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----- Original Message -----
From:
Al Schonborn
To: bcmurray
Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2001 12:25 AM
Subject:
Re: starting rules question
Hi,
Brian:
Yours
is a very good question. As you tell this incident, you are absolutely right:
you did do exactly what was required of you. In this case, Rule 11 applies
since you are approaching the start line to start which means the Buoy Room
Rule (#18) does not apply:
18.1 WHEN THIS
RULE APPLIES
Rule 18 applies when boats are
about to round or pass a mark they are
required to leave on the same side, or an obstruction
on the same side, until they have passed it. However, it does not apply
(a) at a starting mark surrounded by navigable water or at its
anchor line from the time the boats are approaching them to start until they have passed them,
In
Rule 11 the instruction is:
11
On the Same Tack, Overlapped
When boats are on the same tack and overlapped, a windward boat shall keep clear of a leeward boat.
Your
question about whether a boat other than the one next to you can protest
you in this situation is like some things in Math
- they're obvious but hard to prove. As far as I am aware, it is not
specifically stated but has always been assumed, that when in a buoy room
situation or a windward/leeward situation, your beef is with the boat
immediately beside you (or immediately in front of or behind you). As I
understand it, the situation was something like the diagram below:
Three boats overlapped, approaching the start line to start.
If MM has a problem, it is with PF not with BK. MM,
as the leeward and therefore right-of-way boat, is entitled to luff up and PF
must keep clear. If PF does not keep clear (be it because he doesn't
want to cut you off or whatever), he is the one who is fouling MM
and whom MM needs to protest. The only one in the situation above
that can protest you is PF - if you, as the
windward boat, do not keep clear. By the way, the right-of-way boat is also
limited by Rule 16.1:
16
Changing Course
16.1 When a right-of-way boat changes
course, she shall give the other boat room
to keep clear.
This
means that MM can luff PF but not too rapidly, or PF
will not have room to keep clear.
Another
interesting point that comes up when my friends and I argue rules on snowy
winter evenings is the common perception that, under the "new"
rules, if a windward boat can stick its nose in between a leeward boat and
the RC boat or the mark, the leeward boat is not allowed to cut her off,
and that in this way, Windward can get away with barging. This would
probably be true in the situation above: Once BK has reached a
position where she can longer luff up without hitting the RC boat, PF
is prohibited by Rule 16.1, from altering course to windward to force BK
up further since PF will then not be giving "the other boat room
to keep clear".
However, if I am
the leeward boat and want to prevent a windward boat from barging, the
trick is to establish a straightline course
towards the corner of the RC boat that will cut the windward boats off. In
this way, I am not altering course as the boats get closer and closer
together, and am therefore not breaking Rule 16.1. I may still have to give
room because Rule 14 requires me to avoid a collision:
14
Avoiding Contact
A boat shall avoid contact with
another boat if reasonably possible. However, a right-of-way boat or one
entitled to room
(a) need not act to avoid contact until it
is clear that the other boat is not keeping
clear or giving room, and
(b) shall not be penalized unless there is
contact that causes damage.
So,
if Windward starts sailing down into me because the alternative for
windward is to prong the RC boat, then I must avoid a collision by bearing
away and then protest windward. How close Windward can come to you
before you can justify the need to bear off and a foul by Windward
will depend on
a)
the wind and waves
b)
the size of the boats
c)
the judgment of the Protest Committee
Obviously,
Windward must get pretty darn close to Leeward before the latter
can claim a foul, or it would be too easy for Leeward to cry foul
when it's merely wishful thinking. A good committee will make the right
call.
Well,
Brian. This was fun. I hope it answers your question - or maybe it was too
much of an answer. ...
Anyway,
best wishes for happy sailing. Best regards,
Uncle
Al (W3854)
PS:
I presume that, since you mentioned nothing about Magic Misty
protesting you at the time of the incident, the protest was not heard
because MM failed to abide by Rule 61.1
which requires an immediate display of a protest flag (for your boats which
are not under 6 metres long), and an immediate hail to the offending yacht:
61 Protest Requirements
61.1
INFORMING THE PROTESTEE
(a) A boat intending to protest shall
always inform the other boat at the first reasonable opportunity. When her protest concerns an incident in the
racing area that she is involved in or sees, she shall hail "Protest"
and conspicuously display a red flag at the first reasonable opportunity
for each. However, boats of hull length less than 6 metres need not display
the flag, and if the other boat is beyond hailing distance the protesting
boat need not hail but shall inform the other boat at the first reasonable
opportunity. A boat required to display a flag shall do so until she is no
longer racing.
Actually, the
more I look at the rule above, the more I'm inclined to think that, in
theory, MM could protest you in the situation above, but only if you
actually fouled PF. Practically speaking, this would require iron-clad
proof that you had fouled PF - by colliding with her for instance!
If there was no collision and no protest from PF, MM cannot
hope to win such a protest. Again, MM's
concern should be with PF and not with you in this instance!
One final
thought: If I were MM, I, too, would be upset but with PF and
not with you. I'm sure that PF wanted to be nice to you and let you
in, but PF was not allowed to do this by fouling another boat.
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