Rule 18 applies at Marks

But what is a mark?

According to the definitions a Mark is:

An object the sailing instructions require a boat to leave on a specified side,
and a Race Committee boat surrounded by navigable water from which the starting
line of finishing line extends. An anchor line or an object temporarily or
accidentally attached to a mark is not part if it.

Well, that’s not bad. All the tetrahedrons and government marks listed on the course board are marks. The committee boat is also a mark and that makes sense. What about the last sentence? Anchor lines are not part of the mark. While it is not advisable to hit the anchor line of a mark (because soon after you will likely hit the mark itself), hitting the anchor line is not a foul on its own.

What is this object that is temporarily attached to the mark? It is the dreaded “barging-mark”! So, the rules are saying that a barging mark is Not part of the starting mark. So if it is not part of the mark, can you hit it? Why, yes you can. Should you? It’s not a good idea. If you were to tangle in the barging mark, you could touch the committee boat and that would be a foul.

Remember for Wednesday Night Racing, we have a special rule in the Sailing Instructions that says the penalty for hitting and doing damage to the committee boat or people on-board is disqualification. If you do it more then once, you could be asked to not return by the steering committee. Touching the committee boat is a foul, but hitting the committee boat will get you protested by the RC and disqualified. Be Safe!

So, it’s Rule 18 for all Marks?
Not quite. There are other exclusions. Let’s look at the preamble of Section C (just before Rule 18). It says that Rules 18, 19, and 20 “do not apply at a starting mark surrounded by navigable water...” Therefore, while the committee boat is a mark of the course, Rule 18 Does Not apply at the committee boat. You cannot call for Mark-Room at the committee boat, or the pin end.

Rule 18 also does not apply when boats are on opposite tacks on a beat to windward. If you’re approaching the windward mark and you’re on Port, you have a problem. The port-tack boat has to give way the same as if there was no mark. 18.1(a)

Rule 18 also does not apply when the two boats are on opposite tacks and the proper course for one of the boats is to tack. This happens when the windward mark is rounded to Starboard. Even if a port-tack boat is on the lay-line approaching the windward mark, starboard boats have right of way. The port-tack boat has to give way the same as if there was no mark. 18.1(b)

Rule 18 does not apply when one boat is approaching and the other is leaving the mark. In this situation, rights are determined as if there was no mark (sound familiar?). 18.1(c)

Lastly, Rule 18 does not apply if the mark is a continuing obstruction. In that case, Rule 19 applies instead. This rule doesn’t really come into effect in Wednesday Night Sailing because we don’t have any marks that are continuing obstructions, but you might run into it elsewhere.

Fortunately, these exclusions are all the same as in the 2005-2008 rules.

It’s a mark and Rule 18 is not excluded
So, it’s a mark and you’ve determined that Rule 18 is not excluded. Now what? The old rules said Rule 18 applies when “boats are about to round or pass a mark”. The new rules say it applies when “When at least one of them is in the Zone”. Ah, the Zone. We talked about that before. The Zone is now three boat-lengths of the boat nearer to the mark.

There are two changes here. First, the Zone is now three boat-lengths as we discussed before. Second is that the definition changed some. Now it applies when one of the boats is in the Zone. This is the same meaning as before, but it is clarified by wording the rule better.

When does Rule 18 apply?

Okay, we know when it doesn’t, but when does Rule 18 apply? When one of the boats reaches the Zone. Not before the Zone, but it applies when either boat is In the Zone.

So, what happens?
If boats are overlapped When the first boat reaches the Zone, “the outside boat shall give the inside boat mark-room...” 18.2(a) Okay, that’s good. If you’re on starboard coming into the windward mark, and to windward of you there is an overlapped boat at the time you get to the Zone, you can ask for mark-room. (You remember mark-room from the last post). From that point on, regardless of what happens In the zone, the outside boat will give you room to approach and pass the mark.

What if you are leeward, but there is no overlap when you reach the Zone? 18.2(b) says that, if there is no overlap, the boat clear-astern when the first boat reaches the zone, shall give mark-room to the boat clear-ahead. If you are clear-ahead, the boats clear-astern need to give you mark-room. If others were clear-ahead, you need to give them mark-room.

Even if you loose the overlap inside the zone, you still get mark-room. Rule 18.2(c) says that, even if the overlap is broken, you are entitled to mark-room. As long as you were entitled to mark-room when you entered the zone, you are entitled to it always.

Unless you pass head-to-wind. 18.2(c) also says that, if you pass head-to-wind, you loose rights. No tacking in the Zone! If you pass head-to-wind, you loose the rights you gained by being overlapped at the zone.

Next post, we’ll talk about the weird cases for rounding marks including what happens at a gybing mark.

Marshall