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Answer:
If you want to defend your wind these days, it is wise to do so
decisively before the other boat gets an overlap or even too near to
one. In this position, Roger will soon be hamstrung by rule 16.1: "When
a
right-of-way boat changes course, she shall give the other boat room
to keep clear." If the two boats get much closer
together laterally than they are here, they will soon reach the
"locked" position in which neither boat can change course without
fouling the other, something that is strategically unacceptably
limiting. Moreover, a protest arising from this will be a 50-50
proposition even from the best of Committees. What I do instead, is
- go low and not bother defending my wind with the preferred
goal of out-speeding my windward opponent, or
- I go well high as (s)he approaches from astern and I make
it amply clear that I intend to make life miserable for anyone who
tries my windward side. I do the latter only in rare instances when it
is strategically unavoidable.
Apologies for drifting from rules into strategy!
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