PART 2 , S E C T ION C : WHEN BOATS ME E T — RUL E 18 : MAR K- ROOM 185
“Exonerated” means freed from having to take a penalty or otherwise being penalized for breaking the rule. So if the boat ahead or the inside boat (AI) is a keep-clear boat and she is sailing within the mark-room to which she is entitled (meaning she is rounding the mark in a seamanlike way) and she fouls the other boat (BO) or touches the mark, BO breaks rule 18.2(b) (Giving Mark-Room) and AI is exonerated for breaking a rule of Part 2, Section A or rule 31 (Touching a Mark). And if AI is a right-of-way boat and while rounding the mark in a seamanlike way (i.e., within the mark-room she is entitled to) she has to change course and she fails to give BO roomto keep clear, BO breaks rule 18.2(b) and AI is exonerated for breaking rule 16.1 (Changing Course). This is a common sense rule. If you are entitled to room at the mark, you
should be able to sail your course to and around that mark without concern for the boats required to give you mark-room. And those boats should be able to easily anticipate the course you are going to sail around the mark and give you the room you need to sail it.
“Do I need to protest the outside boat so the protest committee can exonerate me?”
No. Rule 43.1(b) tells you that you are exonerated at the time of the incident. But if someone protests the incident, the protest committee will decide if you
