wrote in message
ups.com...

Even if common sense didn't dictate that sailors (and others) need to
stay out of the way of commercial vessels, the rules specifically do.
No vessel under 20 meters and no vessel of any size under sail can
impede a power driven vessel following a VTS. Here's an interesting and
far out possibilty: Since a pleasure boat can voluntarily follow a VTS
and the rules say that sailors and small power boats cannot impede aany
vessel following a VTS, there might be a strong argument that a 40'
sailboat needs to give way to a 20' powerboat *if* the powerboat is
following the VTS. It would take a court case to sort this out, but
it's a technically correct appllication of the rules.


VTS (Vessel Traffic Service) and TSS (Traffic Separation Scheme) can be and
frequently are, two different things.
Since the 20' powerboat probably had no need to use the TSS and it is still
bound by it's "obligations under any other rule", I'd be willing to bet the
powerboat would have serious liability concerns if a collision occurred