I’ve been judging high-school regattas lately, and I’ve witnessed late overlap incidents in which the competitors did not apply the rules correctly. One rule in particular, Rule 18.3, seemed to be poorly understood. Here are two incidents that highlight some competitors’ incomplete knowledge of that rule.

In the first of these incidents (above), Joe and Julie were on starboard tack approaching a windward mark to be left to port. At Position 1, both were fetching the mark. Joe was clear ahead of Julie at the edge of the zone, but inside the zone the wind headed him and he could no longer fetch the mark. He tacked onto port and then almost immediately tacked again back onto starboard. As a result of these two down-speed tacks, Julie caught up and, after Joe’s second tack she became overlapped to leeward of him, between him and the mark. What happened next had me scratching my head. Just before Position 3, Joe warned Julie, “Don’t go in there.” Lucy tried to bear off to jibe around, but she had left it too late and as she bore off she hit the mark. She promptly took a Two-Turns Penalty.

Let’s apply the rules to this situation step by step. Until the boats were in Position 2, Joe had right of way as a clear ahead boat under Rule 12, and he also was entitled to mark-room from Julie under Rule 18.2(b)’s second sentence. Shortly afterwards, Joe passed head to wind during his first tack and at that moment Rule 18.2(b) ceased to apply (see Rule 18.2(c)). While Joe was on port, he and Julie were both approaching the mark on opposite tacks. When Joe changed tacks for the second time, Rule 13 applied in the zone while Julie was fetching the mark. At that moment, Rule 18.3(b) (see box) began to apply. It required Joe, the boat whose change of tack triggered Rule 18.3, to give Julie mark-room when she became overlapped inside him at Position 3. From Joe’s hail and Lucy’s spins, it was clear that neither of them understood how Rule 18.3(b) applied to their situation. Joe should’ve made his second tack far enough to windward of Lucy’s track such that, if she became overlapped inside him, he would have been able to give her mark-room. Lucy was fully within her rights to establish an inside overlap, and when she did so, she was entitled to mark-room from Joe. Joe’s hail was improper and it was he, not Julie, who should have taken a Two-Turns Penalty.