A guide to club racing - part 4 (Basic rights of way)
Published 14:49 on 8 Jun 2026
Greetings racers...
So you know how to start and finish, you know where you are going but you are not doing it alone! On the start line and during the start sequence there will be a whole host of boats. Different sizes, different skills, and different appetites to get over the line bang on time and pointing the right way. So it does not turn into a free for all (and also once you are out on the water), there are a couple of basic rules that dictate how we behave and who has right of way. These are not "informal" rules, thay are actually documented in the Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS) which is the overarching rule book which governs how we go about racing (and sailing).
So lets start with the most important one....
Rule 14 (Avoiding Contact): You must avoid contact with another boat if reasonably possible. A right-of-way boat is not required to act until it is clear the other boat is not keeping clear.
This rule basically guides us on two things. The first is that it is duty of BOTH boats to avoid collision. Secondly, the boat with right of way SHOULD ACT once it is clear that the other boat is not keeping clear.
this is supported by:
Rule 15 (Acquiring Right of Way): If you obtain right-of-way, you must initially give the other boat room to keep clear.....
Rule 16.1 (Changing Course): When a right-of-way boat changes course, she must give the other boat "room to keep clear"
which dictates that whilst you may have "right of way", sometimes you have an obligation to give the other boat room to keep clear.
So who actually has right of way?
The two basics rules are as follows:
Rule 10 (Different Tacks) - where two boats are on different tacks, the PORT (left) tack boat must give way to the STARBOARD (right) tack boat
How do I know which tack I am on? People remember it different ways but a few are
- Its the side the wind is coming from / over
- Its the side I am sat on
- Its the opposite side that the boom is over
- If I am heading towards another boats and they shout "STARBOARD"... chances are I am on PORT and should be giving them space !
Rule 11 - (Same Tack) - where two boats are on the same tack the Windward boat keeps clear of the leeward boat
So the simple explanation is that the windward boat is the one that is nearer to the wind than the leeward boat but how do you quickly work that out in the madness of the start line. At last I found a description that helped me...
If you are the helm of the windward boat (the one who has to keep clear), you will most likely be sitting in your boat so you can see the leeward boat (as long as it's not blanketed by your sails). The helm of the leeward boat would need to twist around to see the windward boat.
So..
- if you can see the boat alongside or near you as you sit looking at your boom, you probably have to keep clear
- if you need to twist around to see the boat, you probably have right of way!
That was a very quick trip around the rules when we are out on the water. In the next article we we look at what is different as you approach a mark on the course.
You can go back to our first article which covers our general racing structure and some basic terminology here.
Last updated 20:42 on 8 June 2026