One growth area in our sport is what is popularly called “Beer-Can Racing,” a series of evening races open to boats of all sizes and classes. The emphasis is on fun and simplicity with a minimum of bureaucracy. There are such events near several major cities. Many of them are not sailed under The Racing Rules of Sailing. Some have sailing instructions, some don’t. Most don’t allow protests. The organizers almost always emphasize avoiding contact. One of my favorite lines from such an event’s sailing instructions is: “The regatta will be governed by the simple rule that fun rules.”

Who sails in these races? From my observations, it’s a mix of beginners, experienced racers, and lapsed racers who haven’t raced in a formal regatta for a while. When I’ve sailed in these races, even when the sailing instructions state that the racing rules do not apply, I hear hails, indicating that the hailing boat expects another boat to follow a racing rule. Generally the races conclude without drama. Serious collisions are rare, and everyone enjoys a night of informal competition and camaraderie.

But even though these events have helped sustain our sport in recent years, their failure to use the racing rules is taking informality too far. When the organizers fail to apply the racing rules, it is not the case that there are no rules. There are rules, and those rules are—depending on the body of water on which the races are held—either the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea or the Inland Navigation Rules ( “COLREGS” or “IRPCAS”). These two sets of rules are, for the purposes of a Beer Can Race, essentially identical. They both are intended to prevent collisions between vessels navigating between ports, either via open water or an inland channel. They are decidedly not intended to govern a fleet of sailboats racing in close proximity to one another in an around-the-buoys race.

If you try, as I have, to apply the COLREGS to the many changes of course that every sailboat makes as she starts, rounds marks, and maneuvers in response to the wind and her competitors, you will find many surprising game changes.

The first diagram shows that the basic right-of-way rules between two boats racing are quite different under the two sets of rules. At first read, you might think the two sets of rules are quite similar because the government rules grant a starboard-tack boat right of way over a port-tack boat and, when boats are on the same tack, they grant a leeward boat right of way over a windward boat (see COLREG 12). But that’s not always the case. There is a government rule that overrides those basic rules. It states that, when one boat is overtaking another, the overtaking boat must keep clear, even if the overtaking boat is on starboard tack, and even if the overtaking boat is the leeward boat (see COLREG 13). In the first diagram, if the racing rules apply, under Rule 10 Stu—on starboard—has right of way over Deb, Paul, and Phil, all of whom are on port. Also, under Rule 11, Phil has right of way over both Paul and Deb, and Paul has right of way over Deb.

Contrast this with the situation under the COLREGS. Under those rules, there are two big differences. Stu, who is sailing a sportboat under spinnaker and overtaking Deb, must keep clear of her even though she is on port tack and he is starboard. Also, Paul, who is also overtaking Deb, must keep clear of her, even though he is the leeward boat and she is windward boat. What’s more, both Paul and Stu must continue to keep clear of Deb until they are “past” her and “clear” of her, even if they change course before they are “past” and “clear.” To make matters a bit more complex in these simple situations, the definition of “overtaking” in the COLREGS depends on the boats using compasses. “A vessel is deemed to be overtaking when coming up with another vessel from a direction more than 22.5 degrees abaft her beam.”