SAILBOARD
WINDWARD MARKAdvanced

Tacking in the zone

The situation

Short of the layline, Ella tacks from port to starboard inside the zone, right in front of a boat that has been on starboard since before the zone and is fetching the mark.

The question

Can Ella tack in the zone and demand mark-room?

The ruling

No. Under rule 18.3, because Ella passed head to wind in the zone, she must not make a boat that was fetching the mark sail above close-hauled to avoid her, and she must give that boat mark-room if it becomes overlapped inside her. On top of that, rule 13 applied while she was tacking — she had no rights until close-hauled. Tacking in the zone and demanding room is one of the most common ways Opti sailors foul out at the top mark.

Key point

Tack in the zone and you owe room, not the other way round (rule 18.3) — and rule 13 still applies while you tack.

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 18.3 — Tacking in the Zone.

Related cases

  • Inside at the windward mark · Windward Mark

    Boats approach the windward mark (to be left to port) close-hauled. Green is overlapped inside Blue as the first of them reaches the three-length zone. Nearby, a third boat is about to tack onto the layline inside the zone.

  • The inside boat who tacked in · Windward Mark

    Short of the layline, Ella tacks from port to starboard inside the zone, ending up overlapped inside a boat that has been on starboard fetching the mark since before the zone. Ella calls for mark-room as the inside boat; the boats nearly touch and she protests.

  • Weather-mark pile-up · Windward Mark

    A pack of Optis converges on the windward mark on starboard. As the leaders reach the three-length zone, Kai is overlapped on the inside of the boat next to him; behind, boats are stacked up.

  • Doubt about the overlap · Windward Mark

    As the leaders reach the zone at the top mark, it's genuinely unclear whether Sofia (outside) and the boat inside her were overlapped at the moment the first of them reached the zone.

Related guide

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