But my point is that NOBODY obeys the rules, even the people on this
forum who say we should obey the rules!

When was the last time you heard somene sound a horn for passing or
other encounters with other boats?

i think anyone who actually obeyed the rules for sound signals would
look and feel a bit ridiculous, thus my question.

Understand that I'm not saying people should disobey rules such as the
rightmost boat hs the right of way, the big boats have the right of way
over small boats and so on. I'm just wondering about the rules that
are never observed in practice, except possibly by commercial vessels.

D