The inside boat who tacked in
The situation
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.
Ella ends up overlapped on the inside at the mark, and the inside boat gets mark-room — so the outside boat should have given way.
The question
Ella is inside at the mark — doesn't that earn her the room?
The ruling
No — the obligation runs the other way and Ella is penalized. Because she passed head to wind from port to starboard in the zone, rule 18.3 switches rule 18.2 off between her and the starboard boat fetching the mark — her inside overlap earns her nothing. Instead she must not cause that boat to sail above close-hauled to avoid contact, and she must give it mark-room if it becomes overlapped inside her. On top of that, rule 13 applied while she tacked. The boat that tacks in gives room; she does not receive it.
Tack inside the zone and you owe room to the boat that was already fetching — never the reverse (rule 18.3).
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Denied room at the windward mark · Windward Mark
Approaching the windward mark, Finn comes in on the port-tack layline, overlapped inside a starboard-tack boat that is also laying the mark. Finn hails for mark-room as the inside boat, is refused, has to bear away, and protests for being denied his room.