Right of way — and still penalized
The situation
Starboard-tack Green stands on, confident in her rights, as port-tack Red misjudges the cross. Green makes no attempt to avoid Red; the hulls collide hard and a boat is holed. Green protests Red and assumes she's clean.
Red was on port and failed to keep clear of a starboard boat — Red is penalized under rule 10 and that's the end of it.
The question
Red clearly broke rule 10 — so why isn't Green in the clear?
The ruling
Red is penalized under rule 10, but Green doesn't escape. Rule 14 requires every boat — even the right-of-way boat — to avoid contact if reasonably possible. Green need not act until it's clear Red won't keep clear, but once that was obvious she could have luffed or borne away to avoid the collision and didn't. Because the contact caused damage, Green is not exonerated and is also penalized under rule 14. Both boats lose.
Right of way is never a licence to hit — if you could have avoided damaging contact and didn't, rule 14 gets you too.
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 14 — Right of Way but Contact.
Related cases
- Right of way, but contact · Any Time
Starboard-tack Green stands on, confident in her rights. Port-tack Red misjudges the cross, the hulls touch, and there's damage.
- 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.
- A clear foul that went unpunished · Any Time
Port-tack Red fails to keep clear and forces starboard-tack Green to crash-tack. It's an obvious foul. Green, fuming, says nothing on the water, takes no flag, and lodges a written protest at the office an hour after coming ashore.
- 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.
Related guide
- How to file a sailing protest: the step-by-step
How to file a sailing protest under RRS Part 5: hail "Protest", show your red flag if required, beat the time limit, and write clear, factual evidence.