VSK Match Forum

There is actually no contact, but when VSK calls 12 or 15, it should considered contact.
The boat ahead beared away, which moved the stern towards to boat behind...
Who to penalize? Boat behind for 12 or boat ahead for 16.1?



Harald

If one must penalyze only one boat IMO its a 12 because I searched the picture with the minimal distance between the 2 boats and in this picture, one boat is behind not overlapped. Also 16.1 would be excluded because being ROW the heading boat may change course when the other boat, under 11 or 12, must keep clear.
JL

Two questions:
1. If there would have been no contact if the boat ahead did not bear away, didn't the boat behind initially keep clear?
2. By bearing away, did the boat ahead give the boat behind room to keep clear?

Harald

If there would have been no contact if the boat ahead did not bear away, didn't the boat behind initially keep clear?

I would answer no. To be able to pass at 5 millimeter astern of a ROW boat is not keeping clear from the (b) part definition of what is to keep clear :
(b) when the boats are overlapped, if the right-of-way boat can also change course in both directions without immediately making contact.
Just before the contact, the boats were overlapped. Remind also that the course change of the heading boat was as little as 5° so it is clear imo that the contact was immediat and consequently the behind boat was not keeping clear even if no contact.

2. By bearing away, did the boat ahead give the boat behind room to keep clear?

This question can be rejected because as said above the behind boat already didnt keep clear. To have room to keep clear means that initially you had a keeping-clear course .

All that interressant questions led me to change my mind about the rule which was violated. Now I would say it was a 11 violation.

JL

Its a nice principal discussion and I like your points, but I'm not sure if I agree...
If the boat behind had hit the boat ahead on the windward side, I would have agreed with you, due to proven immediate contact.
If the boat ahead didn't bear, the boat behind would not have been in the immediate contact zone.
And the fact that the course change leads to non visible contact clear astern, indicates that there would have been sufficient margin without the course change.
On the other hand, I think the boat ahead should have "wiggle room"...

Harald