Right Of Way Rules ...p1... Yes you should study this!

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Recently our lesson page on Right-Of-Way mysteriously disappeared. This is our replacement page.

•The concept “Right-Of-Way” can be applied to any & all vehicles, not just boats.

–Avoids collisions

–Keeps flow of traffic orderly & efficient

Imagine if there were no stoplights or traffic signals on our busy roads & highways. This would be unsafe, to put it mildly. Drivers using caution and curtesy could avoid wrecks, but it would be much slower and less reliable.

The phrase “Right Of Way” means that in any situation, the vessel (or any vehicle) -with- "right of way" has the right to continue on her way. The other one in the situation should take avoiding action: turn or slow down (or both).

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How about ships? This scene of a battleship ramming an ocean liner is fictional, but maritime collisions are serious and almost always incur fatalities.

One of the most famous collisions occurred to the luxury liner ANDREA DORIA (link). Here is a gruesome story(link) of two battleships colliding during WW2, told by a US Navy sailor who was aboard. But this is not just old history, collision between ships occur nowadays too.



The Right-Of-Way Rules are also sometimes called the "Rules Of The Road" even though we are talking about boats and ships. These rules begin with some common sense

• Every vessel must maintain a proper look-out

• Every vessel must keep their speed within safe limits 

• Every vessel must avoid collision when necessary

These first 3 should be easy for everyone to remember. 

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The Right-Of-Way Rules makes sense because they place the obligation to avoid or dodge on whichever vessel is best able to. 

Here is the priority list of vessels granted Right-Of-Way. Any vessel lower down the list must give way to (ie dodge them safely) any vessel higher on the list.

• A- Vessels not under command
• Any vessel that is unable to maneuver... anchored, docked, disabled, capsized... this does NOT include ignorance or incompetence of the sailors aboard.
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• B- Vessels restricted in their ability to maneuver
• Means a vessel that is difficult to maneuver because of the type operation of the vessel. Examples: a tugboat pulling barges, a dredge, any craft carrying out a rescue.
• A vessel "constrained by draft" ie one that sticks down deep in the water, and cannot steer off course because of the risk of running aground (easy in small sailboats, huge problem for ships & larger motorboats)  . 

• C- Vessels being overtaken 

Sailboat "B" has the Right-Of-Way over "A" in this diagram. Sailboat "A" is astern of "B" and if she is passing (overtaking) then she must keep clear or dodge "B"

• D- Fishing vessels with gear deployed
•  This means commercial trawlers and vessels handling long-lines & seine nets, not sport or recreational fishermen.

• E- Manually Propelled Vessels

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• F- Sailing vessels... with the exceptions noted above, sailing vessels have Right-Of-Way over motor vessels.
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• Sailing vessel on Starboard Tack has Right-Of-Way over another sailing vessel on Port Tack
• (diagram) Sailing vessel to leeward of another sailing vessel has R-O-W over the one to windward.... ie on her upwind side

• G- Vessels CROSSING another vessels course from their starboard side

Here we see boats' "running lights" which are used at night to show other vessels. The vessel on the right is crossing from starboard, and has the Right-Of-Way. The vessel to port alters course to avoid a close call. You can see where the idea of red & green lights to control traffic came from!

• H- Power driven vessels... or you may call them "motorboats"
• Power driven vessels give way to sail or manually powered ones, with the exceptions granted in rules above
• A sailboat with an auxiliary engine is "power driven" under the rules when her engine is running

Some of these rules grant right-of-way based on the TYPE of vessel (canoes over motorboats etc), some grant right-of-way based on the relative positions of the vessels (overtaking etc). But they are arranged in order such that the vessel which is least able to keep clear of the other gets right-of-way.


Finally we have a couple of rules which don't need numbers. Like the first 3 rules, they are just common sense codified into legal form, and they are always in force.

• Every vessel must display or sound appropriate signals
• running lights at night
• fog horn
• "day shapes"

• Every vessel must come to the aid of any vessel or persons in distress  
• Skippers are -not- required to endanger themselves, their crew, or their vessel, but it is illegal as well as morally repulsive to ignore anothers' emergency.

 Let's see how this all works out in practice.

How about if you see a canoe while you are sailing one of our FJs or Javelins? 'Manually Propelled Vessels' are above 'Sailing Vessels' on the list, so you must dodge the canoe safely. They have Right-Of-Way!

What if you are sailing fast on a windy day, and you are coming up behind a slow motorboat? Sailboats generally have Right-Of-Way over motorboats, but there are some exceptions and this is one..... an overtaking vessel must always make sure to pass safely. How about a sailboat crossing a motorboats course? The motorboat would have to steer clear of the sailboat.

•Are these “real” rules?

–Navigation Rules and regulations for prevention of collision are embodied in U.S. Law (33 USC 1802-1806)

•Can anybody get a book of the Navigation Rules?

–It’s over 160 pages, available on the WWWeb; one good source of info is the Navigation Center of the U.S. Coast Guard… www.navcen.uscg.gov

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...  written & posted by Assistant Coach Douglas King



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