Section G – The Run
TR CALL G5
Rule 10, On Opposite Tacks
Rule 15, Acquiring Right of Way
Question
Boats B and Y are running on port tack, overlapped and level, with their hulls between
½ and 1 length apart. Y, the windward boat, gybes onto starboard tack and then holds
her course. B responds promptly by gybing but her boom hits Y's hull. Y protests. What
should the call be?
Answer 1
When Y gybes onto starboard, she acquires right of way, and must initially give B
room to keep clear.
If B reacts promptly, and in a seamanlike way, and contact occurs, then Y breaks rule
15. Penalize Y.
If B either delays her response, or gybes in an unseamanlike way, and as a result contact
occurs, then B breaks rule 10. Penalize B.
When a boat gains right of way and another boat must take action to keep clear, the
keep-clear boat must begin to take that action immediately and the right-of-way boat
must give her room to do so. A seamanlike gybe includes letting the boom go out at the
end of the gybe, but not necessarily fully. It also includes rolling the boat, but only to
the extent required to facilitate steering. See also General Principle 4.