# Rule 16 situation: Room to Keep Clear



## beebopbogo (Feb 12, 2010)

I have a race question from an experience a couple weeks ago. Maybe someone can help out:

The start line is in the marina departing a 0.5 mile narrow channel, wide enough for 6 boats abreast flying spinnakers. The start is staggered so that the slowest boats start first with 2 minute waves.
We were in the second wave on a run, quickly catching the first wave. 3 boats were ahead with a gap wide enough for us to pass between. 
As a new racer, I didn't expect them to pinch the gap, so I aimed straight for it. As we approached to within one boat length, the most leeward boat began pinching up to close the gap.
We were accelerating so quickly, however, that we didn't have time to duck to their lee and established a bit of overlap. We had to quickly luff the sails, turn the engine on and hit reverse. One of our crew on the bow helped shove off the stern of the slower boat until we had room to duck.
No contact, but disqualified.

Did the slower boat ahead break rule 16, requiring them to give us enough time to keep clear?
Or should I have predicted their turn earlier and began to duck to their lee before they began to pinch the gap?

Here's a simple diagram (Up is forward with the wind from our port quarter):

()___()________________() <-- The 3 slow boats ahead





____________() <- Us overtaking


----------



## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

Its an interesting question. 
I take it this occured after you crossed the start line? Then the upwind boat gives way.

But the race officer is probably more at fault for having the races too close together. Most races the divisions are 5 minutes apart.


----------



## aloof (Dec 21, 2014)

That leeward boat you were trying to pass did the normal thing. You should have known that long before you got there. You should have had a plan to duck them or slow down.

Your race committee are fools. BTW. A narrow channel downwind start with slow boats first at 2 minute spacing. Laughable incompetence. But that is not, in any way, a defense for you.


----------



## beebopbogo (Feb 12, 2010)

Well, this was a pursuit race with slower PHRF boats starting first, timed so that the fastest boats would theoretically catch the slow boats at the finish line.

We were obviously the give-way boat since we were overtaking.

The windward boat ahead was allowed to hold course made good since the leeward boat ahead overtook them. The lee boat simply steered up to close the gap without forcing the windward boat to change course.

The question is if we are required to predict the lee boat's move and give way early, even before the lee boat started it's closing maneuver.

P.S. Just read that last reply: Ok, so I should have seen that coming and been ready for an immediate ducking maneuver. If I'm not ready, it's not the boat ahead's fault, is basically what you're saying, aloof.


----------



## Sailormon6 (May 9, 2002)

If you were DSQ'd, then someone must have protested you, probably for failing to give way to a yacht being overtaken from astern. If your bowman fended off the other boat, I believe that constitutes contact. Your bowman should not have touched the other boat unless it was necessary to prevent contact and/or damage. You were entitled to a hearing on his protest before the protest committee. If you failed or declined to have a hearing on his protest, then I believe that is tantamount to an admission that you were in violation. 

If you believe that he failed to allow you a reasonable opportunity to keep clear, you should have protested him, specifying that as the ground for your protest. If the protest committee found that he slammed the door on you without giving you a reasonable opportunity to keep clear, then the other yacht should have been DSQ'd. 

If there had been a protest hearing, the committee would have listened to the testimony of any available witnesses, and decided who was wrong, based on all the facts. We don't have the benefit of hearing all the witnesses, and we don't have the facts upon which to conclude whether you or he was in the wrong. 

Personally, I avoid protest situations like the plague. If you throw a protest flag, the likelihood is that the other guy will also throw one, and that means one of you is almost certain to be DSQ'd. That gives you only a 50/50 chance. If you steer clear of him, it might cost you a few seconds time, but you still might win the race, or finish second or third. If you're DSQ'd there's no joy at all. It's always smarter sailing, in my mind, to steer clear of protests, and not roll the dice on one risky maneuver, especially when you are outpacing the whole fleet.


----------



## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

beebopbogo said:


> Well, this was a pursuit race with slower PHRF boats starting first.


Oh, then they were in the same division and you were racing against them?

Then thats fine. Your race officer did nothing wrong.

Yes those competing boats will try/do every trick under the sun to stuff you up!

Battle on, old son! Rule book in one hand, cutlass in the other! Take no prisoners and have the protest flag at the ready!

Next time go under him, if you can outpace him in his lee.... Or run up to windward as he pushes you up untill you are clear ahead of him.

Intimidation often works....


----------



## MITBeta (May 13, 2011)

Sailormon6 said:


> If you were DSQ'd, then someone must have protested you,


I assumed he was DSQ'd for starting his engine.


----------



## nolatom (Jun 29, 2005)

Before you tried to overlap him, Rule 12 required you to keep clear of the "boat clear ahead".

Then, once overlapped, Rule 11 required you, as windward ("W") to stay clear of leeward ("L").

Yes, rule 16 applies, but look at rule 15 which says that right-of-way boat shall initially give the other boat room to keep clear, but then it says "unless she acquires right of way because of the other boat's actions". W acquired ROW because your actions overlapped her. So W didn't have to initially give you room to keep clear.


----------



## sailingfool (Apr 17, 2000)

beebopbogo said:


> Well, this was a pursuit race with slower PHRF boats starting first, timed so that the fastest boats would theoretically catch the slow boats at the finish line.
> 
> We were obviously the give-way boat since we were overtaking.
> 
> ...


FWIW, unless you are a much larger boat you generally wont benefit from "ducking" the boats ahead, that is likely to leave you parked in their their lee. If there's another rounding mark ahead, which side to pass an overtaken boat(s) is mostly determined by how you will pass that mark. If you cannot pass the boats ahead on a run, as long as you have the inside overlap at the next mark, you pass them there.


----------



## Stumble (Feb 2, 2012)

The operative rule here isn't Rule 16, but Rule 12:

RULE 12: ON THE SAME TACK, NOT OVERLAPPED
When boats are on the same tack and not overlapped, a boat clear astern shall keep clear of a boat clear ahead.

Until you establish an overlap you have no right even to room to keep clear. At the moment the vessel ahead changes course Rule 16 starts to play a part, but if you were a full boat leingth behind then by definition you had room to keep clear. Rule 16 is normally only successfully invoked when the boats are within inches of each other and the ROW vessel makes a sudden change of direction. 

The standard for how much room needs to be given is a little grey area, but it typically is if an America's Cup crew on your boat could have avoided contact then you should have avoided it as well. With the intent to prevent inexperienced crews from being able to claim more room than a top notch one. So the onus as a new sailor is on you to make sure to give yourself a little more wiggle room than you think you may need.

In this case were i the leeward boat, I would have absolutely done the same thing, and pushed you up. Heck I may have been intentionally sailing deep to gain separation from the other two boats in my class before heading up to blast thru their wind shadow, when you split the gap you would have ruined the plan to gain more separation, and forced the issue.


----------



## Ajax_MD (Nov 24, 2009)

Beebop-

My local races start in a similar environment- Narrow channel in a river. (not quite as narrow as yours) There is a buoy on one side of the river, and there is a fixed committee stand on the other, which forms the starting line.

This also provides us with many downwind starts, especially in the summer.
We do rolling, 5 minute starts with the fastest boats first, and we STILL have problems with boats catching them, and making a traffic jam before the river widens.

Although I understand the fun of the pursuit starts, I question the wisdom of doing it in such tight confines, downwind.

To your actual question, Stumble has it right. I hate to say it, but you may be forced to forgo your spinnaker at the start, and just pole out the jib. It's quicker and easier to brake and maneuver than wrestling down the kite at the last second.


----------



## RobGallagher (Aug 22, 2001)

I made popcorn for this thread.

Reverse engine and fending-off to avoid collision of the boat dead ahead of you...I wonder what the insurance companies and law enforcement would have had to say if there was significant damage or, worse, someone got seriously injured?


----------



## beebopbogo (Feb 12, 2010)

Good stuff here! I especially liked the reminder that I am not immediately disqualified for using the engine and making contact fending off to avoid hull damage. Nobody raised a protest flag!


----------



## sandy stone (Jan 14, 2014)

Any time you start the motor and put it in gear, except to help a person or vessel in danger, you are obligated to withdraw, protest or not.


----------



## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

beebopbogo said:


> Nobody raised a protest flag!


Pcheck your club rules. But most important, every time you finish come back close to the finish boat and scream "I protest everyone!"

Of course you don't because its too much paperwork, but next weekend you will see more boats give you a wide berth... :laugher

Someone once said racing was fun.


----------



## paulk (Jun 2, 2000)

This situation is interesting because the edge of the channel creates a continuing obstruction. Rule 19.2 (b) speaks to this: "When boats are overlapped, the outside boat shall give the inside boat room between her and the obstruction, unless she has been unable to do so from the time the overlap began. The downwind nature of the leg makes it obvious that the leeward boat could give the inside boat plenty of room. The salient point is rule 19.2 (c) : "While boats are passing a continuing obstruction, if a boat that was clear astern and required to keep clear becomes overlapped between the other boat and the obstruction and, at the moment the overlap begins, there is not room for her to pass between them, she is not entitled to room under rule 19.2(b). While the boats remain overlapped, she shall keep clear and rules 10 and 11 do not apply. " So...it comes down to a question as to whether Beebopper, at the moment he became overlapped, had room to squeeze between the leeward boat and the edge of the channel. If so, then Beebopper should have called for room to pass the obstruction, and the leeward boat would have had to provide it. Proving that there would have been room for Beebopper to pass between the leeward boat and the channel side when the overlap first began might call for having a video to present to the Protest Committee. If the leeward boat luffed up as much as it seems they did, the video might not have helped. The subsequent parts of 19.2 (c) give teeth to not creating an overlap if there isn't room: even if Beebopper gybed to starboard, or became the leeward boat, she would still have to keep clear of the outside boat.

Next time the thing to do might be to sail right along the channel edge with a video camera pointing dead ahead. If the boat ahead leaves enough room for you to get through, (if they're sailing parallel to but 20' inside the channel edge, for example), go for it. If they're right up there with you and there isn't room, try to take their air and then slip by them to leeward. Good luck!


----------



## GeorgeB (Dec 30, 2004)

Paul, I don't think that 19.2 applies here as the foul occurred before overlap was established. Interesting thoughts about using an obstruction though. If it was parallel to the wind/course the other guy could hold you but if the wind was angled towards the obstruction then you could call room to gybe and get past him that way. Another way would be to sit on the other guy's wind to slow him down even further. This will make him want to close the gap with his neighbor even more. Then, using your greater relative speed, do a quick duck. Just like football - fake right then go left. Have your bowman in the pulpit and call overlap the second you lap him even by mere inches.  I have done this (and had it done to me) on more than one occasion. Bebop, why guys who aren't even in your own division want to race you is beyond me. Was the RC handing out a first over-all award?


----------



## paulk (Jun 2, 2000)

GeorgeB said:


> Paul, I don't think that 19.2 applies here as the foul occurred before overlap was established.


Can't quite follow the reasoning above. What foul would be possible without (or prior to) an overlap? Starting the engine is a breach of the rules, but does not entail fouling another boat, and it only happened because he had to slow down in order to clear the stern of the overlaped leeward boat. The failure of an overtaking boat to keep clear is made evident when their bow overlaps the stern of the slower boat. (Bang!) A windward boat HAS to be overlapped with the leeward one for the leeward one to have rights and head him up. The fact that crew were involved in fending off indicates that there was an overlap, along with Beebop's original post, which states that he couldn't turn to go the other side of the leeward boat without luffing his sails and running his engine in reverse. That sounds like a considerable overlap- like half a boatlength - to me, though none of us were there. Beebop hasn't said whether there was room for him to pass when the overlap started or not. That would seem to be the determining factor. He says that the channel was wide enough for six boats at to all sail alongside each other down the channel at once. I am not sure that he has to anticipate the leeward boat heading up. There is nothing that says the leeward boat has to head up. As a relatively new racer, I wouldn't think Beebop would point his boat into a space between the channel edge and another boat unless he thought there was room for him to safely sail there. If he had known the rules better and had called out "obstruction" because he couldn't head up to respond to the leeward boat without running out of the channel - I think the rules would have supported him. If there was space, at the start of his overlap, for him to pass. If not, it's like he's barging at the start: DON'T. Since he apparently withdrew, the issue is somewhat moot...unless he files for redress!

Also, as Beebop has pointed out twice, the entire fleet was sailing in a pursuit race with slower boats starting first. Everyone was in the same division despite the different starting times.


----------



## weinie (Jun 21, 2008)

"Ducking to their lee and establishing overlap" would not have gained you any rights.

See rule 17.
Clearly rule 12 applies anyhow.


----------



## GeorgeB (Dec 30, 2004)

Paul, I thought that they were all on a downwind leg with an obstruction to port and that the boat ahead moved closer to another boat abeam to close off the lane that Beebop was trying to thread. And that the contact was Beebop's bow (actually bowman) with the leeward boat's stern? I'm pretty sure you can't establish overlap by contact. I was also assuming that the course was near DDW along the obstruction? If I read it wrong then my thesis is invalid.

My thought was if Beebop established leeward overlap with an obstruction to his lee, He could use rule 19.2 later on to ask for room to gybe if the opportunity presented itself. I was also thinking that Beebop, being in a faster division, had the power to pass once he had room and his own lane.

Those of you familiar with the courses from San Francisco's GGYC, know that if you are the lee boat on Stb tack towards Crissy Field, you can "peel off" a covering windward boat by calling for room to tack at Anita Rock.


----------



## sailingfool (Apr 17, 2000)

weinie said:


> "Ducking to their lee and establishing overlap" would not have gained you any rights.
> 
> See rule 17.
> Clearly rule 12 applies anyhow.


..unless the next mark is rounded to starboard, in which case this overlap earns you room.


----------



## beebopbogo (Feb 12, 2010)

I think we've solved this situation:

1) My boat behind was overtaking and thus obviously the give-way vessel. RRS-12
2) The obstruction to the left (to windward) was not a factor since there was no room for us to fit and we were still clear behind. RRS-19.2(c)
3) I should have predicted his turn to close the gap and been immediately ready to duck him. I wasn't and therefore delayed a few seconds. This put us in a position where we didn't have room to duck and didn't have room to fit in the gap. Unfortunately, our bow was already in the gap and still overtaking. Hence the engine.
4) Even though I'm a beginning racer, an accomplished racer would have been able to duck in time. My slow reaction caused our penalty. RRS-16.1 was not broken by the boat ahead.

RRS 2013-2016 (Racing Rules of Sailing) with pdf download: sailorslifeforme.com/racing/rules/


----------



## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

Racing is good because you learn a lot very fast, much more than you do on a Saturday afternoon wander.
Onward and upward


----------



## paulk (Jun 2, 2000)

Thanks for the clarification and the details. It shows how small things can make a difference. Better luck next time


----------



## GeorgeB (Dec 30, 2004)

Beebop, when is your next race? We had our first last Saturday in the Knox-Bonita race on SF Bay. Were able to execute a port (pin side) start and cleared the rest of the division. Played the tides and winds well and were third around Pt. Bonita. The winds were in the upper twenties when we got back into the Bay and we had a big round-up when we had to duck a big Beneteau flying an A-Kite. I think that every boat either rounded up, down, or broached at least once. We held it together enough to correct out to first. Go Cal 40! This shot is us approaching the Golden Gate Bridge from seaward. We just got a glimpse of the winds inside the Bay and our bowman is swapping out to our #3 jib.


----------



## beebopbogo (Feb 12, 2010)

July 3 is our next race. (I'm working in Afghanistan until then. Gotta keep feeding the boat!)

Our race results:
http://sailorslifeforme.com/racing/races/

We suck, but definitely true fact that racing really accelerates a sailor's skill!


----------



## rgscpat (Aug 1, 2010)

In general, a slower boat should prefer that you pass to leeward and not mess up his wind. If someone is stupid about that, you could sit on his wind until he realizes what an ass he's being. And, the fine art of misdirection, mentioned before, can leave em dazed in your wake...fake one way do a hot gybe the other , heading up for speed. Oh, and once you are passing with room, the leeward boat does not get to luff you into the shore or other boats... Unlimited isn't quite unlimited.


----------

