CASE 77        

Rule 12, On the Same Tack, Not Overlapped
Rule 14, Avoiding Contact
Rule 31.1, Touching a Mark
Definitions, Keep Clear

Contact with a mark by a boat’s equipment constitutes touching it. A boat obligated to keep clear does not break a rule when touched by a right-of-way boat’s equipment that moves unexpectedly out of normal position.

Summary of the Facts
Boats A and B, running downwind with spinnakers set, are four hull lengths from the mark when B surges into an inside overlap and hails for room. At one hull length from the mark, A breaks the overlap and rounds the mark ahead of B, but has difficulty lowering her spinnaker. Her spinnaker guy trails astern some 30 feet (10m) and drags across part of the mark above the water. Immediately after rounding, B falls further astern because of difficulty in lowering her spinnaker and hoisting her jib. When she is 20 feet (6m) astern of A, the head of A’s spinnaker streams astern and strikes B’s headstay.

Question
What rules apply during these incidents and does any boat break a rule?

Answer
When A’s spinnaker guy drags across the mark, she breaks rule 31.1. A boat touches a mark within the meaning of rule 31 when any part of her hull, crew or equipment comes in contact with the mark. The fact that her equipment touches the mark because she has manoeuvring or sail-handling difficulties does not excuse her breach of the rule.

When contact occurs later between the two boats, both have passed the mark and therefore rule 18 no longer applies. Because A’s spinnaker is not in its normal position, the boats are not overlapped and, therefore, rule 12 applies. That rule requires B to keep clear of A, which she is doing. Concerning the definition Keep Clear, nothing B did or failed to do required A ‘to take avoiding action’. This is shown by the fact that the contact between them results exclusively from A’s equipment moving unexpectedly out of normal position. Therefore, B did not break rule 12. Rule 14 also applied. A broke rule 14 by causing contact that she could have avoided. However, because there was no damage or injury, A cannot be penalized. It was not reasonably possible for B to avoid contact with A’s spinnaker as it streamed astern, and so B did not break rule 14.

USSA 1980/232