Rule 18 and Room at the Mark
How to keep boats out of a dangerous area without giving them rights under Rule 18, 19 or 20?
We have a situation on our starting and finishing line which has been a source of issues for some time. I'd be extremely grateful for the group's wisdom on a solution. This is for club-level racing.
The issue:
The start/finish line at our club is an imaginary line between our race tower (sitting on a breakwater) and "A-Mark". However, near the breakwater there are submerged rocks which we do not want boats to hit and so have laid a buoy 'H-Mark' and stated in our SIs that boats shall not pass between H-mark and the tower at any point while racing.
In previous iterations of our Sailing Instructions we have called the area between H-Mark and the Tower an obstruction. However, this has created risky situations where an inside boat (on the same tack) calls for room to tack at the obstruction, and tacks (usually onto port given the prevailing wind) against a fleet of finishing boats on starboard. We want to avoid this situation if possible as recently it contributed to a collision.
We would like to eliminate boats' ability to call for rights/water at H-mark. What is the best way to do this?
Options we have considered are:
1. Designating H-Mark a crowding buoy and stating that boats must stay between H and A...however can a crowding buoy be used after the finish?
2. Making the area an 'exclusion zone' and clarifying that boats do not have the ability to call for water when approaching H. But a question has been raised as to whether an exclusion zone operates in a similar way as an obstruction.
Thoughts on the best approach would be appreciated!
Best
Jolene
The issue:
The start/finish line at our club is an imaginary line between our race tower (sitting on a breakwater) and "A-Mark". However, near the breakwater there are submerged rocks which we do not want boats to hit and so have laid a buoy 'H-Mark' and stated in our SIs that boats shall not pass between H-mark and the tower at any point while racing.
In previous iterations of our Sailing Instructions we have called the area between H-Mark and the Tower an obstruction. However, this has created risky situations where an inside boat (on the same tack) calls for room to tack at the obstruction, and tacks (usually onto port given the prevailing wind) against a fleet of finishing boats on starboard. We want to avoid this situation if possible as recently it contributed to a collision.
We would like to eliminate boats' ability to call for rights/water at H-mark. What is the best way to do this?
Options we have considered are:
1. Designating H-Mark a crowding buoy and stating that boats must stay between H and A...however can a crowding buoy be used after the finish?
2. Making the area an 'exclusion zone' and clarifying that boats do not have the ability to call for water when approaching H. But a question has been raised as to whether an exclusion zone operates in a similar way as an obstruction.
Thoughts on the best approach would be appreciated!
Best
Jolene
Created: Yesterday 22:48
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You are faced with two 'competing' risks:
I would suggest that"
You have placed the H-Mark there to prudently mitigate your risk of boats hitting the rocks.
Assuming that the H-Mark is placed at only a reasonable (small) distance from the rocks, there would be little difference between a boat's entitlement to RRS 19 room at the H-Mark, and at the obstruction itself constituted by the rocks.
I think that using the H-Mark with an entitlement to room and room to tack mitigates a certain and severe risk.
Removing the entitlement to room to tack would reduce the risk of boat on boat incidents, but that risk only arises if the RRS, which are the existing controls are not obeyed by boats. That risk is less likely and the consequences may be less severe.
I would suggest that you do not pursue removing any entitlements to room to tack.
The additional detail that I perhaps could have included is that there is one rock that only boats with keels over 2.3 metres would possibly hit…there are few boats in our fleet with keels this deep however the complaint we get is that they are disadvantaged by not being able to sail as close to the tower to finish as smaller boats, making for a longer approach to the line. Hence H mark was placed in (many years ago) to both avoid the rock and for fairness.
There is also considerable distance for boats to tack to port (between H and the breakwater) safely and reapproach the finish line.
While this doesn’t change that there is an obstruction for some boats, and therefore the points you made stand, it complicates the issue as the boats hailing to tack often could actually sail between H mark and the tower safely and are only given rights to tack based on our calling the area an obstruction, which then creates the secondary risks.
my suggestion is education - knowledge of the rocks and hail early enough that boats affected have time to respond.
Or avoidance - put out a committee boat and a finish mark in open water.
John