General limitations — contact, acquiring right of way, changing course (Rules 14–17)
Right of way is not a licence. Rules 14 to 17 limit every boat, and above all the right-of-way boat: avoid contact, give room when you gain right of way or change course, and do not luff a boat you caught from astern.
1 · Rule 14 · avoiding contact
Every boat avoids contact
Rule 14: if I have right of way, do I still have to avoid a collision?
Yes: every boat must avoid contact if reasonably possible. A right-of-way boat need not act until it is clear the other is not keeping clear; from then on she must, and a hail is no substitute.
Every boat must avoid contact with another boat if reasonably possible, and must not cause contact between other boats or between a boat and an object. A right-of-way boat, or one sailing within room she is entitled to, need not act until it is clear that the other boat is not keeping clear or giving that room. From then on she must, and a hail is no substitute.
Only what is reasonably possible is asked: a boat given no time to react, or one that could escape only by hitting a third boat, breaks nothing. Contact by any part of a boat or her equipment counts. Avoiding early is always allowed.
2 · Exoneration and penalties
After a contact: who pays
After contact with no damage, is the right-of-way boat penalised too?
No: she broke rule 14 but is exonerated under rule 43.1(c). With damage or injury she is penalised too; the keep-clear boat broke her own rule and rule 14 and takes two turns.
Boat
Outcome
Right of way, no damage or injury
Broke rule 14, exonerated: rule 43.1(c)
Right of way, damage or injury
Penalised under rule 14 too
Keep-clear boat
Broke her own rule and rule 14: two turns
Compelled by another's breach
Exonerated: rule 43.1(a)
Caused injury or serious damage
Must retire: rule 44.1(b)
The no-damage exoneration is only for a right-of-way boat or one sailing within her room or mark-room. A keep-clear boat that touches takes a Two-Turns Penalty promptly after getting well clear, protest or not. A boat taking a penalty keeps clear of others (rule 21), and a boat no longer racing can still be penalised under rule 14 for injury or serious damage.
3 · Rule 15 · acquiring right of way
Give her room at first
Rule 15: after I tack onto starboard, must I give the other boat room?
Yes, at first: when you acquire right of way by your own action, such as tacking or gybing onto starboard, you must initially give the other boat room to keep clear. Not when her own tack gave it to you.
When you acquire right of way by your own action, you must initially give the other boat room to keep clear: after tacking or gybing onto starboard, tacking close to leeward of her, overlapping her to leeward from clear astern, or getting back to the pre-start side.
Your tack: rule 15she needs room to keep clear
Her tack: no rule 15she keeps clear at once
It does not apply when you gain right of way because of the other boat's actions, such as her tack or gybe, or when you had it all along. "Initially" means just that: once she has had room, her ordinary duty takes over. Room is a prompt, seamanlike manoeuvre, even a sharp bear-away; no rule sets a distance for "tacking too close".
4 · Rule 16.1 · changing course
Turn only as fast as she can answer
Rule 16.1: can the leeward boat luff suddenly into the windward boat?
No: a right-of-way boat that changes course must give the other boat room to keep clear in a seamanlike way. She may alter as often as she likes, but only as fast as the other can respond.
When a right-of-way boat changes course, she must give the other boat room to keep clear. That binds the leeward boat who luffs, the starboard-tack boat who luffs or bears away and the boat clear ahead, before the start as well as after it.
Room is judged in the existing conditions: the other boat must be able to respond in a seamanlike way without hitting a third boat or an obstruction. If she has one such way out and misjudges it, the breach is hers. Slowing down on a steady heading is not a change of course. No hail is required, "Hold your course!" binds nobody, and you may alter as often as you like, even below your proper course.
Rule 16.1 limits only the right-of-way boat. A keep-clear boat that sails into her simply fails to keep clear; one robbed of room by a sudden turn is exonerated.
5 · Rule 16.2 · on a beat
No bearing away at a boat ducking you
Rule 16.2: can a starboard boat bear away at me while I duck her on a beat?
No: on a beat, when a port-tack boat is passing to leeward of her, the starboard-tack boat must not bear away if port would then have to change course immediately to keep clear. Holding her course breaks nothing.
On a beat to windward, when a port-tack boat is keeping clear by sailing to pass to leeward of a starboard-tack boat, the starboard-tack boat must not bear away if the port-tack boat would then have to change course immediately to go on keeping clear.
The rule is narrow. It applies only on a beat, only to a bear-away (a luff is judged by rule 16.1) and only if the other boat must react at once: five lengths away she need not. A header is no excuse. A starboard-tack boat that holds her course breaks nothing, and a breach costs two turns even without contact.
6 · Rule 17 · proper course
Caught her from astern: no luffing
Rule 17: can I luff a boat I overlapped to leeward from behind?
Not above your proper course: under rule 17, a boat that becomes overlapped to leeward from clear astern within two hull lengths may not sail above it while the boats stay on the same tack and overlapped within that distance.
If you become overlapped to leeward from clear astern within two of your hull lengths, you may not sail above your proper course while the boats stay on the same tack and overlapped within that distance, unless you promptly pass astern of her.
How the overlap began
Rule 17
To leeward from clear astern, within two lengths
Applies
More than two lengths to leeward
No
From windward, or by tacking or gybing into it
No
From clear astern while she is still tacking
Applies (since 2025)
Before the starting signal
Not until the signal: no proper course yet
Rule 17 limits how high you sail and nothing else: you keep right of way and the windward boat still keeps clear. Your proper course is your own and may include luffing round an obstruction, heading for more wind or shooting the finishing line. You may sail below it and come back up to it. A gybe or a broken overlap ends the limit; a new overlap from astern starts it again.
Practice questions
Questions from this topic, as the app asks them. Open one to see the answer.
District championship in ILCA 7s. You are close-hauled on starboard; a port-tack boat is converging two lengths away. Your coach always says 'never alter course on starboard'. Under rule 14, for how long may you hold your course?
Not at all — a right-of-way boat must alter course as soon as a collision is possible
Until the boats are one hull length apart — then both boats must turn away from each other
Until it is clear that the port-tack boat is not keeping clear — after that you must act to avoid contact if reasonably possible
For as long as you like — a right-of-way boat is never required to avoid contact
Show the answer
C. Until it is clear that the port-tack boat is not keeping clear — after that you must act to avoid contact if reasonably possible
Rule 14: a right-of-way boat need not act to avoid contact until it is clear the other boat is not keeping clear; then she must, if reasonably possible.
Wednesday club race on a lake, 8 knots. You are close-hauled on starboard tack in a J/24. Red, on port, is converging on a collision course and shows no sign of bearing away. Confident of rule 10, you hold your course and the boats touch, bow to shroud — a scuff, no damage. What does the protest committee decide?
Red broke rules 10 and 14; you also broke rule 14 by not avoiding contact when you could, but you are exonerated because there was no damage
Both of you are disqualified — rule 14 penalises every boat involved in a contact
Nobody broke a rule — contact without damage is not a breach of rule 14
Only Red broke a rule — a starboard-tack boat is never required to alter course for a port-tack boat
Show the answer
A. Red broke rules 10 and 14; you also broke rule 14 by not avoiding contact when you could, but you are exonerated because there was no damage
Rule 14: a right-of-way boat must avoid contact once it is clear the other is not keeping clear; rule 43.1(c) exonerates her when there is no damage or injury.
You tack from port onto starboard directly ahead and to leeward of Blue, who is close-hauled on starboard. When your tack is complete she is one length away and has to luff hard at once to miss your transom. Which rule did you break?
Rule 10 — you were on port tack when the incident began
Rule 15 — having acquired right of way by your own tack you had to give Blue room to keep clear at first
None — a boat that completes her tack ahead of another boat is clear ahead and has right of way
Rule 17 — you may not tack within two hull lengths of another boat
Show the answer
B. Rule 15 — having acquired right of way by your own tack you had to give Blue room to keep clear at first
Rule 15: a boat acquiring right of way shall initially give the other boat room to keep clear, unless she acquires it because of the other boat's actions.
You are close-hauled on starboard. Blue, on port, is crossing ahead and would have passed a length clear of your bow. You bear away to 'close the door' and hit her quarter. Blue's skipper protests. Who broke what?
You — by bearing away you broke rule 16.1 and then rule 14; Blue was keeping clear and is exonerated for any contact
Blue — a port-tack boat hit by a starboard-tack boat has broken rule 10, whatever the starboard boat did
Both — Blue broke rule 10 and you broke rule 14, so each takes a Two-Turns Penalty
Nobody — a right-of-way boat may sail any course she likes and the port-tack boat must stay out of it
Show the answer
A. You — by bearing away you broke rule 16.1 and then rule 14; Blue was keeping clear and is exonerated for any contact
Rule 16.1: a right-of-way boat changing course must give room to keep clear; causing contact also breaks rule 14. Blue is exonerated under rule 43.1(a).
Beating in 10 knots. Blue, on port, bears away early to duck you. When she is a length away you bear away at her, so that she must immediately bear away further to still pass astern. Which rule did you break?
Rule 17 — you sailed below your proper course
None — a starboard-tack boat may alter course as she likes and the port boat must simply keep clear
Rule 16.2 — on a beat a starboard-tack boat shall not bear away if a port-tack boat passing astern would immediately need to change course to keep clear
Rule 10 — by turning towards her you became the give-way boat
Show the answer
C. Rule 16.2 — on a beat a starboard-tack boat shall not bear away if a port-tack boat passing astern would immediately need to change course to keep clear
Rule 16.2: on a beat, a starboard-tack boat shall not bear away if a port-tack boat passing to leeward would immediately need to change course to keep clear.
Reaching leg in ILCA 7s, 12 knots. You come from clear astern and establish an overlap to leeward of Red, a length apart. You now want to luff her well above the course to the mark. May you?
Yes — the leeward boat has right of way and may luff up to head to wind
Yes — but only once, and after hailing 'Up!'
No — a boat that establishes an overlap from astern must keep clear of the boat ahead
No — having become overlapped to leeward from clear astern within two of your hull lengths, you may not sail above your proper course while the overlap lasts (rule 17)
Show the answer
D. No — having become overlapped to leeward from clear astern within two of your hull lengths, you may not sail above your proper course while the overlap lasts (rule 17)
Rule 17: a boat that becomes overlapped to leeward from clear astern within two of her hull lengths shall not sail above her proper course while so overlapped.
All 100 questions of this topic are in the app: practice by topic with the reason after every answer, your mistakes brought back, and a timed mock exam. Free, no sign-up, in the browser or in Telegram.
