Last month I talked about the penalties for hitting marks. Sometimes you are forced into a mark.
In the diagram, Yellow and Blue are appoaching a leeward mark to be left to port. At positioin 1, Yellow is on starboard tack and Blue is on port tack. Yellow is overlapped inside Blue so according to rule 18.2b, Blue must give Yellow mark-room. Blue was not paying attention and didn’t realize that she had to give Yellow mark-room. As Yellow gets to position 4, she gybes to avoid a collision with Blue and just squeezes between the mark and Blue. As she passes the mark she hits it. By touching the mark, she breaks rule 31. It is clear that Blue has failed to give Yellow mark-room and therefore compelled Yellow to hit the mark. According to rule 21, Yellow is exonerated. Blue would have to take a penalty or if she didn’t, Yellow could protest her and Blue would be disqualified.
18.2 Giving Mark-Room
(a) When boats are overlapped the outside boat shall give the inside boat mark-room, unless rule 18.2(b) applies.
(b) If boats are overlapped when the first of them reaches the zone, the outside boat at that moment shall thereafter give the inside boat mark-room. If a boat is clear ahead when she reaches the zone, the boat clear astern at that moment shall thereafter give her mark-room.
21 EXONERATION
When a boat is sailing within the room or mark-room to which she is entitled under a rule of Section C, she shall be exonerated if, in an incident with a boat required to give her that room or mark-room,
(a) she breaks a rule of Section A, rule 15 or rule 16, or
(b) she is compelled to break rule 31.
28 SAILING THE COURSE
© Copyright 2016 Andrew Alberti