Right of Way but Contact
Port fails to keep clear and the boats collide with damage — the port boat breaks rule 10, and the starboard boat is not exonerated under rule 14 if she could have avoided it.
The port-tack boat misjudges the cross and does not keep clear, so the boats collide (breaking rule 10). But right of way is not a licence to hit: rule 14 requires even the right-of-way boat to avoid contact if reasonably possible. She need not act until it is clear the other boat is not keeping clear — but if by then she could still have avoided the collision and didn't, and there is damage or injury, she too is penalised under rule 14.
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How it interacts with other rules
- Rule 14 — Avoiding Contact · see also
The companion scenario shows the port boat keeping clear in time — the contact here is what rule 14 exists to prevent.
- Rule 10 — On Opposite Tacks · see also
The port boat's primary breach: she failed to keep clear of starboard under rule 10.