SAILBOARD
ANY TIMEBeginner

Your stern clips the mark

The situation

Rounding the windward mark a little too tight, a boat lets her stern swing into the buoy. It's a clear touch.

The question

She touched the mark — is she out of the race, or can she fix it?

The ruling

She broke rule 31, but she usually doesn't have to retire. She can exonerate herself with a One-Turn Penalty (rule 44): get well clear of other boats, then promptly make one tack and one gybe — a full 360° turn — in the same direction. If another boat had forced her into the mark while she was entitled to mark-room, she may be exonerated without any turn.

Key point

Touched a mark? Get clear and spin a 360 (one tack + one gybe). No need to retire.

Play this on the board

Opens the situation on the boat-length grid — scrub it and see exactly how the boats meet. Free, no account needed.

Rules cited

See the underlying rule: Rule 31 — Touching a Mark.

Related cases

  • You fouled someone — now what? · Any Time

    Beating upwind, Jonah on port tack doesn't quite clear a starboard-tack boat, who has to luff sharply to avoid him. There's no contact and no damage, but Jonah knows he broke the rule.

  • Clipping the weather mark · Windward Mark

    Squeezing around the windward mark in a crowd, Zoe's bow nudges the buoy as she rounds.

  • Contact and damage · Any Time

    Two Optis collide at a mark and one cracks her hull. The right-of-way boat says it wasn't her fault, so she keeps racing.

  • Clipping the finishing mark · Finishing

    Squeezing across the line right beside the pin, an Opti's hull brushes the finishing mark as she crosses.

Related guides

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