PART 2


There is a rare divergence between RYA cases and a US Sailing case on this topic. US 92 says ‘“Doubt” refers both to doubts by boats involved in or observing an incident and to doubt by the protest committee.’ There was an exchange of hails on approaching the zone, one boat claiming an overlap, and the other claiming there was none. This was ‘…evidence that there was doubt as to whether the boat had obtained an overlap in time, and therefore it should have been presumed that she had not.’ This is questionable on two grounds. First, if all it takes to switch the onus of proof is a hail, far fewer overlaps will found to have begun. Secondly, RYA 2002/15 claims that the rule ‘is addressed to the protest committee. It does not change rights and obligations on the water…the protest committee was incorrect to say that a dispute at the time of the incident as to whether an overlap had been established meant the automatic operation of the rule. Disagreements of this nature are commonplace, with each boat firmly believing herself to be in the right. Rule 18.2(e) puts no additional obligations on a boat when her claim is denied [by the other boat]. The rule is an aid to the protest committee when evidence given by all parties at the hearing is inconclusive.’ In addition to the merits of these competing arguments, it should be noted that a version of US 92 was submitted to World Sailing for adoption as a World Sailing case, but was not accepted.


No hail is required to establish or deny any right under rules 18 and 19. A hail is just an opinion expressed at the time, evidence of which will assist any subsequent protest. The more precise the hail, the more difficult it will be to dispute the facts later. A good sequence of hails approaching a mark’s zone might be ‘Four lengths – overlapped…three lengths – overlapped, room please…two lengths – still overlapped, I need more room1


.’


The fact that an overlap can be asserted to exist over a period of time will help offset the difficulty of judging distances, as coaches often prove to their charges with a ‘boat-park shuffle’ of boats on trailers. The person at the helm of a boat that is claiming a small overlap when the boat ahead enters the zone will be nearly five lengths from the mark at the actual moment of mark entry.


18.3


Tacking in the Zone If a boat in the zone of a mark to be left to port passes head to wind from port to starboard tack and is then fetching the mark, she shall not cause a boat that has been on starboard tack since entering the zone to sail above close-hauled to avoid contact and she shall give mark-room if that boat becomes overlapped inside her. When this rule applies between boats, rule 18.2 does not apply between them.


If this rule applies, it will spring into life the instant the tacking boat passes head to wind: before then, no part of rule 18 applied, because of rule 18.1(a), or, if the non-tacking boat is sailing below close-hauled having been above the layline, because of rule 18.1(b). The rule’s intention is to promote orderly windward mark rounding and to deter port-tackers from tacking on the mark to spoil the day of boats that tacked on the starboard-tack layline further from the mark.


The rule does not change any rule of Sections A and B, which still apply as if the mark were not there. So rule 13 applies to the tacking boat, and her tack must be complete far enough from the non-tacker to comply with rule 15 if she acquires right-of-way2


. If she breaks either of these rules, the question of considering whether rule


18.3 has also been broken is less important. If the tacking boat tacks to a leeward overlap or to a clear-ahead position, the non-tacking boat must keep clear once she is required to do so by rules 11 or 12, and rule 14 still applies, even if the boat that tacks is breaking rule 18.3: since a boat that is breaking only rule 18.3 can usually be avoided by the non-tacking boat, the rule 18.3 breach will not compel any breach of rules 11, 12 or 14, and so the non-tacking boat will not be entitled to exoneration under rule 64.1(a) if she does in fact break one of those rules.


1 My experience from observing afloat in Italy is that a hail of ‘Aqua’ serves both for room hails and ‘Starboard’ hails. Elsewhere, ‘Oy, oy, oy’ is a


common all-purpose hail, as is a loud whistle. 2 She will not acquire right of way at a mark to be left to port if she crosses ahead and the other boat becomes overlapped to leeward before the tacking boat reaches a close-hauled starboard-tack course – a ‘slam-dunk’. The tacking boat will have been the keep-clear boat at all times, under rules 10, 13 and then 11.


80 RYA The Racing Rules Explained


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