Originally Posted by Isotope235
Originally Posted by JeffS
If I'm on starboard and I have my bow tucked behind the start boat and he is backing from in front of the start boat with water to go where ever he wants he must stay clear of me as does the rest of the fleet

There are two rules that bear on this situation. RRS 22.3 states "a boat moving astern through the water by backing a sail shall keep clear of one that is not". If the boat clear ahead is "backing a sail", then she must keep clear. If she is drifting backwards without backing a sail, then the other boat must keep clear (RRS 12).

Second, a boat's "course" is the direction she is pointing or moving. When the boat ahead stops moving forward and starts moving backward (without backing a sail), she is changing course and must give the boat astern room to keep clear (per RRS 16.1). That boat must react to the ahead boat's course change promptly and in a seamanlike way to keep clear.


I missed the "backing a sail" part and thought that the rules had been modified to take away the opportunity to back down on the starting line. With a decent breeze, I can move backwards at a pretty good sustainable speed without physically backing a sail. While the timing and handling would be tricky (but could be learned), is this to say that I could back down on the start line right by the committee boat (without backing a sail) and expect everyone to have to avoid me?

Jake Kohl