"Rules of the Road" does apply to WAFIs

But maybe not the way some of them think it does??

Yacht skipper fined after container ship forced to change course in Tauranga Harbour :

As an official WAFI, I applaud this sort of action, though $200 seems a rather lightweight punishment. The number of completely oblivious “yachtsmen” out there is amazing sometimes.

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I always ask wafi’s the cases where sail gives way to power.
The one they always miss is over 23.5 m has rights over under 23.5m in a fairway

OK, I wasn’t aware of any regs that identify 23.5m, so, since its pouring down rain this morning, I pulled out our copy of the Rules and looked :slight_smile: The only thing I found was under Rule 9 where “…vessels of less than 20 meters shall not impede…” (in both International and US).
Is that what you are talking about, or did I miss something?

For Inland USA all I ever knew was the famous Rule 9 involving impeding vessels constrained by their draft.
Urban legend has that it came about decades ago when the Gibson Island Yacht Squadron had a race that had a bunch of becalmed sailboats across the channel here and they all refused to budge for a ship, we’re sailboats, you go around, f- off.
Modern NORs (Notice of Race) frequently now have a clause you get disqualified for interfering with shipping on top of the colregs.

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I taught sailing years ago, from basic to advanced passage making classes on behalf of the American Sailing Association. The only rule they learn is that sailboats have right of way over power boats and in their minds, ships are power boats. The same applies to those who learn from their friends with the added bonus that they learn all kind of wrong ways of handling things on the boat.

When I taught sailing we were frequently going across the shipping channel and Rule 9 was definitely part of the course!
“Look, forget the rules for a minute, if you get in front of a ship here they physically cannot just stop, they will either hit you, run aground, or maybe hit someone else trying to avoid you. This rule was created because of this”
Your course seems like it was deficient. One of our things we ran through was all the times sail does NOT have right of way (back then, stand-on now) both formally and informally. Informally crabbers with a bushel basket over their anchor light were laying or retrieving traps and expected to be left alone, formally overtaking, ships in the channel, etc. etc.

Were you teaching ASA courses? Just curious. We showed students a copy of the printed COLREGS citing some of the basics and told them to get a copy and study it but they weren’t tested on them. They were only tested on rules pertaining to sailboats meeting sailboats. I don’t remember meeting any sailors who learned from friends having any knowledge of the rules, even those pertaining to sailboats meeting sailboats unless they were into racing.

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These weren’t ASA courses, apparently we did a bit better of a job in some ways. It was partly self-preservation of us and the boats, Annapolis is a busy place and we could not be unleashing students that had no idea of basic colregs and we REALLY would have been in deep shit if our students were out running freighters aground or getting run over by them.
The worst thing by far around here is power vs. power. Our powerboaters apparently know exactly one rule, sailboats have right-of-way. They may totally hate the rule and cuss up a storm, but they know it exists at least. A small powerboat as stand-on will get a large powerboat to change course sometime between never and not-happening. Also loads of fun when you have a string of 3 or 4 boats under tow and a big cabin cruiser passes close aboard at max wake :frowning:

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That place is a zoo. One of my pet peeves is boaters with a 3’ draft sailing in the middle of a 45’ channel that has 8 or 10’ on the outside for miles.

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Try Wednesday night when the races finish. Racers that are used to missing you by 6 inches + clueless n00bs all in the mooring field is fun times!
A powerboat was so fascinated by two big sailboats headed upwind towards the Charthouse in tight formation he followed them tight on their upwind quarter and we all waited for the boats to tack, which resulted in the powerboat slamming in full reverse to not get run over. I have the whole sequence on film :rofl:

Once upon a time, , it was 1965, dependant’s cruise on San Francisco Bay aboard USS ALVIN C COCKRELL [DE-366], I was a young lad of 14. The ship was steaming East down the Oakland Estuary to dock at the Alameda Reserve center, with the prevailing Westerly “fresh breeze” on our stern and a flooding tide. Tacking up-wind West-bound for the bay was a WAFI. I vividly remember sound of the ships whistle sounding 5 short, and the clanging of the EOT as speed was incrementally reduced, and then to a backing bell. Voluminous clouds of black smoke poured out of the stack as the BT’s adjusted the fuel to the boilers, and the ship shuddered as the twin screws brought the ship to dead-stop, and then slight stern-way.

By this time, the WAFI was in the wind shadow of the DE, and its momentum was going to result in a paint transfer. A momentary backing bell of “Full Astern” increased stern way to avoid contact. The First Lieutenant on the bow bellowed some “salty” language down to the WAFI, and in return, a beer can was lobbed up to the fo’c’sle. The last thing I recall is the 1st Lt yellow down to the boat, “that’s a nice bit of seamanship”. . . [I’m 70 now - the crap you remember as a kid. . .When I sailed as a deck officer, I hated with a passion, the WAFI’s in port.]

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There was a video on YouTube some years ago of a few sailboats cutting in front of a laden tanker in a narrow channel and almost getting mowed down. The amount of commenters on the video saying “tanker captain was an asshole, WE have right of way, he should have stopped to let us pass or maneuver out of the way,” was infuriating.

Yes, I know the rules and I know the old training aid “new reels catch fish so purchase often,” but a little common sense and a lot less arrogance goes a long way.

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This video?

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Pedestrians generally have the right-of-way, yet people won’t defiantly walk across a highway directly in front of an 18-wheeler or dump truck or bus. So what causes people in tiny boats to do exactly that? (Besides abject stupidity.)

I took a sail boat class in Lake Washington where the instructors basically told the class that you may have the right of way but that won’t protect you or your loved ones from being killed. I was happy to hear them put it that way.

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he got into lots of trouble and was charged, wafi that didnt know the rules and was from the Navy I think?
EDIT>> Yacht skipper fined for Cowes Week collision with oil tanker | Crime | The Guardian

The way I used to put it to students was this: You’ll be right but you’ll be dead right.

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The one I remember was a similar sized tanker but blue. Situation was close though.

A story that was making the rounds in Singapore some years ago was about a Singaporean visiting Jakarta:
As he was used to from Singapore he crossed a busy street using a zebra crossing, expecting the cars to stop for him. Not so in Jakarta. He got knock down and run over by several cars.
With his dying breath he uttered the famouse words; “I had the right what!!!”
Yes, dead right!!

PS> Why do they have zebra crossings in Indonesia when there are no zebras??

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It’s a disturbing misappropriation and shows disrespect for the animal kingdom. Like buffalo wings and chicken fingers

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