Sorry about the late reply - this got lost in the noise

Edgar wrote:
Jeff Morris wrote in message
news
Edgar wrote:

Wally wrote in message
o.uk...


"Edgar" wrote in message news:3vxLd.6799

Nonsense Eddy, you're as bad a reader as Neal. Wally just said that he
didn't know what the Colregs said about "overlaps." Perhaps you'd care
to tell us how the Colregs defines them?


If Wally had read the colregs on overtaking he would know there is nothing
said about 'overlaps'.

Not many of us have studied the ColRegs well enough to know what words
are not used.

He went on to show that he knew that the racing rules
had 'stuff' in them about overlaps, as indeed they have but Wally better be
clear about the 'stuff' before he gets into a close quarter situation in a
race

It would be well to know, but Wally showed no particular ignorance.



I guess you never race - this happens all the time in races, especially
with dissimilar boats. Those that can point a bit higher often force
boats to weather to tack. Much can be said about this, but I leave that
to others who have raced more recently than I.


I do not race now but I raced dinghies in highly competitive classes for
many years before I took up cruising, so I did refer in an earlier post that
it sometimes pays to 'tack away' in certain situations when racing.


Yes, it happens in almost every race. Since pointing high and going
fast are often two different strategies, its very common.

I've also seen this happen often with cruising boats. In Boston harbor
the smaller club boats which can point high often force the larger boats
to tack. Ducking below can mean losing several boat lengths.


Jeff, I have never sailed in Boston Harbour but I have sculled the Head of
the Charles a couple of times so know only the upper reaches. What you say
is quite common if both boats are racing but in the absence of any local
harbour directives the Colregs would apply in the harbour unless the
skippers of both boats were certain both were racing. Having said that
however, when I am cruising and not racing I keep out of the way of racing
boats as a matter of courtesy even if I have to tack, but if I did not do so
and another boat knew I was not racing, or was not sure, then they would
have to obey the Colregs. Not that I would bank on a harbour racing
skipper to know anything about them so discretion would always be sensible
:-)

All of this is true, but I never said the club boats were racing. There
are four or five sailing clubs in the inner harbor which have a lot of
recreational sailing. Its fairly easy for a small boat to point high in
constrained waters, but a lazy cruiser is not as likely to trim the jib
well enough to outpoint them.

If the club boats are racing (which they do several nights a week) it is
a common courtesy to stay well clear. However, one point that has been
often discussed here is how much room should you give to a straggler,
who may be a mile behind the rest of the fleet?