In a port/starboard situation, the starboard boat must hold her course while the port boat must keep clear. There is no requirement for port to pass astern of starboard, only that she keep clear. If she could have passed in front of starboard without starboard having to change course, then she would have satisfied the colregs. If the starboard boat had held her course, and the port boat had been able to keep clear, then the colregs rules would have been satisfied. Because the starboard boat tacked too close, she was at fault. The fact that two boats were "racing" is immaterial. However, it would have been prudent for the port tack skipper to hail the starboard skipper with his intentions. I do that all the time when racing, so there is no misunderstanding. It also protects me if the other boat does something that causes a collision.
Alan Bergen 35 Mk III Thirsty Rose City YC Portland, OR On Fri, Sep 21, 2018 at 10:11 AM, Hoyt, Mike via CnC-List < [email protected]> wrote: > A friend described a situation from the past weekend that I would like to > pose to the collective brain trust on this list. There were three boats > involved. All three were out day sailing. Two boats were travelling the > same direction and the owners knew each other so they had an impromptu > “race” as they were tacking upwind in a commercial harbour. These two > boats had no verbal agreement to race but they were each trying to best the > other. The third boat had a couple likely in their sixties out sailing by > themselves. > > > > One of the two boats that was “racing” was on port tack (we will call this > P) while the couple out sailing was on stbd tack (S). The heolmsman on P > decided he would pass close by the stern of S. P passing astern of S is in > my mind obeying Colregs in Canada. However since P was being competitive P > planned to pass close by the stern of S. Before this could happen S tacked > to port at close quarters not giving P sufficient room to avoid a > collision. The boats ended up colliding with the sides of the hulls > touching but no readily apparent damage or injury to either party. P > hailed to S asking if everyone was OK and received no response and both > boats proceeded on their way. > > > > So my question. Is a port boat passing close astern of a Stbd boat > sufficient to satisfy the Colregs? Does S radically altering course > without giving P room to keep clear mean that S has violated Colregs? > > > > I know that if this was an organized race that according to RRS S would be > at fault. I am wondering how this would be interepreted under Colregs? > The third boat was involved only as a witness > > > > Thankfully I was not involved in this in any way. > > > > Mike > > Persistence > > Halifax, NS > > > _______________________________________________ > > Thanks everyone for supporting this list with your contributions. Each > and every one is greatly appreciated. If you want to support the list - > use PayPal to send contribution -- https://urldefense.proofpoint. > com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.paypal.me_stumurray&d=DwICAg&c= > clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r= > 9w3G7Cf8YfQnrjmtuNxwDJYr3JMv9f1pAfgAJ9xXYQQ&m=kfSyJZ_ > lbhucYNfciHGEBrjbfjvvx9vX1fMNvmsc_3M&s=HfFjItC7- > ssqSJ7UgIGOmip0Zd56S9X0neLuhjnDQHk&e= > > >
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