Avoiding collision

[M33]

I am new to this racing game and have a little question...
If you are in a situation where you have made a mess of a tack with a rolling turn on the winch and on port tack.
You have then lost headway and a boat is bearing down on you that hasn't seen you.
You have less than 5 seconds to get out of the way and the only way of getting out of the situation and avoiding collision is engine power.
What is the penalty situation?

 

[flaming]

Interesting question.

By using the engine you have broken rule 42.1. This rule is in part 4 of the rules, and is therefore not covered by the 1 or 2 turns penalty rule.

44.1 Taking a Penalty
A boat may take a Two-Turns Penalty when she may have broken
one or more rules of Part 2 in an incident while racing. She may take
a One-Turn Penalty when she may have broken rule 31.

So on the face of it, your only option would be to retire from the race, as any protest situation could only result in you being disqualified, as the rules in part 4 are simply "requirements". If you do not meet them, then you are not eligible for a result.
Some SIs do change this rule and give the competitors the option to use the engine in an emergency and report this to the committee on finishing, details such as amount, whether they moved closer to the finish etc. The comittee then decide what, if any, penalty should be applied. However this is intended for use when avoiding shipping when becalmed in TSS or narrow channels etc, not for use to avoid other competitors, as this is an extremely bad habit to get into.

However, in the real world...

If you are genuinely new to the racing game, and genuinely felt that the engine was the only way that you could avoid a collision, then it would be an extremely petty competitor that filed the protest. Especially if your results are those of someone new to the game and by taking the action you did there was no collision!

The wider point of what you should do instead of going for the engine. Firstly, with practice this situation tends to stop happening... Secondly, if you do get a riding turn, you as the helmsman, concentrate on keeping the boat moving. Stopping is an issue as you've discovered. And lastly, don't be afraid to hail the other boat if you can't get out of the way and they haven't seen you. Something like "In Irons!" would probably get the message across.

 

[M33]

Thanks for the advice, as it happened the other boat did see me at the last second and avoided me by a metre or so but reflecting on it I did think the best option would have been start the engine avoid the damage and discuss it after the event. We have a start button on the bulkhead no keys or anything to fiddle with so it can be an extremely quick option. As you rightly say more practice needed but without a safety net option it could put me off entirely. I cant afford the bill for the learning curve... These aren't dinghys they are 7 tonne boats travelling at 6 plus knots.

 

[flaming]

Thanks for the advice, as it happened the other boat did see me at the last second and avoided me by a metre or so but reflecting on it I did think the best option would have been start the engine avoid the damage and discuss it after the event. We have a start button on the bulkhead no keys or anything to fiddle with so it can be an extremely quick option. As you rightly say more practice needed but without a safety net option it could put me off entirely. I cant afford the bill for the learning curve... These aren't dinghys they are 7 tonne boats travelling at 6 plus knots.

I would say that stuck in irons after a missed tack is the ONLY situation where the engine is at all likely to be your best bet for avoiding a collision. Every year on the start line of the RTI race, you find nervous sailors with the engine running "just in case". The last thing I want to see as the helm of the other boat is the helm of a give way boat reaching for the throttle instead of spinning the wheel!

 

[flaming]

Oh, and one more tip. When it's windy and you have to make a last minute, slightly panicked, action to avoid a collision, always tack. You will always be able to turn that way, bearing away when powered up if your mainsheet guy isn't on the ball can just result in going straight on with the rudder stalled.

 

[M33]

The other boat tried to bear away.... hence the closeness of the situation, and with 7 tonnes of boat bearing down on me at 6 knots my nervousness. Good tip to tack that would always work.