Rules 14 and 15 keep boats apart as much as possible! The last thing anyone wants on the race course is a collision damaging yachts or people.
Rule 14 – Avoiding contact
A boat shall avoid contact with another boat if reasonably possible.
Considered the ‘golden rule’ of sailing, this rule recognizes that preventing damage or injury is more important than preserving right of way. If a collision does occur, and you go into a protest hearing, a penalty may apply if you haven’t avoided contact so watch out!
Rule 15 – Acquiring right of way
When a boat acquires right of way, she shall initially give the other boat room to keep clear, unless she acquires right of way because of the other boat’s actions.
This rule indicates that even when you may become the right of way boat, it is essential that there is time and room for your opponent to get out of your way!
The most common place for this rule to come into play occurs on the starting line (example 1 below) when a ‘late to the line’ boat tries to squeeze into a gap and becomes overlapped with others and tries to luff their opponent. Other occurrences around the track include meeting on a layline and tacking too close to one another (example 2 below).
Example 1
Example 2
