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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Back from Spring Break... Good day of SAILING!!

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Those cadets who came back from Spring Break ready to sail got a very nice gift from the weather. Sunny skies, and a perfect breeze.

Here we see Coach Jackson gently reminding his students how to rig up a Javelin.








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Putting the rudder on a Javelin













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Coach Murphy's cadets have their boat rigged and ready to shove off... the cadet at the helm is practicing steering with the hiking stick, which is the right way to do it.












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The 5O5 has all the same basic parts, plus a few extras. And the sails are MUCH bigger. Unfortunately we suffered a broken part on the shroud tension adjuster, which kept us from sailing this boat today. It's all fixed now and will be ready for some of the advanced cadets to try handling the spinnaker.







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Here we see our new coach, Coach Brittany, practicing on the Javelin with Coach Rezab and one of the advanced cadets.

In the background is New Bern's old grain silo, a prominent landmark but many people have forgotten (or never knew) what it is or how important it was to the local economy.







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Okay, sailing is done for today. We had some successful practice, and some of the beginners completed a drill. This is very good because the semester is drawing to a close and we will not have many more chances to complete the drills to complete the sailing qualification.

...  posted by Assistant Coach Douglas King




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More bad weather...

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This spring we have had very bad luck with the weather. Unfortunately we have only had the chance to go sailing twice, and this Monday was another example of NOT sailing.

Exercise- out on the lawn practicing what we -would- do if we were sailing. What direction is the wind? If you are on course from the red buoy to the green, what point of sail are you on? If you turn at the red buoy and head towards the blue buoy, what maneuver must you make? Which way does the tiller move, what about the sheets? Until you can figure all this out easily, you are not prepared to skipper a sailboat.... especially not in strong winds and rough water.

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Here is Coach King beginning the  main lesson for today- the Right-Of-Way Rules.

This is jumping a little ahead, but we need to know this by the end of the semester so it is a productive use of our time.







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The cadets are fascinated by Coach King's dazzling presentation... zzz-zzzz

Actually the advanced sailors needed a refresher, and the beginners seemed to pick up the rules fairly well by the end of class.








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"It's far better to be on shore wishing you were at sea, than to be at sea praying to get to shore."



Knowing how to sail skillfully is very good, and knowing when -not- to go out one of the most important skills


... posted by Assistant Coach Douglas King



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Bad weather... but we can still practice and gain skillz

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Bad weather... OK, this is a "cheater" photo, this is our FJ #1 resting on it's trailer under a blanket of snow, shortly after our capsize drill last month. We did not actually have snow this week. However it is far too cold and rainy for to take our boats out on the water.








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So, how do we practice sailing in the classrooms? A bunch of ways! We need to know the points of sail, and the details of how to TACK (link).

With a fan and Coach Rezab's model boat (don't worry, he has a real one too), we go thru all the actions necessary to successfully TACK. Just to be sure, we also review all the points of sail, and what it means to turn from one point of sail to another when -not- tacking.





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Next thing we need to work on is ROPES & KNOTS. We have done well at learning all the terminology and basic parts of the boat, but before we can rig the boat without help we need to tie knots correctly.

 Here is our Head Sailing Coach Jerry Rezab demonstrating the Cleat Hitch. Where and when do we use this knot?












More knot-tying. You can see our newest addition to the Sailing Coaches, Coach Brittany. She sailed FJs with us last week and will be a fine addition to our program.


Let's hope it warms up a little, and we can do some sailing drills for real next week.

Oh and you advanced sailors... we want to see some ROLL TACKS, and we also want to see some of you sailing the 5O5 !!!

... Posted by Assistant Sailing Coach Douglas King


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Sailing Drill... it's only Baby Ducks but it's fun

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One of our favorite sailing drills is Baby Ducks (link)... basically it's like follow the leader, but it's also a serious exercise for sailing skills... steering, sail trim, maneuvering, and if you're good enough, right-of-way, all come into play on this drill.








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On this drill, we practiced all points of sail (some of us were a bit rusty on Wing+Wing), tacking, stopping... these three FJs are all being handled by advanced sailing cadets, the Javelin joined in for a while but the beginners were not quite ready for tacking in close quarters.

Don't worry, the beginners will definitely get a chance to show off how they can do sailing drills too!




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 What's better than chillin' on the beach?

Chillin' on A BOAT!

Actually, we were discussing the physics of roll-tacking, and went on to do a bit more practice on that skill plus light-air propulsion.









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Now that we've had some serious practice, let's just have some fun before calling it a day.


The water has warmed up a lot in two weeks... time for BAILER WAR!!


At this point in the course, the beginners should know all the basic parts of the boat, and how to rig it. We should be getting started on Points of Sail and Maneuvers. Tacking and Stopping are the first two, and we need these skills to progress further.

We had a really GREAT day of sailing this afternoon. Thanks to new coaches Chris and Brittany, welcome to the team... see you next week!

.... posted by Assistant Sailing Coach Douglas King







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Chilly but beautiful afternoon... OK lets go sailing !!!

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Today's weather felt warm & sunny, until you got out on the water (which quite recently had a skim of ice on it). Then the breeze turned cold, especially if you got wet, which a few of us did.

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Remember last week, we did not quite get all the work done? Well, this is one reason why we have coaches, to pick up the slack. Here is our Head Coach Jerry Rezab (driving) and new guy Coach Chris Davies launching one of the Javelins.











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Meanwhile Coach Mike Murphy is motoring another Javelin over to the dock, ready to sail. No the motor will be removed before the cadets get aboard. No cheating!

If you'd like to know more about our sailing coaches, check here (link).

We had 18 cadets out on the water today... good thing we have all these many boats! Maybe we could use a few more !!!

The beginners went out in the Javelins, with coaches aboard helping. After all, for most of them, it was their first day ever sailing. The more experienced (and brave?) cadets went sailed the FJs.

This photo shows one of our best skippers steering an FJ on a CLOSE-HAULED (link) course.

This boat is Close-Hauled on Port Tack. You can see that the mainsail sheet has been pulled in rather tight, the end of the boom is over the corner of the transom. The jib sheet is pulled in to match the main. Although at the instant this photo was snapped, he looked around at the camera, but he has been focusing on steering the boat on a tight angle to wind while keeping it moving... yes it's trucking, look at the wake!

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  This particular young skipper went on to show exactly why we consider him one of the best in our program. He made a textbook landing in a fairly difficult situation. (1st photo)

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2nd photo of a properly executed landing under sail.   .   .

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The wind is blowing onto the shore at an angle, and several other boats are landing at the same time.

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Approaching the beach, the smart skipper turns toward the wind slightly and eases the sails out to slow down... or even come to a stop... allowing the other boats to complete their landing and make an opening at the beach. Then the boat turns toward the beach and the crew prepares to let the centerboard up. Then the boat turns toward the wind and eases sails again to slow down just where the water gets shallow and the centerboard must be raised a little. The skipper hhthe turn, the centerboard is then fully raised, the skipper pulls the rudder up too, the boat moves gently sideways up to the beach

Wait a minute... didn't we have 4 FJs sailing today? We sure did! Where is the fourth one? Why, it's tied to the dock where it was towed after a capsize, and the sailors are warming up because they wanted to learn about HYPOTHERMIA.

Just kidding. They got a chill but not hypothermic. Fortunately the coaches were ready for a rescue, with big fluffy warm towels to wrap up in. However, all sailing cadets will need to learn the material about hypothermia (not by experiencing it, please) such as how to recognize it, what the effects are, and what to do about it.

..... posted by Assistant Coach Douglas King

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Getting it all together, learning as we go

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Here we go... getting started pulling the New Bern NJROTC's fleet out of it's winter sleep.

We have some work to do before we can turn this (1st pic) into THIS (2nd pic)

  This work takes 2 forms, we need to get the boats ready to sail by putting the masts up, attaching the rigging properly, getting them ready to launch... we need to work on getting the SAILORS ready too, by learning terminology and skills.

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 Bridgeton Harbor Marina provides an excellent venue for the boats and for learning to sail. The coaches are equally important. Here is Coach Mark Hittner with some of the advanced sailing cadets, most with a year's experience, on getting the FJs ready.

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Coach Mike Murphy is working with the beginner sailors on the 3 Oday Javelins, which are not much bigger but heavier and more stable. 

The Javelins are kept on trailers during the winter, and moored in a slip for the sailing season. The Flying Juniors (FJs) are kept on shore, the cadets carry them and use a dolly to launch them at the Bridgeton Harbor beach every sailing session.

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 Now this Javelin has the mast up, stays pinned, the boom rigged, and the students have learned the names and functions of many of these parts of the boat while they are doing the work.

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 This has done some traveling... at Twin Rivers YMCA pool for last weeks lesson on capsizing... and now we are rigging it again for sailing.

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 It takes some muscle, but more skill and knowledge, to get these small boats masts up and put in place correctly. These cadets have done this a few times, and know the basics well. But there is always more to learn. The geometry of where the mast is stepped and how it is rakes, which the stays control, strongly affects how efficiently this boat will perform when sailing.

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Head Sailing Coach Jerry Rezab has been in charge of this program since before 2008. It was a going concern when he joined, but he made it much more vital and exciting using smaller more responsive boats, acquiring a fleet and and all the needed gear to sail, and recruiting volunteer coaches with the expertise and the personality to make it happen.

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... photos by Fred Cornford

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