Here’s a situation that came up at the 2012
Baker Trophy – the US High-School Team Race Championship. It was at the leeward mark (Mark 3) of a digital-N
course; the next leg was a beam reach toward Mark 4.
Boat A came into the zone at the leeward mark in first place, overlapped inside X and clear ahead of
the rest of the fleet. A, who had luffing rights, luffed X to the edge of the
zone. The plan was to hold X out until B
arrived, but X was able to slow enough to jibe astern of A and turn back toward
the mark. A jibed with her and sailed
straight to the mark.
Meanwhile, B had sailed toward the mark, fully expecting
that A would be able to hold X away long enough for B to round in first
place. Caught by surprise when this
didn’t happen, she failed to react quickly enough and ended up caught on
starboard tack at the mark, with no mark-room. So she decided to make the best of a bad
situation and jibe inside X and A, hitting X and the mark.
Imagine you’re an umpire and you manage to see all this
correctly. What is your call? I’ll give you a little time to come up with
your answer (though of course if you were actually an umpire you would have no
time), and publish my answer in the next posting.
A was clear ahead when X entered the zone, then X established an inside overlap. Consequently A did not have to give X room at the mark (though X had it). X was, then clear ahead and within the zone when B entered the zone, so B had to keep clear under 18.2 e because X could not keep clear of A. B was not entitled to mark room, and so could not be exonerated under Rule 21.
ReplyDeleteEven with the revised explanation, I submit that my analysis was - and is - correct. I thought I saw X as outside the zone and therefore sans overlap on A. X acquires an inside overlap, but B never did on either X or A, had no rights to mark room.
DeleteB had to keep clear under 18.2 e because X could not keep clear of A. B was not entitled to mark room, and so could not be exonerated under Rule 21.
"A" had rights on "X" all the way.
ReplyDelete"X" should not have attempted to squeeze between "A" and the mark tapping both -- that's one 720 and another 360 (or re-round, it's been awhile).
At the time "X" entered the zone (after gibing to port), every boat on the leeward leg -- all the way back to the last mark -- has an "overlap", therefore "B" had rights on "X" by virture of an overlap and "X" is required to give room to both "A" and "B". That's another 720.
"B" had amble room and opportunity to avoid the collision and first and foremost T-boning is frowned upon, he should have thrown the red flag as he ducked both "A" and "X" and had "X" pitched in the protest room. "B" owes a 720.