This guide covers a subset of the racing rules, covering most of the conditions you're likely to come across, when racing at Hawley. It's deliberately simplified, missing out some of the finer details that you might need if you go racing in a more formal setting with more boats around. So you may need to consult the "real" rules, if you find yourself faced with a tricky "point of law".

We'll be concentrating on two sections of the rules: the "Definitions" and the "rules of the road" in Part 2. We'll refer to the rules by number; so, for instance RRS 10, means rule 10, the 'port and starboard' rule.

We aren't covering the "Fundamental Rules", but you do need to be aware of them. Everyone is expected to show good sportsmanship, to follow the rules honestly, and act appropriately if we happen to break a rule, but above all to act safely, and to help if someone is in danger.

When we're not racing, we use the International Collision Regulations. But in racing, we need to get closer to other boats than you would expect under the "ColRegs". So the Racing Rules set out how we have to act when considering each of the boats near to us, so that we can get to where we intend, without risking a collision.

A few key ideas come up repeatedly in the rules, and it's helpful to understand these principles before getting into the details.

Keep Clear and Right of Way

If we take any two boats on the water, at any moment one of them will be defined as the Right-of-Way boat, and the other as the Keep-Clear boat, according to the circumstances. And as the circumstances change, the roles may reverse. The Keep-Clear boat of the moment must Keep Clear of the Right-of-Way boat: what that means is that the Right-of-Way boat can sail its chosen course without needing to change course to avoid the Keep-Clear boat, and moreover, that the Right-of-Way boat must be able to change course in either direction without immediately making contact. If either of these conditions is not met, the Keep-Clear boat has not kept clear and has broken a rule.

In general, if you are the Right-of-Way boat, you can choose what course to take, but there are some restrictions. If you make a change of course, as a result of which the Keep-Clear boat would need to take action to continue keeping clear, you must give it "room" to do so. And if you do something that switches you into the Right-of-Way role, again you must initially give room to the new Keep-Clear boat. (This doesn't apply if it was the other boat's action that caused the switch of roles.)

Room and mark-room

What room means is, primarily, enough space to comply with our obligations under the rules, if we manouevre promptly and in a seamanlike manner. It may also apply to the space we need to perform a specific action without a full right-of-way, like sailing alongside a continuing obstruction, or over the direct route to a mark and around it.

Proper Course

The Right-of-Way boat is allowed to drive the Keep-Clear boat away from its desired course, for tactical reasons, provided it's done in a way that gives room, as required. But sometimes there is a limit on how far you can push this: when this limit applies, you can't go beyond your own Proper Course. Proper course is defined as the course you would reasonably choose to get most quickly to the finish, if the other boat were taken right away. There isn't a single defined course at any point, and indeed your best course might change over time, but you have to be able to justify your choice, if necessary. And if you are the Keep-Clear boat here, remember that it's the other boat's choice that counts; yours may well be different, but you can't claim the right to follow it.

Avoiding Contact

You are always expected to avoid contact, if possible. And in the latest version of the rules, you must also not cause any other boat to make contact. But if you are the Right-of-way boat, and the Keep-Clear boat breaks a rule, causing a contact you can't reasonably avoid, and provided no damage or injury results, you will not be penalised.

Until you are more confident of your understanding, the simple rule is: if in doubt, keep well clear. It won't make that much difference to your results.

So now we'll consider how it all works when you are simply out in the open, on the way from one mark to the next, but well away from either mark or any other complication. There's nothing to bother you except the other boats.

Port tack keeps clear of starboard

RRS 10 says that a boat on port tack must keep clear of a boat on starboard tack. You'll most often come across this if you are crossing another boat's path, but it also applies if you are, for instance, running downwind together, or if one of you is overtaking the other.

Which tack are we on? The Definitions spell out which tack you are on: obviously, you are on starboard tack if the wind is on your starboard side; but if the wind is behind you, and your boom is out to port, you are also on starboard. Otherwise you are on port.

Tacking

You will often put in quite a few tacks on the way to the windward mark. But be careful: while you are tacking, you aren't on either tack, and RRS 13 says that you must keep clear of other boats. (You are tacking from the moment that you go through head-to-wind until you have reached your new close-hauled course.) This means that you mustn't tack if there is another boat so close behind that you will obstruct it while you are tacking. Remember: if the following boat has to change course to avoid you, you haven't kept clear.

Once you reach your new close-hauled course, even if your sail isn't yet filling, you have completed your tack, and you are back onto the normal rules above.

Boat clear astern keeps clear

This comes from RRS 12, together with Definitions - Clear Astern and Clear Ahead; Overlap. If two boats are on the same tack, and one of them is Clear ahead, and the other one Clear astern, the boat astern must keep clear of the boat ahead.

Clear astern means that all parts of the boat astern are behind a line across the stern of the boat ahead. If neither boat is clear astern, the boats are overlapped (see next).

Windward boat keeps clear of leeward

RRS 11, together with Definitions - Leeward and Windward, covers the case where boats are overlapped and on the same tack. (This most often applies where the boats are on the same leg of the course, but it may also be that the boats are on significantly different courses, and happen to be overlapped at a point where they cross.) If you are the windward boat, you must keep clear of the leeward boat, and in this case keeping clear includes giving enough room for the leeward boat to change course in either direction without making contact (Definitions - Keep Clear).

Which is the windward boat? If your boom is on the side that is away from the other boat, you are the leeward boat, and you can sail your course. If it's on the side where the other boat is, you are the windward boat, and must keep clear.

You won't find a rule that refers to overtaking as such. Instead we have to use combinations of the basic rules above. There are several possible cases:

Overtaking on different tacks

This may come up when you are on a dead run, or near it, and you and the other boat have reasons for choosing different tacks, or it may be that you are on different courses which happen to meet at the point of overtaking. In either case the port-starboard rule applies throughout the manoeuvre. If the one being overtaken is on port tack, it may even have to alter course to get out of the way.

Overtaking on the same tack

The overtaking boat has to keep clear (RRS12) as long as it is clear astern, and the boat ahead can do as it pleases. Once the overtaking boat has become overlapped, there are two different cases, depending on which side the overtaking boat chooses to pass.

If the overtaking boat chooses to go to windward of the other, it needs to take care, because it does so as the Keep-Clear boat (RRS11), and the boat being overtaken is allowed to head up (to luff), even as far as head-to-wind, to protect its wind, or for other tactical reasons.

If the overtaking boat chooses to go to leeward of the other, the overtaker now becomes the Right-of-Way boat (RRS11); but while the overlap continues, the overtaker mustn't sail on a higher heading than its Proper Course (RRS 17). Proper course means the course you would choose to get to the finish as quickly as possible, if the other boat were not there at all. (Definitions - Proper Course)

Avoiding Contact

You should always try to avoid contact with other boats if possible, even if you are in the right and the other boat is wrong; and also you mustn't be the cause of another boat getting into a collision. But if you are the Right-of-Way boat, you are entitled (RRS 14) to assume that the Keep-Clear boat will keep clear as required, until it is quite obvious it isn't doing so. You don't have to take avoiding action before then. You do take action when it is clearly necessary, and if a contact still occurs, you are not at fault, unless damage or injury results.

Exercising your Right of Way

When you first become the Right-of-Way boat on any particular occasion, you have to give the Keep-Clear boat room to keep clear, unless it was the Keep-Clear boat's own actions that led to your becoming Right-of-Way boat. (RRS 15)

If you are the Right-of-Way boat, and you decide to change course in such a direction that the Keep-Clear boat will need to take positive action to stay clear, you must move in such a way that you give reasonable time and opportunity for the Keep-Clear boat to stay clear. (RRS 16)

The obstruction rules are about how you and other boats cooperate to avoid an obstruction - something that would need a significant change of course by one or more of you. There are two main kinds of obstruction: continuous obstructions, such as a shore line, and the rest, where you can pass either side. In some cases it is necessary for the Right-of-Way boat to give room to the Keep-Clear boat.

Continuous obstructions

If you are sailing off-wind, and passing a continuous obstruction, along with other boats, the normal port-starboard and windward-leeward rules apply, with this exception: if you and another boat are overlapped, the one nearer the obstruction must be given enough room to pass along, even if it is not the right-of-way boat.

If however you are alongside the obstruction, and not already overlapped, but you are about to overtake another boat, you must pass on the outside (further from the obstruction) unless there is already enough room on the inside; otherwise, if you start to overlap on the inside, you have to keep clear, and the port-starboard and windward-leeward rules are suspended until you are past the obstruction.

There's a different case if you are sailing close-hauled or above, and getting closer to a shoreline: you are clearly going to need to tack soon. But if there are other boats going along with you, it seems you are likely to break RRS 13 (keeping clear while tacking). What you actually do is to call for "room to tack", and when given room, you do tack. But you must only do this if you are very near the point where you need to take action. (More details below.)

Boats that you must avoid

If you are approaching a boat that you have to keep clear of (like a starboard tack boat when you are on port), that also counts as an obstruction. If you were on your own on a windward beat, you might tack away, or you might pass behind the obstructing boat. And if you are sailing more freely, you might be able to alter course to pass well ahead of it. But what if there are other boats near you, also facing the same decision? More than one of you may need to call for room to alter course or to tack; and the other boats' choice may not be the same as yours. RRS19 says effectively that whichever one of you is the right-of-way boat has the right to choose which side to pass; and it must also allow room for the other boats to pass the obstruction on the same side, if they so wish.

Hailing for room

There are various occasions when you may need to call for room to alter course or to tack. You must only do this if you are close to the obstruction in question, and will need to take action soon. RRS 20 spells out the procedure for this. At an appropriate time, you hail the boat next to you, calling "room to tack" (or to change course, or whatever). The other boat must respond promptly, usually by giving room as requested, e.g. by tacking away, but may instead call "you tack", etc., and make sure that it leaves enough room. But often there are other boats affected, and the one first called on may need to pass the request up a succession of boats, and wait for the eventual response to come back. So if you see that you are in this situation, you need to time your hail rather earlier than you otherwise would.

Remember, having called for room, you must do what you said you were going to. It would be unsportsmanlike (RRS 2) to stay on the same course if the wind happens to shift in your favour when the other boat has tacked away.

Note this section doesn't apply to starting marks.

It also doesn't apply at an island that is itself defined as a mark of the course; in this case, the rules for continuous obstructions apply. It does apply, though, at an ordinary buoy that is a mark directing your course around the island.

Mark rounding is the most complicated situation you are likely to meet, because of the number of boats converging on the same point, especially early in the race. RRS 18 covers the various aspects of mark rounding. There is an important concept: the zone, which is an imaginary circle of three boat-lengths radius, and centred on the mark. Special rules apply when you enter the zone.

Mark rounding - Opposite tacks at windward marks

If two boats approach a mark on opposite tacks, and it is a windward mark, or in any case one of the boats (but only one) will need to tack to follow its proper course, then initially RRS 18.1 says that the rest of RRS 18 doesn't apply, and the normal port-starboard rule applies (RRS 10), as also does the one about keeping clear while tacking (RRS 13). ('Windward mark: take the mark away.')

But there is a special case: at a port-rounding mark - the normal case for a windward mark - if the boat that needs to tack (let's call it boat A) does so within the zone, and the other one (boat B) has been on starboard since entering the zone, the boats are now approaching on the same tack, and RRS 18.3 applies: boat A effectively has to continue to keep clear: it mustn't force boat B to sail above close-hauled to avoid it; and if boat B becomes overlapped inside boat A, boat A must give it room to round the mark.

Mark rounding - All other cases - mark room

If two or more boats are approaching a mark in other situations, then RRS 18 applies, together with Definitions - Clear Astern and Clear Ahead; Overlap. (Note: this includes boats on the same tack at a windward mark.)

If one boat is clear ahead of another when the first boat enters the zone, from that point on, the boat clear astern must keep clear of the boat clear ahead until the mark has been rounded.

If there is an overlap between boats when the first of them enters the zone, then the one on the inside (nearer the mark if both pass on the correct side) must be given Mark Room (Definitions - Mark Room). This doesn't mean a full right of way, unless the boat already had that in any case. What it does mean is enough room to pass the mark safely and at a reasonable distance in the prevailing conditions, and including room to gybe if appropriate. Note if there are several boats overlapped, the outermost has to give adequate room for all the boats inside.

The crucial point is that the right to mark room (or not) is determined as the first boat enters the zone: if an overlap is subsequently broken, or a new overlap is established, the rights aren't altered; boats affected have to continue giving mark room.

And if the boats are travelling at different speeds, and there is reasonable doubt as to whether an overlap has been made or broken when the first one reaches the zone, the state immediately beforehand is presumed to continue (RRS 18.2(e)).

We start races according to the '5-4-1-0' schedule given in RRS 26, except that for the preparatory signal (four minutes before the start) we use only the P flag.

During the five-minute period before the start, you are basically subject to the normal right-of-way rules, but there are some differences: there is no right to mark room at a starting mark (RRS Section C preamble); there is no proper course, so a leeward boat can luff up as far as it wishes; and if you back a sail, for tactical reasons, you must keep clear of other boats (RRS 22.3).

In the case of pursuit races, only the first class to start has the full 5-4-1-0 sequence. The interval between successive classes is too short to allow for the full sequence, and the start for one class should be treated as the preparatory signal for the following class. There is no one-minute warning as such. If you are in a later class, you should keep clear of boats in the class that is about to start (RRS 24.1 - you're not racing before your preparatory signal).

Definitions - Start tells you what you have to do to start. At some point after the start signal, you have to be completely on the pre-start side of the line, and then as your hull starts to cross the line in the direction of the first mark, you have started.

If you are already over the line at the time of the start signal, you haven't started legally. The Race Officer will hail you (individual recall - RRS 29.1, but without the flags) and you have to return to the pre-start side to make a fresh start. If you continue without returning, you won't be placed but will be scored OCS - On Course Side. And while you are returning, you have to keep clear of other boats, even if you are on starboard (RRS 22.1).

In some circumstances, e.g. if many boats are OCS, a general recall may be made, and all boats must return (even if they individually are not at fault). The full RRS 29.2 procedure isn't followed, but the Race Officer announces the arrangements for a fresh start.

We define the course by means of a drawing displayed outside the clubhouse, together with a list of marks and the direction of rounding for each one. You have to pass each of the marks in sequence on the correct side (RRS 28), and repeat the sequence as many times as specified. If you make a mistake, by missing out a mark, or rounding in the wrong direction, you can backtrack and correct your error (RRS 28 gives the details); otherwise you are likely to be scored NSC (Did Not Sail the Course).

Unwinding a wrong rounding - ->

On your route from one mark to another, defining a given leg of the course, you mustn't touch either of them (RRS 31) with any part of your boat; but if on the way you happen to pass a different mark, it's of no concern to you, and you can go either side of it, or even run over it (RRS 28 and RRS 31). But watch out for boats that may be rounding it: normal rules apply.

If the shorten course flag is displayed, you continue to sail the same course as before, until you reach the finish line, and then you finish (RRS 32.2), unless informed that you need to sail another lap.

The introduction to RRS shows a lot of flags with their defined meanings, which are necessary when broadcasting messages to boats over large areas of water. At HLSTC, most of our messages can be given at close range by sound signals or spoken announcements, so we only need a very few flags, as follows:

Flag E (blue above red) displayed five minutes before the start as the Warning signal; removed at the actual start.

Flag P (white rectangle on blue ground) displayed four minutes before the start as the Preparatory signal; removed one minute before the start.

Flag S (blue rectangle on white ground) displayed when the course has been shortened (RRS 32).

A plain red or orange flag is used to mark the start or finish line.

First, be aware that everybody breaks a rule from time to time. It doesn't mean that we are 'bad people'. We probably made a misjudgement, or even made a slight error in boat handling. It's not the end of the world.

But when someone does break one of these rules, another boat or a committee (RRS 60) can raise a protest against the offender (call 'protest' and make sure the offender hears it). If necessary a protest hearing is convened after the race, and if the protest is upheld, the offender is normally disqualified - receives a DSQ code in the results.

The protest hearing may on the other hand find that the protest wasn't correct, so no penalty is called for. Or it may find that the boat did indeed break the rule, but only as a result of another boat's breaking a rule. In this case the protested boat is exonerated (RRS 43), and suffers no penalty.

Alternatively, you can do what we usually do: if you break a rule, and you think that you are probably at fault, you can pre‑empt the protest hearing by taking a voluntary penalty - sailing round in a circle- immediately after the incident (RRS 44). The penalty is one complete turn if all you have done is to touch a mark, or two turns for just about everything else. One incident only generates one penalty. What you have to do is: as soon as possible after the incident, get yourself clear of other boats, and do the necessary turns without a break, all in the same direction (your choice), before resuming your course. Each turn must include one gybe and one tack.

While you are doing the turns, you have to keep clear of other boats (RRS 22.2), but other boats mustn't interfere with you unnecessarily (RRS 24.2). To be safe, get clear of the main route before you start your turns.

You may hear these penalties referred to as 360-degree or 720-degree turns - that's what they used to be called - but this is no longer correct, as you may find that you have to go some way beyond a full circle before the final tack or gybe is completed.

You can find the actual rules - the Racing Rules of Sailing, or RRS - HERE . They are maintained by World Sailing, the international organisation that controls competitive sailing. You may find it useful to get yourself a copy in due course. (You can download them for your own use, but we can't put them on our website, for copyright reasons.)

When you get a bit more involved, you might want to get hold of one of the excellent explanatory books. They cost about twenty pounds, and Elvstrom and Willis are both good names to look for. The books include a copy of the rules, but, more importantly, they give a lot of examples showing what each of the rules means in practice. Make sure you get an up-to-date version: the rules are updated every four years, and the books are revised in line. The current rules cover years 2025 to 2028.

Another source of information is the RRS Case Book. This is also on the World Sailing site, along with the rules.

It covers many tricky cases ruled on by the experts, and illustrates how the rules work together in difficult situations.

Another way of improving your knowledge is to take the rules quiz at http://game.finckh.net/indexe.htm
See how quickly you can move up a level.

But the best way of learning is to get out there and do it for real. And stay safe!