COLREG when one boat is much faster than another

[Buck Turgidson]

IRPCS are free to download. I suggest you may wish to do so rather than believe "someone".

As far as speed is concerned the only actual regulation specific to speed is:

Rule 6
Safe speed
. Every vessel shall at all times proceed at a safe speed so that she can take proper and effective action to avoid collision and be stopped within a distance appropriate to the prevailing circumstances and conditions.

 

[Momac]

It's absolutely the responsibility of all boat skippers to avoid a collision whatever the circumstances .

 

[TSB240]

Man in dinghy in near miss with container ship

I think thus gives some food for thought!

 

[Beelzebub]

The wash created by some fast vessels needs to be taken into account. For example, while a rowing boat may be technically required to alter course to give way to a fast passenger ferry (think Condor out of Poole for example), if it is beam on to the wash, this could endanger the rowing boat, at a time when the only safe manouevre would be to point the bow directly towards the huge waves created by the ferry.

 

[Daydream believer]

Needs a bit more tension on the foot of that main, Never make progress to windward like that

Pertsonally i think the problem is that he should put the dinghy on the davits.
With it on the cabin top like that he will not be able to see where he is going.

 

[Bouba]

Without stating which is legal and which isn’t...the courts will do that...the first duty is to avoid colliding...a slow boat versus say a jet ski...you cannot avoid a jet ski because you can’t react quick enough....so, in my opinion it’s better for the slow boat to keep a steady course because the fast vessel is the most manœuvrable (in that it is able to change course the quickest)...the problem is the fast boat doesn’t have much time for decisions making...so the best favour you can do is to be where he expects you to be...changing course or even stopping (the fast boat might be thinking about coming across your stern) will lead to the fast boat making bad decisions.
However !!! if the fast boat is obeying the rules of the road then you must as well

 

[Daydream believer]

How are jetskis, rowing boats & sailboards treated in the colregs? I can understand the inclusion in regs in the area of a particular harbour authorities jusidiction; But I am not sure that small watercraft such as rowing boats etc. are actually treated as normal "vessels" in the colregs, Or are they? Effectively we might have 2 sorts of regulation.
That would have a bearing on some of the comments made so far

 

[Momac]

How are jetskis, rowing boats & sailboards treated in the colregs? I can understand the inclusion in regs in the area of a particular harbour authorities jusidiction; But I am not sure that small watercraft such as rowing boats etc. are actually treated as normal "vessels" in the colregs, Or are they? Effectively we might have 2 sorts of regulation.
That would have a bearing on some of the comments made so far

The regulations do not really apply to vessels
The regulations apply to people in control of vessels .

 

[Tomaret]

A few years ago when Ainslie’s AC yacht was training in the Solent the chase boat came alongside me and told me to ignore the race yacht - it would avoid me whatever I was doing.

 

[Bouba]

A few years ago when Ainslie’s AC yacht was training in the Solent the chase boat came alongside me and told me to ignore the race yacht - it would avoid me whatever I was doing.

I would have asked for that in writing...

 

[12 Year Plan B-)]

It's all covered in Colregs. Swot up on them well before you find yourself in 'a situation' ?

 

[LittleSister]

How are jetskis, rowing boats & sailboards treated in the colregs? I can understand the inclusion in regs in the area of a particular harbour authorities jusidiction; But I am not sure that small watercraft such as rowing boats etc. are actually treated as normal "vessels" in the colregs, Or are they? Effectively we might have 2 sorts of regulation.
That would have a bearing on some of the comments made so far

The definition of vessel under the Col Regs is very broad - 'The word “vessel” includes every description of water craft, including non-displacement craft, WIG craft and seaplanes, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water. (Col Regs Rule 3a.)

Rowing boats are definitely vessels under the Col Regs. They even have specific reference to the lights they could/should carry. They are neither a power driven vessel nor a sailing vessel, so are not included in certain rules (e.g. power, with exceptions, gives way to sail), but are otherwise covered by all the regs except those tha specifically refer to particular sorts of other vessels. (All as confirmed to me by RYA Legal Dept.)

Jet skis are a slightly complicated case. As far as I can see they are power driven vessels under the Col Regs, as they are caught by the wide definition quoted above, and they are powered by machinery . A UK court decision a few years back determined they were not vessels under the UK Merchant Shipping Act (which contrary to the impression conveyed by the name also includes leisure craft), which has a different definition of vessel, which hinges on being 'navigated' (which the court took a surprisingly narrow view on). As far as I can understand it that court decision does not exclude them from coverage by the Col Regs, but does mean that the operator can't be prosecuted for offences under the normal arrangements in the UK, as those are via powers granted by the Merchant Shipping Act.

Daydream Believer is right that there are sometimes special local regulations made by harbour authorities and inland navigation authorities, but these are usually just minor adjustments to the Col Regs. Jet Skis are specifically regulated by some harbour/navigation/local authorities. (The government were encouraging such authorities to do that to plug the gap left by the court decision on the Merchant Shipping Act.)

 

[lumphammer]

From Chichester Harbour Conservancy A Non-racer's guide to racing

"Hydrofoiling Moths: so much faster than other harbour users that they treat us as stationery objects: keep a steady course and they will keep clear"

Which of course is common sense, however it doesn't absolve us from our own duty to avoid a collision, which is very difficult to judge if they can come from nowhere in seconds.

 

[Stemar]

From the article that photo came from

but mostly it confirms what we already know about safe boating. Keep a good lookout. Know and follow the Rules of the Road. But more simply, don’t forget about courtesy and common sense.
“You just have to keep your head on a swivel, and then make decisions and take action to avoid a collision,” Martino says. “In fact, that’s even one of the rules.”

Without going into specific rules for specific situations, that pretty much sums it up for me.

 

[johnalison]

There absolutely is a duty (in COLREGS) for the faster vessel to keep clear of the slower one, if the actions of the slower are not sufficient to avoid a collision. The bigger the speed difference the more likely this is to happen. This could get close to a fast vessel generally needing to take such action, as indicated in the stories in this thread.

I think we are saying the same thing. We are all required to proceed in a way that avoids the chance of collision, only that there is nothing in the regs that refers to any specific responsibility by virtue of a vessel’s speed. The discussion is chiefly about the situation where a fast craft appears to be the stand-on vessel. In real life, as people have confirmed, most of these craft will take upon themselves the responsibility to keep clear, but also in real life there may be helmsmen who will take a literal view of the rules, such as the occasional dinghy sailor who imagines that a cruising yacht will jump out of their way.

 

[TwoFish]

How are jetskis, rowing boats & sailboards treated in the colregs? I can understand the inclusion in regs in the area of a particular harbour authorities jusidiction; But I am not sure that small watercraft such as rowing boats etc. are actually treated as normal "vessels" in the colregs, Or are they? Effectively we might have 2 sorts of regulation.
That would have a bearing on some of the comments made so far

Under COLREGs, jetskis are power-driven vessels and sailboards are sailing vessels. As LittleSister has noted, the UK courts (R v Goodwin) decided that jetskis are not ships within the meaning of the Merchant Shipping Act "vessel used in navigation" definition. Therefore, in the UK, the COLREGs presumably apply to jetskis (and probably also sailboards) in a 'Highway Code' rather than a 'Road Traffic Act' type of way.

The definition of vessel under the Col Regs is very broad - 'The word “vessel” includes every description of water craft, including non-displacement craft, WIG craft and seaplanes, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water. (Col Regs Rule 3a.)

Rowing boats are definitely vessels under the Col Regs. They even have specific reference to the lights they could/should carry. They are neither a power driven vessel nor a sailing vessel, so are not included in certain rules (e.g. power, with exceptions, gives way to sail), but are otherwise covered by all the regs except those tha specifically refer to particular sorts of other vessels. (All as confirmed to me by RYA Legal Dept.)

Jet skis are a slightly complicated case. As far as I can see they are power driven vessels under the Col Regs, as they are caught by the wide definition quoted above, and they are powered by machinery . A UK court decision a few years back determined they were not vessels under the UK Merchant Shipping Act (which contrary to the impression conveyed by the name also includes leisure craft), which has a different definition of vessel, which hinges on being 'navigated' (which the court took a surprisingly narrow view on). As far as I can understand it that court decision does not exclude them from coverage by the Col Regs, but does mean that the operator can't be prosecuted for offences under the normal arrangements in the UK, as those are via powers granted by the Merchant Shipping Act.

Daydream Believer is right that there are sometimes special local regulations made by harbour authorities and inland navigation authorities, but these are usually just minor adjustments to the Col Regs. Jet Skis are specifically regulated by some harbour/navigation/local authorities. (The government were encouraging such authorities to do that to plug the gap left by the court decision on the Merchant Shipping Act.)

Excellent summary, thank you.

As the COLREGs don't deal explicitly with responsibilities between vessels where one is neither a sailing vessel nor a power-driven vessel, I have often been curious about what other principles, customs or understandings may apply there. The COLREGs seem to be based on an underlying 'more manoeuvrable thing gives way to less manoeuvrable thing' principle, but is that articulated anywhere? Common sense and courtesy should of course apply, as well as all the COLREGs requirements (avoiding a collision, maintaining a proper look-out, safe speed etc.). However even I would have imagined that over hundreds (thousands?) of years of seafaring, principles / customs would have evolved to cover non-sailing vessels such as rowing boats, rafts, canoes etc. even if our ancestors didn't have to deal with some of the other non-sailing vessels that we may, such as kite surfers, SUPs, wing foilers, foil surfers and the like. I've never succeeded in finding any written indication that's the case though. Do any of you 'old salts' know of such?

 

[awol]

Rowing boats are powered by levers a form of machine => machine driven. Not so sure about canoes or SUPs.

 

[The Q]

Luckily for us the Norfolk Broads Regs.. do specifically mention human powered craft. Byelaws and speed limits (broads-authority.gov.uk)
and it's a bit like the new road regulations.
except, Vessels constrained by size or draft or towing, have priority.
Then man powered.
then sailing,
then motor powered.
and then fishermen have to lift their tackle, to not impede traffic on the navigation.

Of course there are exceptions like manually powered and motor vessels crossing the river have to give way to vessels going along the river (Broads Reg 19).

 

[TwoFish]

Rowing boats are powered by levers a form of machine => machine driven. Not so sure about canoes or SUPs.

I've certainly seen that argument before. I also see it was covered in more detail in an earlier thread

ColRegs - Vessels under oars?

based on which it seems to me unlikely that the argument would stand.

 

[bobgarrett]

From Chichester Harbour Conservancy A Non-racer's guide to racing

"Hydrofoiling Moths: so much faster than other harbour users that they treat us as stationery objects: keep a steady course and they will keep clear"

Which of course is common sense, however it doesn't absolve us from our own duty to avoid a collision, which is very difficult to judge if they can come from nowhere in seconds.

Which is fine until, as happened to me, a moth intends to cross close to your bow but then capsizes! Fast reactions then needed!