How would you decide this?

Published on May 28th, 2025 by US SAILING

Dave Perry’s 100 Best Racing Rules Quizzes highlights specific aspects of the racing rules in a fun format designed to help you become more familiar with The Racing Rules of Sailing. Here is one of the quizzes:

Quiz 36 Boats LI and WO are approaching a windward mark to be left to port on starboard tack below the starboard-tack layline. The boats are overlapped when LI reaches the zone. Both boats tack at the same time in the zone. LI hails, “Room!” WO bears away to avoid contact with LI and hails, “Protest!”

You are on the protest committee…how would you decide this? Answer Below:

Quiz 36 - Dave Perry’s 100 Best Racing Rules Quizzes 

Quiz 36 Answer:

Disallow WO’s protest. When LI reached the zone, the boats were overlapped. Therefore, WO was required to give LI mark-room under rule 18.2(a)(1), Giving Mark-Room. When LI passed head to wind, rule 18.2(a) no longer applied (see rule 18.2(b)). Because the boats were overlapped on port tack and rule 18.2(a) did not apply, rule 18.2(c) states: “When rule 18.2(a) does not apply and the boats are overlapped, the outside boat shall give the inside boat mark-room.” WO was able to give LI mark-room; therefore, rule 18.2(d) does not apply. Rule 18.2(d) states: “If a boat obtained an inside overlap from clear astern or by tacking to windward of the other boat and, from the time the overlap began, the outside boat has been unable to give mark-room, rules 18.2(a) and 18.2(c) do not apply between them.”