Bill McKee wrote:
Reading the Oregon fishing rules book, and they have a big safety notice in
their. "Who has the right of way? THE BIG GUY" Shows a sailboat saying
they will turn, we have the right of way. The deckhand of the tanker is
saying, did you feel a bump?



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.