Alacrity 18 bilge keeler wins RTI !

[XDC]

Interesting, thanks.

 

[lw395]

The answer is "it depends".

If you are becalmed on port and someone finds some breeze and tacks onto starboard and sails at you, and you, despite putting your helm over and trimming your sails as best you are able, are unable to avoid them, then should they stand on into that collision they would break 15. And 14 if there was damage.
This is because 15 says

And the definition of "room" is


So if you cannot get out of the way when you reacted promptly in the prevailing conditions, then they haven't given you room.

Ditto if they changed course into you, because rule 16.1 says.


If however you became becalmed on port. And another boat became becalmed on starboard, and then when the breeze filled in they, without altering course, sailed straight at you before the breeze got to you, I cannot see what rule they would break, assuming that they avoided the contact and just protested you for not getting out of the way.

Ditto if you drifted into a keep clear situation like becoming windward boat whilst essentially becalmed. Not their problem.

In practice, outside of a very serious championship race (which it is to be hoped would be canned if competitors actually became becalmed) most sailors tend to treat becalmed boats as obstuctions if they are actually able to manoeuvre themselves.

There is a lake on the Longleat estate in Wiltshire called Shearwater.
Here it is possible for two boats to be becalmed on the same tack while heading directly towards each other.

Golden Rule 1.0.1 states that you rarely win races by arguing with people who are unable to get out of your way.

I can imagine a protest where nobody can agree who was windward boat, consider the rights of a boat kedging and feeling the ground wind vs a boat drifting and feeling the true wind.... We soon get into areas where I think I know the general gist of the rules but can't recite them verbatim and could easily be somewhat out of date. But then the other bugger is unlikely to be on the current book either. For all that, I've done a lot of RTIR and had very little conflict, particularly after the start gun. The pre-start phase you need your wits and a good lookout spotting the muppets.