I also have sympathy for @jviss, but not because of any sailing racing experience on my part. I would like to learn a little more here, and I'm posting this because I am still uncertain as to the observance and execution of the different sets of rules and responsibilities in this situation. I have so many questions that it's hard to limit what I want to post. Mostly higher level, racing (as an organized event) vs. general recreational traffic... just because you are permitted to use a channel buoy as a mark, when does it become a bad idea to do so? Were these trimarans little boats like 420s or something larger? Is this a regularly scheduled race or a special event?
The very first reply to the OP mentions Rule 9 and Narrow Channels, but that's hardly been acknowledged since then.
Where was the rest of the race course? Was it entirely within the harbor, or outside? Isn't it a bad idea to set a course which completely crosses a harbor entrance at 90 degrees to normal traffic flow (twice)? From the chart screenshots, it looks like they crossed near or between green buoy number 2 and red number 3 ("1" is a light, on shore, so probably a bad choice). @jviss was entering the harbor and following the channel as defined. Where is the COLREGS predictability in the en masse perpendicular crossing of a channel at its defined entrance?
At what point does it become the individual responsibility of the race participants to not interfere with traffic entering the channel?
We had a race near here last year, involving the VTS lanes and marker buoys (probably used as a course mark) where a group of racing sailboats interfered with a cargo ship. Seventeen of the racers were disqualified. The report that I saw said that they could have been fined up to $5000 each. Even this summer, there are periodic announcements by USCG Seattle on channel 16 giving brief reminders of the navigation rules related to sailing vessels, fishing vessels, shipping traffic and ferries. I learned to boat and sail in this area about 15 years ago, and this summer is the first time that I ever remember hearing announcements like that on channel 16.
The very first reply to the OP mentions Rule 9 and Narrow Channels, but that's hardly been acknowledged since then.
Where was the rest of the race course? Was it entirely within the harbor, or outside? Isn't it a bad idea to set a course which completely crosses a harbor entrance at 90 degrees to normal traffic flow (twice)? From the chart screenshots, it looks like they crossed near or between green buoy number 2 and red number 3 ("1" is a light, on shore, so probably a bad choice). @jviss was entering the harbor and following the channel as defined. Where is the COLREGS predictability in the en masse perpendicular crossing of a channel at its defined entrance?
At what point does it become the individual responsibility of the race participants to not interfere with traffic entering the channel?
We had a race near here last year, involving the VTS lanes and marker buoys (probably used as a course mark) where a group of racing sailboats interfered with a cargo ship. Seventeen of the racers were disqualified. The report that I saw said that they could have been fined up to $5000 each. Even this summer, there are periodic announcements by USCG Seattle on channel 16 giving brief reminders of the navigation rules related to sailing vessels, fishing vessels, shipping traffic and ferries. I learned to boat and sail in this area about 15 years ago, and this summer is the first time that I ever remember hearing announcements like that on channel 16.