28.2(c) makes it more clearly legitimate. 2 The case is clearly correct, but perhaps the words are clumsy – it is the boat that has the ‘side’ for the purpose of the rule, and she leaves the committee boat to port at all times.


128 RYA The Racing Rules Explained . Right and Wrong at a Gate


Course from the last mark


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172  |  Page 173  |  Page 174  |  Page 175  |  Page 176  |  Page 177  |  Page 178  |  Page 179  |  Page 180  |  Page 181  |  Page 182  |  Page 183  |  Page 184  |  Page 185  |  Page 186  |  Page 187  |  Page 188  |  Page 189  |  Page 190  |  Page 191  |  Page 192  |  Page 193  |  Page 194  |  Page 195  |  Page 196  |  Page 197  |  Page 198  |  Page 199  |  Page 200  |  Page 201  |  Page 202  |  Page 203  |  Page 204  |  Page 205  |  Page 206  |  Page 207  |  Page 208  |  Page 209  |  Page 210  |  Page 211  |  Page 212  |  Page 213  |  Page 214  |  Page 215  |  Page 216  |  Page 217  |  Page 218  |  Page 219  |  Page 220  |  Page 221  |  Page 222  |  Page 223  |  Page 224  |  Page 225  |  Page 226  |  Page 227  |  Page 228  |  Page 229  |  Page 230  |  Page 231  |  Page 232  |  Page 233  |  Page 234  |  Page 235  |  Page 236  |  Page 237  |  Page 238  |  Page 239  |  Page 240  |  Page 241  |  Page 242  |  Page 243  |  Page 244  |  Page 245  |  Page 246  |  Page 247  |  Page 248  |  Page 249  |  Page 250  |  Page 251  |  Page 252  |  Page 253  |  Page 254  |  Page 255  |  Page 256