sailboat racing collisions

Yachting World

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The Ocean Race overall win down to jury decision after huge collision

• Helen Fretter
• June 19, 2023

A huge crash between 11th Hour Racing and Guyot-environnement leaves just three IMOCAs racing to The Ocean Race final finish in Genoa, and the result of the 27,000-mile race likely hanging on a request for redress

The overall winner of The Ocean Race is likely to be decided in the protest room after a huge collision between 11th Hour Racing and Guyot-environnement – Team Europe  shortly after the final leg start on Thursday, 15 June.

The crash occurred just 17 minutes into the start of Leg 7 of The Ocean Race, from The Hague to Genoa in Italy, in a port-starboard incident between the  11th Hour and Guyot-environnement IMOCA 60s . 11th Hour Racing had tacked onto starboard to approach the fourth mark of the course, and were racing in 2nd place.

The Ocean Race 2022-23 – 16 June 2023. Screen Capture of the moment when GUYOT environnement – Team Europe crashed with 11th Hour Racing Team 15 mins after the start of Leg 7.

Guyot-environnement , on port, did not see 11th Hour Racing  and did not alter course in time to avoid them. The result was a full-bore ’T-bone’, with Guyot’s bowsprit spearing into the side of 11th Hour’s cockpit, missing skipper Charlie Enright by inches, while Guyot’s bow smashed into the port aft quarter of the 11th Hour IMOCA  Malama , leaving a substantial hole.

Incredibly, no crew members were hurt, though all were deeply shocked by the incident.

Guyot’s skipper Benjamin Dutreux, clearly distraught, immediately offered his apologies to Enright. “I was helming, and I just saw their boat appear suddenly, and it was too late. The contact was unavoidable [at that point]. I take full responsibility. It is our fault.”

The French team also pledged to support the Americans in any way they could to get them back on the racecourse. In a painful twist of fate, Guyot had only returned to the race in Aarhus after a mid-Atlantic dismasting thanks to 11th Hour Racing offering up their spare mast.

A distraught Benjamin Dutreux, skipper of Guyot-environnement, speaks to 11th Hour Racing team manager Mark Towill after the collision at the start of Leg 7 of The Ocean Race

Ocean Race crash

11th Hour Racing navigator Simon Fisher explained said afterwards, “I’m lost for words. We tacked on our lay line, sailing on starboard for 20 or 30 seconds. Charlie was screaming ‘starboard’ at Guyot , and they did not respond.

“The net result is that they have put their boat firmly in the side of ours. The bowsprit went right through our boat and came out on the inside. We are really lucky that no one got hurt; Charlie was sitting so close to the hatch. Thankfully everyone is ok.

“Personally, I refuse to admit this [race] is over. We would rather try to win it on the water, but we need to find out what our options are, if this can be repaired, and what our redress implications are as a team now, and hopefully move forward.

“I have seen plenty of stuff in my time over six Ocean Races, this is not one of the better ones, but we have a fantastic team, and going into today, we were in a fantastic position, and that is thanks to the team we have. If I wanted to be with any group of people in adversity, it’s them.”

Skipper Charlie Enright echoed the sentiment, saying: “This race has a way of testing people in different ways – physically and mentally, and this is a test for our team. There is no team I would rather be on, that I would rather have with me. If anyone can figure this out, it is us.”

11th Hour Racing crew member Jack Boutell breaks down after a violent collision with Guyot-environment shortly after the start of Leg 7 in The Ocean race. Photo: Sailing Energy/11th Hour Racing

11th Hour set off for Genoa

11th Hour Racing  officially retired from the leg the following day, and lodged a request for redress. The request will be heard by the World Sailing International Jury, which under the Racing Rules of Sailing may compensate a boat when “a boat’s score or place in a race or series has been or may be, through no fault of her own, made significantly worse.”

Clearly 11th Hour Racing will be hoping to be awarded an average of their previous leg points in order to hold onto their lead.

The team also spent 72 hours working around the clock to effect a repair that would get the IMOCA back on the water.

This evening, Sunday 18 June, the race crew left The Hague in the hopes of delivering the boat some 2,500 miles to Genoa in time for the final in-port racing, which will take place on July 1.

Going into the start of Leg 7, 11th Hour Racing  was sitting at the top of the overall leaderboard, following a hat-trick of winning three legs in a row. Enright’s team had 33 points, with Holcim-PRB in 2nd on 31 points, and Team Malizia in 3rd with 27 points.

The Ocean Race 2022-23 – Leg 7, June 16, 2023. The 11th Hour Racing Team continues repairs to Malama after a collision during the start of Leg 7.

With both Guyot-environnement and 11th Hour Racing having retired from Leg 7, there are now just three IMOCAs racing to the race’s finale.

Meanwhile the current Leg 7 leader, Holcim-PRB , is sailing under a new skipper after Kevin Escoffier stood down in Aarhus following an incident at the previous stopover in Newport.

Escoffier confirmed that he would not longer be skipper for the remainder of The Ocean Race following what he described in a post as an ‘alleged incident’ (the line was later deleted). Details of the circumstances that led to Escoffier standing down have not been confirmed by either the team or The Ocean Race organisers.

It was later reported in both the German and French sailing media that allegations of harassment were made by a young woman at the US stopover. The incident is understood to be being handled by the French Sailing Federation (FFV), the French national sailing authority.

Benjamin Schwartz has been appointed Holcim-PRB skipper for the duration of the race. Schwartz was part of the technical support team for previous race winners Dongfeng , and is navigator on Spindrift/Sails for Change giant trimaran.

Millpond conditions mid-Channel for The Ocean Race fleet on Day 2 of Leg 7 with leg leaders Team Holcim – PRB trying to keep moving.

Race decided by redress?

For the race and its fans, this has been a devastating sequence of events. While Holcim-PRB was the stand-out team for the opening stages , and Malizia impressive in the gripping Southern Ocean leg , 11th Hour Racing  were delivering a zero-to-hero comeback story.

Having overcome several potentially race-ending breakages on the long Southern Ocean Leg 3 , to win back to back wins over Legs 4, 5 and 6 – including into their home port of Newport – was shaping up to be a fairy tale finish for the US team, And with just two points separating 11th Hour and Holcim-PRB over the unpredictable leg from northern Europe, across Biscay and deep into the Mediterranean, there was potential for a nail-biting finale.

Now the outcome of the 27,000-mile race is likely to be settled in the jury room.

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Unbelievable footage of the collision from on board 11th Hour Racing Team

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'Absolutely incredible' crash leaves 11th Hour Racing Team's hopes of winning the Ocean Race 2022-23 in tatters

Updated 16/06/2023 at 09:21 GMT

The hopes of 11th Hour Racing Team of winning The Ocean Race 2022-23 suffered a big blow as they were left with damage to their boat following a crash with GUYOT environnement - Team Europe. Both IMOCA boats headed back to shore for repairs following the incident at the start of Leg 7, which is the final leg of the race. The standings are currently led by 11th Hour Racing Team.

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Collision Avoidance System for Sailboats

• By David Schmidt
• Updated: January 19, 2021

The first lesson that I learned about ­ Pacific Northwest sailing ­after moving here from New ­England in 2009 was that Puget Sound doesn’t get much breeze in the summer. The second was that it’s crucial to keep a constant vigil for logs and large branches. Worse still are deadheads. Having ­attended more than my share of Grateful Dead concerts, I thought I had a good pulse on the latter, but my third lesson was that—in Pacific Northwest vernacular—deadheads refer to logs or entire trees (and root balls) that have taken on so much water that they float vertically, often revealing only a few precious inches of freeboard. Unlike the tie-dyed variety, these deadheads can wreak havoc on hulls. ­Eleven years in, I’ve had ­numerous close calls, and I try not to think about the near misses that went unnoticed.

Fortunately, cutting-edge technology now exists that mitigates the danger of ­hitting myriad obstacles that are ­increasingly found at sea.

While mariners have ­fretted about collisions since ­humankind first took to the ­water, ­recent years have seen a ­massive uptick both in global shipping of containers, which can sometimes wash overboard, and all sorts of ­other debris. At the same time, a growing number of sailors are exploring the high latitudes, where they encounter icebergs and bergy bits. Then, there’s the jaw-dropping speeds that are being achieved by modern racing and foiling yachts, including IMOCA 60s and the massive 100-plus-foot ­Ultim trimarans, which regularly exceed 30 knots and 45 knots, respectively. Even “average” cruising boats sail faster ­today than years ago thanks to their ­progressively ­longer waterlines, ­modern sail plans, and improved weather-­routing ­capabilities. This ­bolstered performance—from record-­setters to family cruisers—is a good thing, but it reduces reaction time if a crewmember spots something in the water.

Tackling the problem head-on, BSB Marine has developed its Oscar collision-avoidance system , which uses daylight and thermal-imaging cameras, ­artificial intelligence, deep learning, and machine vision to make sailors aware of navigational hazards and give them enough time to make course corrections. Cooler still, some Oscar systems can autonomously control the boat’s autopilot to change course (see below).

In terms of hardware, all Oscar systems consist of a ­vision unit that has three masthead-mounted ­cameras, a belowdecks-mounted ­central processing unit, and a ­dedicated app to monitor and control the gear.

The vision unit weighs less than 2 pounds and houses two FLIR-built Boson thermal-­imaging camera cores, as well as one color (red, green, blue or RGB) daylight camera. The thermal-imaging cameras deliver a horizontal field of view of 50 to 123 degrees, and a ­vertical field of view of 32 to 71 degrees, depending on the model; higher-end systems use higher-resolution thermal imagers and can operate at ­longer ranges. The RGB camera offers a 120-degree horizontal view and a 96-degree vertical coverage. With these cameras, developers say Oscar can detect and identify objects in its video stream that are just 4-by-4 pixels.

Aboard a sailboat, the vision unit is mounted on an articulating bracket and can adjust for mast rotation. The unit also has an inertial measurement unit that electronically stabilizes the cameras’ real-time imagery, which is shared with the CPU via an Ethernet cable that is run inside the mast.

The CPU is a black-box computer that employs ­machine-vision algorithms and embedded AI to analyze and inspect the incoming video stream in search of dangerous objects. Oscar determines the target’s location and proximity to the vessel based on the camera’s known position and orientation in space, and—when available—it also uses the ­horizon as a reference point.

“Oscar takes pictures and synchronizes them with the [stabilizer] and CPU, and ­determines what’s ­water and what’s not,” explains ­Raphael Biancale, BSB Marine’s co-founder. “Oscar tries to identify objects based on their picture, and it locates objects around the boat over ­several frames to determine their speed and direction. Then it calculates the probability of collision.”

In addition to its hardware, Oscar includes an Android-, iOS- and Windows-friendly app, which can reside on a PC, smartphone, tablet or—thanks to the system’s NMEA-2000 compatibility—chart ­plotter. The app provides a visual ­reference depicting where a target or multiple targets are on a radar-range-like graphical screen, and it delivers AIS-like information, including the target’s speed, bearing and closest-point-of-approach data. Additionally, the app can ­trigger onboard alarms, ­warning of detected targets.

Each Oscar set leaves the factory with an AI ­system trained at using an image ­database of 50,000,000 (and counting) images. These ­images range from common ­objects such as ships, yachts and aids to navigation, to ­myriad ­marine species, to ­specific nonwater targets such as ­sargassum seaweed. The ­database also includes ­images of the ­water in all sea states, weather conditions and lighting (daytime and moonlight) ­scenarios. Oscar uses its onboard AI to compare ­detected targets with this database to determine what each object is and the threat level that it poses. ­Additionally, BSB ­Marine has partnered with ­several high-­profile ocean-­racing teams that record all of their Oscar-captured ­video ­imagery, which they share with the company once they’re back ashore. Once received, BSB Marine carefully labels, ­annotates, and compiles this information and updates all Oscar users’ image databases.

Then, each Oscar system’s ability to identify targets improves as it spends time at sea thanks to its AI and embedded deep-learning capability. ­Oscar, for instance, knows what ferries look like, and it “learns” to recognize them from ­different angles and distances, and in various sea states, ­temperatures and lighting conditions. ­Newfound “knowledge”—much like the data that’s gathered by racing teams—is shared with other Oscar users to help improve the systems’ abilities to recognize objects and minimize false alarms. ­According to Biancale, racing crews might see one false alarm per 24 hours, while cruisers might trigger an alarm every few days.

“Identification is valuable,” Biancale says, noting that sleeping whales behave differently than semisubmerged shipping containers or buoys and other aids to navigation. “You need to predict where the whale will go,” he says.

Once Oscar identifies a ­target in its video stream, its AI starts working. “It looks for any disturbance in the water,” Biancale says. “Oscar detects anything that’s different than the water background, which is known. It tries to detect things that aren’t in the database.” Regardless of ­whether a spotted target is in its ­database, Oscar is designed to ­either alert its crew to its presence so that they can ­manually confirm a course ­correction or, if interfaced with an ­autopilot, evade the object.

BSB Marine is ­marketing four versions of Oscar to ­sailors, starting with its top-of-the-line system that’s ­currently in use aboard high-­performance ocean-racing yachts, including IMOCA 60s and Ultims. Oscar Custom Sailing is a fully ­loaded system that employs dual high-resolution FLIR-built thermal-­imaging cameras with a ­target-detection range of up to 3,040 feet. Given the speeds that IMOCA 60s and Ultims regularly tick off and the fact that 3,040 feet buys only 40 to 60 seconds of warning ­before a collision, this high-end ­system autonomously controls the boat’s autopilot system. Once Oscar detects a target, the system performs its identification and filtration work in one second, and it takes an ­additional 2 seconds to ­adjust the autopilot’s heading to a safer course.

Biancale notes that grand-prix-level autopilots are always planning an escape route, say if the boat gets hit with an ­unexpected wind shift or off-kilter wave, and this same functionality helps the boat avoid a crash gybe if Oscar ­detects a target while the boat is broad reaching or running close to dead downwind.

The Oscar Advanced 640 also employs dual ­high-­resolution FLIR-built thermal-­imaging cameras, but they have a somewhat smaller field of view. They still deliver a target-detection range of up to 3,040 feet.

The Oscar Advanced 320 delivers the same autonomous autopilot controls and daylight camera as BSM Marine’s other Oscar systems, but it uses lower-resolution FLIR cameras. The result is a system that delivers a range of up to 1,970 feet, making it suitable for sailboats in the 50- to 80-foot range. At 10 knots, a boat will take 1 minute, 56 seconds to sail this distance.

The cruiser-friendly Oscar One 320 system is also available, and Biancale says it uses the same daylight RGB camera as the other Oscar systems and the FLIR thermal-­imaging cameras that are found on the Oscar Advanced 320, with a maximum range of 1,970 feet. The difference, however, involves what happens once the system detects a target. Instead of autonomously changing the autopilot’s course, this system will instead sound alarms and require the ­skipper or crew to confirm a target via the app before ordering the autopilot to change course. While this might sound like a smaller margin of error, it’s important to remember the speeds involved: At 7 knots, a sailboat takes 2 minutes, 46 seconds to travel 1,970 feet, which should be ample time for a crew that’s maintaining a proper watch to respond to the app’s alarm and course-­correction request on their phone, computer or plotter.

While Oscar’s advantages are easy to spot for anyone who has dodged Pacific Northwest deadheads or debris en route to Bermuda, its ­disadvantages are harder to spy. There’s cost, of course—systems start at about $15,000—but this becomes quite reasonable when compared with the price of a serious fiberglass repair job or an “opportunity” to test out the life raft (or worse). One could also argue that the masthead cameras and Ethernet cable in the spar add weight aloft, though not much: The ­cameras and bracket weigh less than 2 pounds, and the cable weighs roughly 1.1 pounds per 30 feet. If weight is indeed critical, lighter halyards could be ­purchased to compensate.

That said, it’s important to remember that Oscar is ­designed for offshore use, not for carrying a full press of ­canvas into San Francisco Bay or the Port of New York and New Jersey. “There’s no limit to the number of targets that Oscar can detect, but there’s a ­limit to the number that it can evade,” Biancale says, adding that the system can simultaneously dodge “several” targets.

One consideration, ­however, is that Oscar is an optical-based system, and its cameras are beholden to the laws of physics. For example, Oscar’s daylight RGB camera suffers from a blind spot created by direct sunlight. While this isn’t an issue for the system’s thermal-imaging ­cameras, these cameras don’t work well in thick fog or rain.

That said, if you’re outfitting a bluewater vessel for a transoceanic cruise, Oscar makes a lot of sense, especially when shorthanded watches, ­limited sleep and habitually tired eyes are involved. As for spotting deadheads, BSB Marine’s ­database includes this imagery, freeing sailors to instead use their binoculars to enjoy the panorama around them.

David Schmidt is CW ’s electronics editor.

Collateral Losses

Given the sheer scale of international shipping and commerce, it should come as no surprise that some goods get lost in transit. The problem, of course, is that when ships lose cargo, they aren’t accidentally dropping a single shoebox of, say, Nike sneakers. Rather, they’re losing entire shipping containers of goods. While some lucky beachcombers occasionally find washed-up plunder, these wayward containers have the potential—if encountered at the wrong time and angle—to quickly sink boats. And while the world’s oceans contain a heck of a lot of real estate, experts estimate that between 1,400 and 15,000 shipping containers are lost annually. But, notes BSB Marine on a frequently asked questions page: “Containers are either floating or sinking but do not remain in shallow depth because the two stable positions are either floating, when the container mass-to-volume is less than 1 kilogram per liter, or sinking if it is above 1 kilogram per liter. You can experience it by putting objects in a glass of water; trying to have anything just below the surface is next to impossible.”

While this doesn’t ­absolve these navigational dangers—or their environmental impacts—it does mean that if there’s a container bow on, Oscar can detect it.

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Published on June 15th, 2023 | by Editor

11th Hour Racing deals with devastation

Published on June 15th, 2023 by Editor -->

Following the collision incurred by The Ocean Race overall leader 11th Hour Racing Team, they provide this update on June 15, 2023:

At 18:32 local [16:32 UTC], just 17 minutes into the start of the final leg of The Ocean Race 2022-23 and during the short, inshore race course, 11th Hour Racing Team’s 60-foot race boat was hit by competitor Guyot environnement – Team Europe on its port side, leaving a large hole in the aft section of the boat.

All crew are safe, and there were no injuries on either boat. The team dropped their mainsail and returned to the harbor in The Hague to assess the damage.

A devastated Skipper, Charlie Enright (USA), speaking on the dock, said, “We did our best to avoid it, and I don’t want to speculate on what was going on on their side of the fence. We protested them as a result, and the Umpires dealt with the Racing Rules of Sailing on the water, and Guyot were black flagged.

“All of that aside, those are the small details. The most important thing is that everyone on their boat and our boat are ok. Where we go from here is uncertain at this stage. It’s life, it’s racing. There is nothing we would have done differently, and accidents happen.

“This race has a way of testing people in different ways – physically and mentally, and this is a test for our team. There is no team I would rather be on, that I would rather have with me. If anyone can figure this out, it is us, I genuinely believe that, we will just have to see what that process looks like as we get more information,” Enright concluded.

On returning to the dock, the team’s 15-strong shore team got onboard to take stock of the damage and consider a repair plan.

A clearly shocked and highly emotional Simon Fisher said, “I’m lost for words. We tacked on our lay line, sailing on starboard for 20 or 30 seconds. Charlie was screaming ‘starboard’ at Guyot, and they did not respond. The net result is that they have put their boat firmly in the side of ours.

“The bowsprit went right through our boat and came out on the inside. We are really lucky that no one got hurt; Charlie was sitting so close to the hatch. Thankfully everyone is ok.

“Personally, I refuse to admit this [race] is over. We would rather try to win it on the water, but we need to find out what our options are, if this can be repaired, and what our redress implications are as a team now, and hopefully move forward.

“I have seen plenty of stuff in my time over six Ocean Races, this is not one of the better ones, but we have a fantastic team, and going into today, we were in a fantastic position, and that is thanks to the team we have. If I wanted to be with any group of people in adversity, it’s them,” Fisher concluded.

The team has two workstreams: one is looking at the extent of the damage, and the team is speaking with the boat’s designers and engineers to make a full assessment. And in parallel, the other workstream is looking at the rules and redress.

For this final leg to Genoa, Italy, Skipper Charlie Enright (USA), has returned to the crew he started this mammoth race with back in January 2023. Simon Fisher (GBR) as the Navigator, Jack Bouttell (AUS/GBR) and Francesca Clapcich (ITA) as Trimmers, and Amory Ross (USA) is back onboard as the team’s Media Crew Member.

After a hat-trick of back-to-back leg wins, 11th Hour Racing Team is currently sitting at the top of the overall leaderboard, by two points over Team Holcim-PRB, and six points over Team Malizia. The team were setting off on Leg 7 of The Ocean Race 2022-23, destination, Genoa, Italy, with an ETA of June 25.

More news as it becomes available will be shared on the team’s social channels.

11th Hour Racing Team Crew for Leg 7, The Ocean Race 2022-23: Charlie Enright (USA) – Skipper Simon Fisher (GBR) – Navigator Jack Bouttell (AUS/GBR) – Trimmer Francesca Clapcich (ITA) – Trimmer Amory Ross (USA) – Media Crew Member

IMOCA – Leg 7 Rankings at 20:25 UTC 1. Team Malizia, distance to finish, 2127.1 nm 2. Biotherm, distance to lead, 1.2 nm 3. Holcim-PRB, distance to lead, 2.5 nm Suspended racing – 11th Hour Racing Team Retired – GUYOT environnement

Race details – Route – Tracker – Scoreboard – Content from the boats – YouTube

IMOCA Overall Leaderboard (after 6 of 7 legs) 1. 11th Hour Racing Team — 33 points 2. Team Holcim-PRB — 31 points 3. Team Malizia — 27 points 4. Biotherm — 19 points 5. GUYOT environnement – Team Europe — 2 points

VO65 Overall Leaderboard (after 2 of 3 legs): 1. WindWhisper Racing Team — 12 points 2. Team JAJO — 9 points 3. Austrian Ocean Racing powered by Team Genova — 7 points 4. Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team — 5 points 5. Viva México — 4 points 6. Ambersail 2 — 3 points

IMOCA: Name, Design, Skipper, Launch date • Guyot Environnement – Team Europe (VPLP Verdier); Benjamin Dutreux (FRA)/Robert Stanjek (GER); September 1, 2015 • 11th Hour Racing Team (Guillaume Verdier); Charlie Enright (USA); August 24, 2021 • Holcim-PRB (Guillaume Verdier); Kevin Escoffier (FRA); May 8, 2022 • Team Malizia (VPLP); Boris Herrmann (GER); July 19, 2022 • Biotherm (Guillaume Verdier); Paul Meilhat (FRA); August 31 2022

The Ocean Race 2022-23 Race Schedule: Alicante, Spain – Leg 1 (1900 nm) start: January 15, 2023 Cabo Verde – ETA: January 22; Leg 2 (4600 nm) start: January 25 Cape Town, South Africa – ETA: February 9; Leg 3 (12750 nm) start: February 26 Itajaí, Brazil – ETA: April 1; Leg 4 (5500 nm) start: April 23 Newport, RI, USA – ETA: May 10; Leg 5 (3500 nm) start: May 21 Aarhus, Denmark – ETA: May 30; Leg 6 (800 nm) start: June 8 Kiel, Germany (Fly-By) – June 9 The Hague, The Netherlands – ETA: June 11; Leg 7 (2200 nm) start: June 15 Genova, Italy – The Grand Finale – ETA: June 25, 2023; Final In-Port Race: July 1, 2023

The Ocean Race (formerly Volvo Ocean Race and Whitbread Round the World Race) was initially to be raced in two classes of boats: the high-performance, foiling, IMOCA 60 class and the one-design VO65 class which has been used for the last two editions of the race.

However, only the IMOCAs will be racing round the world while the VO65s will race in The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint which competes in Legs 1, 6, and 7 of The Ocean Race course.

Additionally, The Ocean Race also features the In-Port Series with races at seven of the course’s stopover cities around the world which allow local fans to get up close and personal to the teams as they battle it out around a short inshore course.

Although in-port races do not count towards a team’s overall points score, they do play an important part in the overall rankings as the In-Port Race Series standings are used to break any points ties that occur during the race around the world.

Held every three or four years since 1973, the 14th edition of The Ocean Race was originally planned for 2021-22 but was postponed one year due to the pandemic, with the first leg starting on January 15, 2023.

Source: 11th Hour Racing Team

Tags: 11th Hour Racing Team , The Ocean Race , TOR23-Leg 7

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Rule 14 and Rule 15 – Avoiding Contact and Acquiring Right of Way: Racing Rules of Sailing 2021-2024

Now that we’ve mastered the right of way rules, we need to learn the limitations on right of way boats. Rule 14 and Rule 15 are the first two rules in Part 2, Section B. Rule 14 is Avoiding Contact and Rule 15 is Acquiring Right of Way.

In 2018, the Inland Lake Yachting Association (ILYA) and SailZing, LLC partnered on a Fair Sailing initiative. As part of this initiative, SailZing worked with the ILYA and UK Sailmakers to develop a series of articles on the rules. With the rules changes in 2021, SailZing is updating these articles and adding video summaries.

Our thanks to UK Sailmakers for generating the animated scenarios.

Part 2, Section B – General Limitations

Congratulations! If you’ve been following along, you’ve now mastered the rules of Part 2, Section A – Right of Way. Remember, the rules in Section A (Rules 10-13) determine right of way when two or more boats meet.

Having right of way doesn’t give you a blank check to affect other boats. The rules of Part 2, Section B – General Limitations – don’t change right of way, but they do limit the actions of right-of-way boats. We’ll cover Rule 14 and Rule 15 in this article.

Rule 14 – Avoiding Contact

“A boat shall avoid contact with another boat if reasonably possible. However, a right-of-way boat or one sailing within the room or mark-room to which she is entitled need not act to avoid contact until it is clear that the other boat is not keeping clear or giving room or mark-room .”

Definitions

Room. The space a boat needs in the existing conditions, including space to comply with her obligations under the rules of Part 2 and rule 31, while maneuvering promptly in a seamanlike way.

Mark-room. Room for a boat to leave a mark on the required side. Also, (a) room to sail to the mark when her proper course is to sail close to it, and (b) room to round or pass the mark as necessary to sail the course without touching the mark . However, mark-room for a boat does not include room to tack unless she is overlapped inside and to windward of the boat required to give mark-room and she would be fetching the mark after her tack.

Previously-defined term (click to refresh your memory): Keep clear

Rule 14 Key Points

• This rule recognizes that preventing damage or injury is more important than preserving right of way.
• If you are a right-of-way boat and need to act to avoid contact, you assert your rights by protesting the other boat, not by letting contact occur.
• However, if there is any damage or injury at all, no matter how slight, the right-of-way boat or the one sailing within the rom or mark-room to which she is entitled will be penalized if it is found that it was reasonably possible to have avoided contact.

Rule 14 Change

Rule 14 was revised in the 2021-2024 racing rules. See the markup below.

• One change clarified that a boat entitled to mark-room must stay within the mark room to which she is entitled.
• Another change moved the discussion of exoneration to a new rule (43).

Rule 14 Insights

Various cases in the World Sailing Casebook add insights to this rule. Click the links to read more.

• Case 26: Not watching for other boats is not an excuse for avoiding contact
• Case 50: In port-starboard situations, the port tack boat (under Rules 10 and 14) and the starboard tack boat (under Rule 14) are only required to act if there is a “genuine and reasonable apprehension” of collision.
• Case 99: The right-of-way boat is not required to take extreme measures (such as a crash gybe that might cause damage in itself) to avoid a collision.
• Mark Townsend has prepared a Rule 14 decision tree to help sort through scenarios.

Rule 15 – Acquiring Right of Way

“When a boat acquires right of way, she shall initially give the other boat room to keep clear , unless she acquires right of way because of the other boat’s actions.”

There were no changes to Rule 15 for 2021-2024.

Rule 15 Scenarios

#1 – “small hole on the starting line”.

Description: Green approaches the starting line and sails between Blue and Yellow. Green expects Yellow to keep clear as the windward boat. There is no contact.

Which boat(s) should promptly take a penalty? Answer

#2 – “Tacking too Close”

Description: Yellow and Blue are sailing upwind. Yellow hails “tacking” and immediately tacks, causing contact. Yellow alleges she gave Blue plenty of warning by hailing.

#3 – “What does ‘Initially’ Mean?”

Description: Yellow and Blue are sailing downwind. Blue acquires an overlap at position 2 and Yellow protests immediately.

World Sailing Racing Rules of Sailing

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ILYA #FairSailing – Rules Scenarios #1

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Two hurt after sailboat, motorboat collide off Weymouth coast

T wo boats collided in the water in Hingham Bay on Friday afternoon, with video from Sky 5 showing a sailboat partially submerged in the water with another boat nearby.

The incident happened in the vicinity of Grape Island, which is approximately one mile north of Hingham Harbor in Weymouth.

The U.S. Coast Guard said they responded to a collision between a 21 foot sailboat and a 38 foot power boat along with the Quincy and Weymouth harbormasters.

Authorities believe the power boat was heading away from Hingham into the main channel and struck a 21 foot sail boat.

What appears to be blood is visible on the back of the motorboat.

The crash submerged the sailboat, leaving only the top of its mast and the tip of the bow visible above the waterline.

A source says the motorboat struck the sailboat, and a man and woman on board the sailboat both suffered serious injuries, apparently hit by the other boat's propeller.

"I was hoping that everyone was ok," said Ann Goldman, a ferry passenger who witnessed the aftermath.

Goldman was on an MBTA ferry that passed by the two boats and took pictures shortly after they collided around noon.

"I mean when you see a collision, when you see police boats, you're like, 'I hope something wasn't terribly wrong.' But something was definitely terribly wrong," Goldman said.

Two people on the motorboat appeared unhurt and were brought to shore and questioned by state environmental police.

"We've never seen anything like that going in and out to Boston. And so it was a bit of a shock, especially on a calm day," said David McGuiness, another ferry passenger.

Longtime sailboater Dennis Hynes said boats are supposed to slow down in the narrow channel between Weymouth and Grape Island.

"If you were leaving this area, you would go right through that point," Hynes said.

Hynes said that if the sailboat was under sail power, it would have the right of way.

"It should not have been that busy out there. So it looks like maybe some inattention and excessive speed just looking at the pictures you showed me," Hynes said.

The female suffered injuries which were describe by officials as serious. She was transported to a Boston area hospital while the male was transported to a hpWeymouth.

The investigation into the collision continues as authorities work to determine if someone is at fault.

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READ THE FULL STORY: Two hurt after sailboat, motorboat collide off Weymouth coast

CHECK OUT WCVB: Get the latest Boston news, weather and sports online, anytime. Stay in the know with Boston’s news leader – WCVB.

How to avoid collisions while sailing

Sailing rules of the road when sailboat meets sailboat.

Updated July 9, 2024

Everyone wants to avoid collisions while sailing and boating.

Rule 2: When you are on opposite tacks, the starboard tack boat has the right-of-way.

Rule 3: If you are overtaking the other boat, or it is overtaking you, the boat ahead (the overtaken boat) has the right-of-way.

Figure 8-3 shows the opposite tack rule. The starboard tack boat is the stand-on vessel and has the boating right-of-way.  The port tack boat has to keep clear or give way. Which boat is on port tack? If you said the boat on the right, you are correct.

Figure 8-4 shows two boats involved in the overtaking rule. In this case the boat ahead is the stand-on vessel and has the boating right-of-way. The overtaking boat has to keep clear or give way. Which boat is overtaking and what tack is that boat on? If you said the boat behind is overtaking and is on starboard tack, you are correct.

Note that these boats are sailing downwind, with the wind pushing from behind, and they are on opposite tacks. In the overtaking rule, the difference in tacks is not relevant, unless you are racing. Over many years, a complete set of sailing rules of the road specifically for sailboat racing has been developed and administered by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF), which now goes by World Sailing , but these are not relevant to recreational sailing. If you’re looking to become a pro sailor, check out our Offshore Sailing Certification Courses . We teach boating safety and how to avoid collisions in our Basic Learn to Sail and Bareboat Cruising courses at resort locations on Florida’s Gulf Coast and the British Virgin Islands . Get a taste of sailing by watching this video with happy Offshore Sailing School students and instructors. Watch video . We also produced a 4-hour Online Learn to Sail course in collaboration with the BoatUS Foundation. There is a nominal fee. Get details .

Other resources on boating and sailboat safe-handling: Our friends at BoatUS Foundation offer this helpful guide to boating safety courses in the U.S. View Guide . Similarly, our friends with the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary offer this handy Rules-of-the-Road schematic.

View all Offshore Sailing School courses , including our most popular combination Fast Track to Cruising® course .

Call us at 888-454-7015 or Contact us via Email to learn more.

Beth Oliver

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