PART 2 What is an obstruction?


Definition Obstruction An object that a boat could not pass without changing course substantially, if she were sailing directly towards it and one of her hull lengths from it. An object that can be safely passed on only one side and an area so designated by the sailing instructions are also obstructions. However, a boat racing is not an obstruction to other boats unless they are required to keep clear of her, or, if rule 23 applies, avoid her. A vessel under way, including a boat racing, is never a continuing obstruction.


At its simplest, an obstruction is a stationary object or feature, like a boat on moorings.


When the sailing instructions, club rules or a local byelaw identify an area as ‘prohibited’, that does not automatically make the area an obstruction. Rule 19 (and rule 20) become applicable only when the sailing instructions identify it as an obstruction. This might apply at a zone bounded by specified buoys, or identified by chart co-ordinates (for instance a Traffic Separation Scheme that the sailing instructions say boats must not enter1


). ‘Government buoys marking a security zone are not obstructions except insofar as an individual buoy is large enough to be an obstruction in its own right. Boats may pass such obstructions on either side unless the sailing instructions prohibit sailing inside the security zone. A boat cannot be penalised under the racing rules for violating government regulations related to a prohibited zone unless the sailing instructions make the regulations a ‘rule governing the event2


.’


A starting line before the starting signal is not an obstruction, and a boat finding herself being legitimately luffed to an OCS position cannot ask for room to stop this happening. Likewise, I believe that when sailing instructions say that boats shall not cross a line from the committee boat to a buoy near her and approximately on the starting line, that line is not an obstruction. Nor is a given line of latitude or longitude that boats must not cross. These last two examples are valid sailing instructions, and a boat can be penalised as a result for breaking them. The difference between a line and something that ranks as an obstruction is that rules 19 and 20 give the right to room at obstructions, but not at lines; and crossing a line may break a sailing instruction, but touching an obstruction breaks no rule unless the obstruction is also a mark or (sometimes) another boat racing or some other vessel.


A right-of-way boat may be an obstruction, as when boats are overhauling a clear-ahead boat from astern, or when two port tack boats sailing close-hauled meet a starboard close-hauled boat. In each case, Green is an obstruction to Yellow and Blue.


A Right-of-Way Boat as an Obstruction


1 RYA 1989/6 2 US 83: the inability of the racing rules to police compliance with IRPCAS Traffic Separation Schemes led to rule 48.2


88 RYA The Racing Rules Explained


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