SAILBOARD
WINDWARD MARKIntermediate

Weather-mark pile-up

The situation

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.

The question

What is Kai entitled to, and when is it decided?

The ruling

If Kai is overlapped on the inside when the first of them reaches the zone, the outside boat must give him mark-room — room to sail to the mark and round it (rule 18.2(a)). It's locked in at the moment the first boat reaches the zone and isn't lost if the overlap later breaks. But everyone is still bound by the other rules: Kai can't take more room than he needs, and on opposite tacks on the beat rule 18 switches off, so a port-tack boat there gets nothing (rule 10 governs).

Key point

Inside overlap at the zone = mark-room, fixed when the first boat reaches the zone. Don't take more than you're owed.

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 at a Windward Mark.

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.

  • Tacking in the zone · Windward Mark

    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.

  • 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.

  • Clear ahead at the zone · Windward Mark

    Noor reaches the zone clear ahead of the boat chasing her. The chaser dives inside at the very last second, shouting for room.

Related guides

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