SAILBOARD
LEEWARD MARKIntermediate

Taking more than your room

The situation

Rounding the leeward mark with mark-room, the inside boat swings wide on the exit and forces the outside boat — who had kept clear — up and out of her water.

The question

Mark-room protected the inside boat going in. Did it cover the wide exit too?

The ruling

Mark-room is only the room she needs to sail to the mark and make a seamanlike rounding — not a licence to swing wide and push the outside boat around. Rounding out, the inside boat is the leeward, right-of-way boat — but as a right-of-way boat changing course she must still give the outside (windward) boat room to keep clear (rule 16.1). If she swings wider than her room and forces the boat that had kept clear to give extra room, she breaks rule 16.1, and because she took more than her mark-room rule 43 no longer exonerates her. A tidy 'in wide, out tight' rounding keeps her inside her room.

Key point

Mark-room = the room you NEED for a seamanlike rounding. Swing wide and foul the outside boat and you've lost your exoneration.

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 — Mark-Room.

Related cases

  • Mark-room, then a wide swing · Leeward Mark

    Inside with mark-room at the leeward mark, Green rounds but swings wide on the exit, forcing outside boat Blue — who had been keeping clear — up and out of her water. Green, sure she had mark-room, protests Blue for not keeping clear.

  • Which gate mark? · Leeward Mark

    The leeward mark is a gate (two marks). Coming down overlapped on the inside, Owen is committed to rounding the left-hand gate mark; the outside boat is set up for the same one.

  • Gybing at the leeward mark · Leeward Mark

    Inside and overlapped at the leeward mark, Kira needs to gybe to head off down the next leg. She starts to swing wide to set up a smooth gybe.

  • Clear ahead at the zone · Leeward Mark

    Running down to the leeward mark, Green is clear ahead of Blue as the first of them reaches the three-length zone. Blue then lunges for the inside at the last second.

Related guide

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