There has been a recurring debate concerning the issue of hailing for room to tack under RRS20. The 2025 rules have introduced an obligatory form of  words. This raises the question of what happens when the hail does not include the words required by the rules.

During my visits to Fleetwood I was impressed by how frequently a hail is required and by the variety of hails that were used. However the rule is now far stricter.

I would be interested in reading your comments on this subject. Consider the scenario below:

Assumed facts

L close-hauled on starboard is approaching the shore and will soon have to tack to avoid it safely.
W is to windward and slightly astern of L. L does not have room to tack and avoid W.
The competitor controlling L hails but neither hails L’s sail number nor uses the words ‘Room to tack’.
What rules apply?

Discussion
RRS E1.3(b) states :
(b) Hails under rules 20.1 and 20.3 shall include the sail number of the hailing boat followed by ‘Room to tack’.

RRS 20.2(b) states :
A hailed boat shall respond even if the hail breaks rule 20.1.

Match Racing Call B3 Answer 1 states:
When the umpires are certain that no hail was made, then the signal for room to tack has not been made. The umpires may be certain there was no hail if they have had no difficulty hearing other calls from a similar position. For the purpose of the rules of Part 2 they should act as if there has been no signal.
I have removed the rule reference which would now be C2.10).
While recognising that MR calls are not authoritative, they can be illustrative and persuasive. In this case I believe that the call shows that in match racing umpires act on the basis that an incorrect hail is not a hail. Any subsequent incident will be judges without reference to RRS20.

Questions

1. When sailing under Appendix E, if L’s hail does not include the sail number of L followed by ‘room to tack’:

a) Can we consider that no hail been made? In which case  does this mean that RRS 20 does not apply and W is not required to respond?

b) Can we consider that RRS 20.2(b) applies?  Does this mean that W must respond by tacking or hailing 'You Tack'  as required by RRS20.2(c).

2. If W is required to respond despite the incorrect hail as in b) above:

 - can she protest L for the incorrect hail?

- if W and L become entangled in this incident, should L be denied any possible redress on the grounds that she was at fault for not hailing correctly?

Not at all a legalistic point-of-view, but precise wording of Hails seems a bit overly an&l to me - at a club level certainly. I often hear "xx tacking for the bank" - for sure its wise and important for L to state their number, but the message is pretty clear regardless of precise phrasing. And W should be well aware of L's upcoming need for room to tack anway, so any disputing a hail due to the wording would seem churlish or even 'gamesmanship' to me...

But hey, I just do this sport for fun....

 

8 hours ago, Colin Helliwell said:

......... or even 'gamesmanship' to me...

But hey, I just do this sport for fun....

 

One of my pet hate is when the L boat calls correctly but clearly has room to tack and avoid the W boat. 

Yes, there is the response call of "you tack" and then it's my understanding the obligation is then on the W boat to either clear the L boat or simply tack.

In my instances I see the call used constantly as a form of bluff (gamesmanship) when there is clearly room for the L boat to tack and avoid the W boat.

They seem to do it ensure the L boat, who may be slightly ahead on STARBOARD, maintains dominance over W boat by making them tack early onto PORT so they maintain the W position and take advantage of localised lifts off the shoreline.

I've started to use the "you tack" call more and more, especially when the calling boat is multiple boat lengths to L when calling.

Just waiting for the day when the L boat tacks and clearly doesn't avoid the contact ...... but that's another RRS.

 

 

 

Edited February 4, 20251 yr by womble66
Typo

18 hours ago, Colin Helliwell said:

Not at all a legalistic point-of-view, but precise wording of Hails seems a bit overly an&l to me - at a club level certainly. I often hear "xx tacking for the bank" - for sure its wise and important for L to state their number, but the message is pretty clear regardless of precise phrasing. And W should be well aware of L's upcoming need for room to tack anway, so any disputing a hail due to the wording would seem churlish or even 'gamesmanship' to me...

But hey, I just do this sport for fun....

 

Colin, I welcome your support for obliging the hailing boat to state their number. In the confusion of the first beat of a heat there may be several boats coming 'into the wall' who need to tack. And for each boat that hails there may be several boats that will need to respond. In many cases the boat being hailed cannot tack until another boat outside her tacks.

World Sailing writes rules for sailing at all levels. The rules are required to work for club sailing, the Olympics and the Fastnet Race. This explains why there is now a default hail for requesting room to tack. At an international event most competitors will not have English as a first language. It is important to formalise  and simplify communication so that non-English speakers are not disadvantaged. This is why, for instance, RRS E2.1 Hailing Requirements, stipulates that a sail number shall be hailed 'One Five' and not 'Fifteen' (which can also be confused with 'Fifty').

I was at an international event in Britain where a British competitor announced his intention to tack using words such 'Going about for the wall'. The non-English-speaking competitor outside him had no idea who was hailing or what was being said. The British boat tacked and there was contact. According to the rule the British boat (L in my diagram), has broken rule 20.1, and should take a penalty

Rule 20 is a rule of Part 2, E 1.3(b) is a rule of an appendix that changes RRS 20. As a result they can only be changed with the approval of the national authority.

I have no issue with club racing not applying this particular rule, if that is agreed However, at higher level events the rule should be applied in full. I would suggest, as a minimum, that the correct hail be required at any event that serves as a selection event for a World, Continental or international championship.

 

Edited February 4, 20251 yr by Gordon W Davies

10 minutes ago, Gordon W Davies said:

World Sailing writes rules for sailing at all levels. The rules are required to work for club sailing, the Olympics and the Fastnet Race. This explains why there is now a default hail for requesting room to tack. At an international event most competitors will not have English as a first language. It is important to formalise  and simplify communication so that non-English speakers are not disadvantaged. This is why, for instance, RRS E2.1 Hailing Requirements, stipulates that a sail number shall be hailed 'One Five' and not 'Fifteen' (which can also be confused with 'Fifty').

 

Absolutely agree re. non-English speaking participants.

And re. 'One Five', even at lower level. (Tho it's mostly if the Finishing Team didn't do that, when I'm on the Fleet Board, that I'd be wincing 🙃)

 

Colin,

However, habits picked up early in ones sailing career tend to stick. Which is why is it better to start by using the correct terms. Unfortunately, sometimes WS changes its mind!

I cover the topic of hailing for room to tack in the first few pages in my Chapter 4 Hailing on my web site

https://sites.google.com/site/johnsrcsailingrulesandtactics/

In BIG boats, it is usually obvious when you hail that you are communicating with the boat next to you - but we have the issues of distance from our boats, and a hail by a skipper does not easily identify the boat needing the room to tack. If you are sailing right to left, then as the boats clear the start line on stbd, they are coming towards you and it may be easy to identify boats and their skippers, but if sailing left to right, the boats are sailing away to the far bank and establishing that relationship may be much harder. The other thing to consider is that the rule requires that the boat needing room self identifies - but is not required to identify the potentially blocking boat as there may be more than one.

When you need room to tack, things are usually happening fast, and so any hail needs to be CONCISE - CLEAR- LOUD. There is not time for a long winded hail. And any hail using the present participle such as "tacking off the bank" suggests hailing and tacking simultaneously and offers no chance for an effected blocking boat to react or if necessary pass along the hail to other possibly affected boats.

It is so simple to hail "Your sail number - Room to Tack" that there is no excuse for not doing it correctly. My view is that a hail that fails to do it correctly has not hailed at all, however as safety is involved, even an invalid hail may need a blocking boat to react - but make the protest for a breach of R 20.1.

John

John Ball wrote

'My view is that a hail that fails to do it correctly has not hailed at all,'

If that is the case then the hailed boat need not respond. Which is not the desired outcome, unless you run a company that rebuilds broken boats!

I am not convinced that the rules say that an incorrect hail is a 'no hail'

RRS 20.1 says that a boat may hail for room to tack and avoid. It then says that the wording of the hail shall include the sail number of the hailing boat followed by 'Room to tack'.

If the hail uses other words then the boat has hailed for room to tack as permitted by RRS 20.1, but the hail itself breaks RRS20.1.

However, if the hail breaks RRS20.1 the hailed boat is still required to respond under RRS 20.2(b)

Edited February 7, 20251 yr by Gordon W Davies

One challenge is that most of us sail with our mates most of the time and this leads to “going to need water to tack Fred”. This works well until Fred isn’t at the event and you don’t know the skipper next to you.

At club level on a Sunday just use what works but don’t expect any sympathy when you try this in a fleet of 20 boats charging for the bank on the 1st leg at Fleetwood.
 

Fred won’t help you there!

BTW we are all guilty of having a Fred…

 

Neatly put, Darin

Good summary