Ellen MacArthur wrote:
Your sailing your dinghy through a crowded anchorage. There are lots of those big
catamarans. Lots of other big boats, too. In other words they're blocking the wind real bad.
You decide to do a little rowing so you get the oars in the water.
Are you still classified as a sailboat. Your definitely not a motor boat but your not just
sailing. If your now a rowboat do you have the right of way over a sailboat? Is there a
rule in the colregs that talks about this situation?

This is an interesting question - its raises a few points not often
considered.

We must ask, "are you still a sailboat if you also deploy oars?"
First of all, you have to be "under sail" - are you actually under
sail if there is no wind? Second, you can't be using "propelling
machinery." I never thought about this before, but why couldn't oars
be considered "machinery," albeit of a rudimentary nature? Of course,
the courts have never ruled that "human power" constitutes machinery,
and they've certainly ruled that a sailboat becalmed is still a
sailboat, so we're left with simply that a sailboat with oars is still
a sailboat.

Now we come to the next question, "does a rowboat have right of way?"
Of course, "right of way" is not a concept in the Colregs, and even
the terms privilege and burden have been removed. But its still
convenient to use these terms, if you keep in mind that the wording,
and underlying concepts, are different.

The interesting thing is that there is absolutely no mention of
vessels under oars, other than to mention that a vessel under oars
*may* use the same lights as a sailboat, if they want to. Some people
have tried to claim that this puts rowboats at the same level as
sailboats on the "pecking order" but there is no basis for this. And
of course, some will always claim that rowboats have rights because
they are small, or less maneuverable, but this is not particularly
compelling. To confuse the matter more, many states have inland rules
that apply in non-navigable waters not connected to oceans that do
specify that human powered boats have right of way over all others.

However, the Colregs do not have anything to say about
responsibilities concerning vessels under oars. Since we already
established you are still a sailboat, the interaction with another
sailboat would simply have to be considered on that basis. Of course,
if the is no wind, and the boat under oars has to take into account
other rules, such as "limitations of vessels."