Mike...I just sent you the case book in email (swbell addy).

I was about 10-12 b/l from the mark when we reached the Sbd LL.....did a circle and crept to the mark given we had to set up for downwind. Keep in mind that when you round the WW mark you are diving deep to hoist, so had I been on the Port LL we would not even be having this discussion because the conflict would never have occured as you were well inside the course after the hoist. I also agree that our position wrt either layline is irrelevant wrt the rules. It did have bearing on my decision to bear off versus tacking initially, but agreed...no bearing on rule infractions.

Your timing calcs are similar to mine except I estimated out combined speeds slightly over 30 knots (I know from GPS that in those winds we typically exceed 20 kts downwind.) Nonetheless, it all happened very quickly to say the least.

I have been unable to find a definitive "distance" anywhere for holding course, I strongly suspect that is because "it depends" on boat type, wind and water conditions, other traffic, etc...That is why I have always interpreted (right or wrong) that if it is close enough for ROW boat to hail, or for give way boat to alter to avoid, then it is close enough to hold course. Subjective to say the least, but rules can only go so far.

I have heard it said before that the smartest thing the ROW boat can do is to bear away quickly to encourage the give way boat to go above (assuming the ROW boat wants to go below). Otherwise the ROW boat is stuck with holding course based on the give way boat's decision and has to deal with any subsequent consequences.

I'm no expert here either, but the more we discuss stuff like this the smarter (and safer and more competitive) we all become.

Thanks for taking the same approach as me to this...hashing=good, pissing=bad!! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />