Rule 18.2, Passing Marks and Obstructions:
Giving Room; Keeping Clear
At a mark, when room is made available to a boat that has no right to it,
she may, at her own risk, take advantage of the room so given.
Summary of the Facts
Two boats, A and B, broad reaching and about to round the leeward
mark, were overlapped with B outside. C was further astern. A passed
the mark about one hull length to leeward, as did B, leaving ample
room for C to round the mark inside them. B, because of her position
outside A, was unable to deny room to C, and at no time during the
incident sailed a course that would have resulted in a collision with
her. No collision occurred.
B’s protest against C was dismissed because C did not break any rule
when she sailed between B and the mark and she did not cause B to
take avoiding action or prevent her from luffing. B appealed on the
grounds that C’s action prevented her from executing her intended
manoeuvre, which had been to slow down by bearing away and then to
harden up across A’s transom, thereby denying room to C to pass inside.
Decision
Appeal dismissed. As C and B were not overlapped at two hull lengths
from the mark, B was not obliged to allow C room to round it. However,
B, because she could not prevent it, allowed room and the protest
committee found that she was not in a position to do otherwise. C
broke no rule, nor did B suffer any disadvantage from C’s rounding
of the mark.
When a boat voluntarily or unintentionally makes room available to
another that has no rights to such room, the other boat may take advantage,
at her own risk, of the room.
CASE 63
