› Racing Rules Discussions › Finishing Mark 9/6/22 traffic jam at pin › Reply To: Finishing Mark 9/6/22 traffic jam at pin
The explanation that Tim T provided is spot on.
To Rich’s question about other possible interpretations of the RRS governing this incident:
What I saw discussed on the RRS forum was either misunderstood, not applicable, or flat out wrong. I think their discussion revolved around “exploding” the RRS definition of Mark Room into its 3 or 4 sub-parts, and looking at each part, one at a time. Part (a) talks about a boat providing another boat “room to sail to the mark,” which I think is the key aspect of Tuesday’s incident. I think they were making a case that if the boats are not rounding a mark, they are crossing a finish line, then proper course by definition does not go to a mark, it goes over the line between the marks; therefore, part (a) of the Mark Room definition would not get triggered on and the outside boat only had to provide room for the inside boat to pass on the correct side of the mark (as stated in the very first part of the Mark Room definition) (…but not provide room to sail to the mark). So, under this hypothetical reading of the rules, the inside boats were clear to pass astern of F.L., observing her ROW status and still pass on the correct side of the mark. It is an interesting argument.
But, I passed this reading by Dave Perry yesterday, and he shot it down. Dave Perry says the correct reading of this is that if the inside boat’s (the boat requesting Mark Room) track passes “close” to the mark, then Mark Room part (a) is turned on. “Close” has never been defined or interpreted officially, but within a boat-length or so would not be questioned. I think WH was on a course that would pass “close” to the mark, so part (a) of definition gets turned on. And part (a) is the definition of the Room that F.L. is required to give to WH for her to sail to the mark.