I still don’t quite get rule #2…

[capta]

Spend some time on the ICW.

That's really an interesting comment. The ICW is a place where it takes two to tango, most of the time.
I used to have 6 very fast Sport Fish boats that I delivered north each spring and brought back to Fla each fall.
If the sailboat I was passing dropped his boat into neutral for a few seconds as I passed, all would be well and over quickly. However, there are those who blindly maintained speed, leaving me no option but to bump it up from the smallest wake possible, to the boat's most horrendous wake, a speed (6 to 8 knots) the boat was never designed to go at. I couldn't just hang around behind a guy doing 4.5 knots or so. Nobody should expect a much faster boat to remain behind them if there is room to pass safely.

 

[Apex]

@capta, if you are overtaking at your current little wake speed, why would you need to increase, everything else (sailboat speed) remaining the same?

Stand-on and burdened is easy to remember: Nav lights tell the story: To your right, you are showing the other vessel a green light, they have a green light. You will see their red light. Red, = stop don't go there. Green go

 

[Tally Ho]

This has all been very helpful….for some reason I thought that the wind had something to do with it (for sailboats)…

So is it really just position relative to the other boat? No consideration about wind direction and tack?

Greg

 

[dlochner]

@capta, if you are overtaking at your current little wake speed, why would you need to increase, everything else (sailboat speed) remaining the same?

In order to pass quickly the sailboat needs to slow down so the relative speed between the powerboat at no wake speed (~5-7 knots) can pass. If the sailboat is motoring at 6 knots, it takes a long time to pass if the powerboat is only doing 7 knots. When the sailboat drops its speed to 2 or 3 knots, the powerboat can pass quickly because the speed differential is now 3 or 4 knots and everybody is happy.

Edit: The slow pass, with the sailboat slowing down is for a powerboat traveling in the same direction. When moving in opposing directions it is better for only the powerboat to slow down so the sailboat can get by quickly.

 

[dlochner]

This has all been very helpful….for some reason I thought that the wind had something to do with it (for sailboats)…

So is it really just position relative to the other boat? No consideration about wind direction and tack?

Greg

Yes, except during a sailboat race and then wind and tack do make a difference for crossing situations between competing boats. With any other boats passing through the race course the COLREGS rule. Of course the courteous thing to do is not go through a race course if you are not racing and if you must, avoid the boats racing.

 

[dlochner]

The ICW is a place where it takes two to tango,

And most folks attempt to do the dance, some better than others.

This year I ran into a guy who did not even attempt to tango three times. First on the Hudson River where he flew by me throwing a 4-5 foot wake and months later on the ICW where he did the same. After the first ICW incident I called him out on the VHF and used his vessel's name and mentioned it was the second time he had waked me.

The next morning as we were getting ready to head out I hear the USCG hail the offending boat and inform him he was about to be boarded. Later that day the boat passed me for a third time. This time he at least attempted to tango with his wake only about a foot high.

 

[RoyS]

A few years ago I offered to help a new sailor move his sailboat to a new marina a few miles away. He had taken a boating course just after he bought his boat earlier that season. Now the season was ending. I never saw him leave the dock but he talked about his plan to sail around the world beginning next year. Anyway, I got in his boat and off we went. He was very nervous. As we were motoring and approaching the new marina entrance a tug boat towing a barge suddenly entered the marina channel and headed towards us some distance in front of us. We would shortly pass starboard to starboard with plenty of room between us. I told the new sailor (at the helm) to hold course until the tug passed. A few moments later, without a word, he suddenly turned to starboard and exactly perpendicular to the tug's path. Tug put on his horn, my heart stopped. "What are you doing?" I yelled. Time slowed and all I could do was hold my breath and watch. We just avoided a collision by a few feet. He later explained that in his boating course he had learned that you should pass oncoming boats port to port, so he turned... I have been in a falling elevator, a train collision, hit with 600 Volts DC, almost falling from heights several times, traffic accidents, Etc. but that was one of the most frightening of my experiences. A little knowledge is dangerous.

 

[Sailfanatic]

This has all been very helpful….for some reason I thought that the wind had something to do with it (for sailboats)…

So is it really just position relative to the other boat? No consideration about wind direction and tack?

Greg

The video in post #1 appears to have been created by a marketing person with a limited understanding of COLREGS. The title should be redone as "POWERBOAT Rules of the Water". The major shortcomings of this video, even for what it attempts to do are:
1. It doesn't mention there exists an additional different set of rules for sailing vessels
2. It doesn't state that evasive action needs to be "obvious" in addition to early
3. It doesn't explain how to distinguish overtaking versus crossing when a boat is approaching from the starboard stern quarter.
4. It doesn't explain the obligation of stand-on vessels to maintain course and speed.

As to some comments above about always giving way even when standon, as a tactic to avoid close quarters situations, I think it far better to simply learn and follow the rules. Attempting to give-way when you are the stand on vessel is more likely to generate close quarters situations than to avoid them, unless you are consistently and consciously "early and obvious" in your action. For example, if sailing and you are on port tack and crossing a starboard tack boat, the only safe evasion action would be to tack to starboard well in advance of the approach. Something of a pain if you end up heading away from your destination.

I like this breakout of COLREGS into manageable pieces.

 

[sailme88]

Boats under sail DO NOT have priority nor are they STAND ON when encountering vessels involved in commercial fishing and vessels constrained by draft and or ability to maneuver...

 

[Tom J]

That's really an interesting comment. The ICW is a place where it takes two to tango, most of the time.
I used to have 6 very fast Sport Fish boats that I delivered north each spring and brought back to Fla each fall.
If the sailboat I was passing dropped his boat into neutral for a few seconds as I passed, all would be well and over quickly. However, there are those who blindly maintained speed, leaving me no option but to bump it up from the smallest wake possible, to the boat's most horrendous wake, a speed (6 to 8 knots) the boat was never designed to go at. I couldn't just hang around behind a guy doing 4.5 knots or so. Nobody should expect a much faster boat to remain behind them if there is room to pass safely.

As I mentioned earlier, this maneuver was accomplished often while i transited the ICW, and was most successful when the two skippers were in communication. The overtaking boat would spot the name of the slow boat on the stern, and request a slow pass. Most skippers on the ICW learn early on to keep a radio handy, and to pay attention, if only to find out where their buddies will be stopping for the night. Unfortunately, this doesn't hold true outside the ICW. I've never been able to raise another boat on the VHF when I'm cruising Cape Cod and the Islands.

 

[Charles Erwin]

As to some comments above about always giving way even when standon, as a tactic to avoid close quarters situations, I think it far better to simply learn and follow the rules. Attempting to give-way when you are the stand on vessel is more likely to generate close quarters situations than to avoid them, unless you are consistently and consciously "early and obvious" in your action.

Right - and my informal way of saying adopt a 'be courteous attitude' and give way to others early even if standon is just another way of stating exactly what is required by Rule 17. Now it is true that collisions involving recreational boats are pretty rare but the last two cases involving a recreational boat and a Washington state ferry - both cases in clear weather too - would not have happened if just one of the operators had adopted a 'be vigilant, be courteous' attitude instead of stubbornly pressing on.

Charles

 

[Tally Ho]

Yes, except during a sailboat race and then wind and tack do make a difference for crossing situations between competing boats. With any other boats passing through the race course the COLREGS rule. Of course the courteous thing to do is not go through a race course if you are not racing and if you must, avoid the boats racing.

Ok…maybe that is where I picked that up…I don’t race (except when one of my sailing buddies is out and going in the same direction as me).

I am mostly interested in the sailboat on sailboat, non-racing rules. So I think I can remember that if the other guy is on my right (and I would see his red nav lights if dark), I must give way. If I see him on my left, and I would see his green nav light, I am the stand on vessel. If I see red and green, we are on a collision course and would steer to the right (like on the road).

Greg

 

[kappykaplan]

So I think I can remember that if the other guy is on my right (and I would see his red nav lights if dark), I must give way. If I see him on my left, and I would see his green nav light, I am the stand on vessel. If I see red and green, we are on a collision course and would steer to the right (like on the road).

 

[Davidasailor26]

I am mostly interested in the sailboat on sailboat, non-racing rules. So I think I can remember that if the other guy is on my right (and I would see his red nav lights if dark), I must give way. If I see him on my left, and I would see his green nav light, I am the stand on vessel. If I see red and green, we are on a collision course and would steer to the right (like on the road).

Sailboats, as long as they’re both purely under sail, do have their own COLREGS rule. It’s rule 12 and it does have the port tack/starboard tack and Windward/leeward provisions. Like sailfanatic said above the video is targeted for power boaters where that rule doesn’t apply.

 

[Sailfanatic]

Ok…maybe that is where I picked that up…I don’t race (except when one of my sailing buddies is out and going in the same direction as me).

I am mostly interested in the sailboat on sailboat, non-racing rules. So I think I can remember that if the other guy is on my right (and I would see his red nav lights if dark), I must give way. If I see him on my left, and I would see his green nav light, I am the stand on vessel. If I see red and green, we are on a collision course and would steer to the right (like on the road).

Greg

Your rule relative right/left is an inadequate restatement of the sailing rule regarding two sailboats on different tacks, but does not help relative to two sailboats on the same tack, in which case, left and right has no relevance. Better to learn the rules as they are written IMHO.

 

[Stu Jackson]

For example, if sailing and you are on port tack and crossing a starboard tack boat, the only safe evasion action would be to tack to starboard well in advance of the approach. Something of a pain if you end up heading away from your destination.

Not at all.
Falling off a bit on the part of the port tack boat is much easier.
And it also keeps the port tack boat going in its intended direction.
I sailed for decades on SF Bay and came across this situation every single day. Wind from the west, port tack heading north from TI to Richmond, starboard boats heading south from Richmond to SF. Hundreds of crossing situations.
"...the only safe evasion action..." - the word only is simply not true.

 

[Hello Below]

Yes, except during a sailboat race and then wind and tack do make a difference for crossing situations between competing boats. With any other boats passing through the race course the COLREGS rule. Of course the courteous thing to do is not go through a race course if you are not racing and if you must, avoid the boats racing.

@dlochner are you suggesting that Colregs Rule 12 only applies to sailing vessels that are participating in a sail racing fleet?
COLREGs course - Rule 12 (Sailing vessels) (ecolregs.com)
Colregs vs racing rules: How understanding racing rules can help cruisers keep clear - Practical Boat Owner (pbo.co.uk)

 

[capta]

Ok…maybe that is where I picked that up…I don’t race (except when one of my sailing buddies is out and going in the same direction as me).

I am mostly interested in the sailboat on sailboat, non-racing rules. So I think I can remember that if the other guy is on my right (and I would see his red nav lights if dark), I must give way. If I see him on my left, and I would see his green nav light, I am the stand on vessel. If I see red and green, we are on a collision course and would steer to the right (like on the road).

Greg

Really, if you think about it, this is nothing new to a US driver. Remember, we are also required to give preference to the vehicle on the right at an intersection.

 

[Jacktar]

The key is rules apply to motorboats with exceptions for sail driven vessels and towed etc.

 

[capta]

@capta, if you are overtaking at your current little wake speed, why would you need to increase, everything else (sailboat speed) remaining the same?

When I dropped down to the minimum wake speed I'd go from 35+ to around 5.5 knots. It would take me forever to pass a vessel (not necessarily a sailboat) going 5ish knots.