PART 2
If S, in luffing after passing the stern of the committee boat, did not give P enough room to keep clear, then S broke rule 16.1. P broke rule 10, but was compelled to do so because S broke rule 16.1, and so P is to be exonerated. So a keep-clear boat is not required to anticipate a right-of-way boat’s alteration of course1
.
When a right-of-way boat alters course to comply with rule 14, she will be exonerated if in the process she breaks rule 16.1, whether with regard to the boat she is avoiding2 process of avoiding contact with the second boat3
, or with regard for a third boat that she affects in the . However, if the right-of-way boat luffs (or bears away) to avoid
contact, breaking rule 16.1 in the process, and if rule 14 could have been complied with by instead bearing away (or by luffing), then exoneration is not possible, because the right-of-way boat was not compelled to break rule 16.14
.
A right-of-way boat may change course in such a way that a keep-clear boat is newly obliged to take action to keep clear, until a further alteration of course would deprive the give-way boat of room to do so5
.
The room to which a keep-clear boat is entitled may be greater if she has a spinnaker set. If while she is flying it the only way she can respond to a course-change by the right-of-way boat is to bear away, and if she does so promptly but unsuccessfully, she has not been given sufficient room6
.
. If she is luffed to the point where her
spinnaker ceases to draw, she is entitled to room to drop it, but she must do so promptly, and she cannot complain if, having not dropped her spinnaker when she needed to do it, she is forced further to windward and possibly onto the opposite tack. This applies regardless of whether L has a spinnaker set7
The definition Room now explicitly incorporates the principle in WS 114, that room includes the space a boat needs to comply with her obligation to another boat under a rule of Part 2, or the room she needs to avoid touching a mark.
Therefore, when a leeward of three or more boats luffs, she must give room (i.e., time to respond) to all of those other boats, each of which must respond promptly to the luff of the boat to leeward of her8
. So when L, M and W
are overlapped with L to leeward, W to windward and M between them, then L, if she luffs, must give M sufficient room (by not luffing too quickly) for W to keep clear. Likewise, it is not seamanlike to touch a mark, regardless of how soft or hard, or how large or small it is. So when boats are approaching a starting mark to start, a leeward boat must not luff the windward boat into the mark9
.
1 RYA 1993/5 makes a similar point, namely that the fact that a boat on the course side of the starting line before her starting signal can be expected to try to return, but if she is a right-of-way boat that bears away before her starting signal, her bear-way must comply with rule 16.1. The application or otherwise of rules 15 and 16 at marks and obstructions is considered under Rules 18 to 20. Exoneration for not keeping clear
when insufficient room is being given is discussed under rule 21. 2 WS 88, RYA 2002/5 3 US 12 4 SC 55 5 RYA 1991/1 6 RYA 2002/2 7 MR call G2: while this is a match racing call, it would appear a sensible interpretation for all racing. 8 RYA 2003/1: the same principle applies if S bears away towards a number of overlapped Ps. 9 WS 114
RYA The Racing Rules Explained 55
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