Introduction to the Rules of Racing

Understanding one’s rights and responsibilities on-the-water is key.  There is often one boat that has a “right-of-way” over another, while the second boat needs to “keep clear”.  Having the right-of-way might help you gain important seconds in a close race, while your competition has to fall behind you, fall off, or otherwise lose some ground.

All of this is laid out in the Racing Rules of Sailing, as established by World Sailing of the U.K.  The rules are updated every four years, as needed, before each Olympics.

You can find a link to the Rules on the PYC website, under Resources for Racers.  You’ll also find a link to a series of YouTube Videos published by SailZing Online Sailing Education.  And no surprise, there is even an app for your phone so you can always have the Rules close at hand.  Do we even need to say that we don’t recommend using it while sailing.

Rule 12

We’ll give you a sample here of a pretty simple rule, Rule 12.  It states, “When boats are on the same tack and not overlapped [one is behind the other], a boat clear astern [behind] shall keep clear of a boat clear ahead.”  So if you are sailing in the same direction, another boat is ahead of you, and you are catching up.  You must keep clear.  It’s that simple.  

Well, of course it’s often NOT that simple on the water.  And our simple summaries here are just that.  The PYC Race Committee and on-the-water Race Pro are the final authorities on these matters.

Rule 13

Rule 12 says that if you are behind another boat you must keep clear.  But this doesn’t mean that boat in front can do anything they please. 

Rule 13 says that after a boat passes head to wind [this means a tack, or turn, into the wind], she shall keep clear of other boats until she is on a close-hauled course [meaning the sails have stopped flapping around, she’s underway on her new course, close into the wind]. During that time rules 10, 11 and 12 do not apply. If two boats are subject to this rule at the same time, the one on the other’s port side or the one astern shall keep clear.  

A simple translation, you can’t turn right in front of another boat so that they have to change their course to avoid you.

Rule 10

When boats are on opposite tacks, a port-tack boat shall keep clear of a starboard-tack boat.

Sounds simple enough.  When the wind is coming over your starboard side you are on a starboard tack.  And you have the right of way.  A port-tack boat needs to keep clear so that the starboard-tack boat has no need to take ANY action to avoid the other boat, and that the right-of-way boat can sail the course of her choosing.  

That’s clear enough when sailing close-hauled, but when they are sailing downwind we need a little more description.  Sailing downwind could mean both boats are on the same tack, and we haven’t gotten to that yet - it’s Rule 11.  But here we are discussing when the two boats are sailing “by-the-lee” and their sails are on opposite sides.

By-the-lee means the wind is coming over the same side of the boat that the mainsail is on.  [Note: this is not all that common, but it does happen, and could happen in the downwind leg of a race.]

In that case, the boat’s leeward [downwind] side is determined by which side of the boat her mainsail lies on.  If her mainsail is on her port side, then that is her leeward side.  And if you can’t remember that, then just remember that, even in this downwind situation, if your mainsail is on your port side, you are on a starboard tack and have the right of way.  

Did we mention that some of this gets complicated?  And can you imagine that some (perhaps all) of our captains might not always get this right in the heat of a race.  It’s one thing to read the Rules, it’s different to put it into practice.  So it’s useful, if not critical, for a captain to call out to other boats to demand right of way, request passage, or yell other instructions.  

And it’s important for our captains to monitor their own performance, take appropriate penalties when needed, and to call out protests.  Protests are just part of the sport, not a life-long badge of dishonor.   There are no monitors on our race courses, no spotters, no judges at every mark.  So self-reporting of infractions, and general good sportsmanship is important.  This is supposed to be fun!

[more coming…]