Tides & Currents So you set a course to steer, follow it for a few hours and realise that you are not going to hit your waypoint or destination. You check your previous heading calculations but this all seems correct. What has happened could well be related to tidal movements and currents. As you sail towards your waypoint, the tide or current simply pushed you off course. Nothing a bit of dead reconning won’t fix but perhaps there is a way to avoid this in the first place. Let’s have a look at how tides and currents influence your course, how we can recognise tides and currents on a ch ..read more

Tides & Currents So you set a course to steer, follow it for a few hours, and realise that you are not going to hit your waypoint or destination. You check your previous bearing and this all seems correct. What has happened could well be related to tidal movements and currents. As you sail towards your waypoint, the tide or current simply pushed you off course. Nothing a bit of dead reconning won’t fix but perhaps there is a way to avoid this in the first place. Let’s have a look at how tides and currents influence your course, how we can recognise tides and currents on a chart and what ..read more

RULE 13 Let’s look at what Rule 13 says: WHILE TACKING After a boat passes head to wind, she shall keep clear of other boats until she is on a close-hauled course. 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*. (* Emphasis added) The most common mistake with Rule 13 is misinterpreting the title “Whilst tacking”. A lot of sailors think that tacking is that time where the boat changes from one tack to another when sailing into the wind. This is not correct as this ..read more

RULE 12 Let’s look at what Rule 12 says: ON THE SAME TACK, NOT OVERLAPPED When boats are on the same tack and not overlapped, a boat clear astern shall keep clear of a boat clear ahead*. (* Emphasis added) As opposed to Rule 11 where boats are 0verlapped, Rule 12 applies to boats that are on the same tack and NOT overlapped. We looked at the individual elements of this rule when we looked at Rule 11 but will reiterate them here. Skip this if you are confident you have these elements under control… Rule 12 says in essence that if you are on the same tack (both starboard or both port) then th ..read more

RULE 11 Let’s look at what Rule 11 says: ON THE SAME TACK, OVERLAPPED When boats are on the same tack and overlapped, a windward boat shall keep clear of a leeward boat. As opposed to Rule 10 where boats are on opposite tacks, Rule 11 deals only with boats that are on the same tack and overlapped. Ie, both on a port tack or both on a starboard tack and neither is clear ahead or clear astern. Rule 10 doesn’t go any further than looking at opposite tacks. It generally doesn’t really matter what boat is on the windward side or which is on the leeward side or if boats are overlapped. Rule 11 fo ..read more

"Give-way" rules The 2021 – 2024 Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS) include several “give-way” rules. This is not a surprise as there are many situations where many boats converge in a small space. In order to conduct a race fairly, effectively and safely, we need to avoid collisions and hopefully, these rules will help achieve that. Let’s have a quick look at Part 2 of the rules which talks about “where boats meet”… PART 2 WHEN BOATS MEET The rules of Part 2 apply between boats that are sailing in or near the racing area and intend to race, are racing, or have been racing. However, a boat not r ..read more

RULE 10 Let’s look at what the rule says: ON OPPOSITE TACKS When boats are on opposite tacks, a port-tack boat shall keep clear of a starboard-tack boat. Tack in this context is the relationship between your boat and the direction of the wind. In general, a starboard tack is when the wind is coming from the starboard side of your boat, while a port tack is when the wind is coming from the port side of the vessel. Another way to remember is to simply look where you sit. In racing, we normally sit on the high (windward) side of the boat. So in general, if we sit on the starboard side, there i ..read more

RULE 18.4 Gybing Under construction Scenario 2 Let’s look a small variation. At position 1, blue has reached the zone but is clear ahead of yellow. At position 2, yellow realises that blue is closing the gap for yellow to sail into on her way to round the mark and therefore hails “MARK -ROOM!”. Blue hails back immediately with “NO ROOM!” as she continues to close the gap. When it is clear to yellow that no mark-room is provided she protests and goes into a forced gybe after which she continues to round the mark. Is blue required to give mark-room? Take a few seconds to look at th ..read more

RULE 18.3 Passing Head to Wind in the Zone Let’s start by looking at the rule itself: 18.3 Passing Head to Wind in the Zone If a boat in the zone of a mark to be left to port passes head to wind from port to starboard tack and is then fetching the mark, she shall not cause a boat that has been on starboard tack since entering the zone to sail above close-hauled to avoid contact and she shall give mark-room if that boat becomes overlapped inside her. When this rule applies between boats, rule 18.2 does not apply between them. Let’s unpack this a little and see what we are looking at. The fir ..read more

RULE 18 MARK-ROOM Introduction Let’s remind ourselves where Rule 18 fits into the bigger picture. Rule 18 covers mark-room and still forms part of Part 2 (when boats meet) where you find it in Section C (marks and obstructions). Rule 18 is all about mark-room. The rule is there because marks in general are bottlenecks where lots of boats converge in a small space. This applies especially to the first windward mark where most boats are still relatively close together. Apart from the start, rounding marks is where things often go wrong. Rule 18 is there so we can round the mark effectively, in ..read more