At the weekend I arrived at a windward mark on which another DF95 had hooked its keel prior to the start.

I rounded the windward mark but the hooked yacht swung round, and we touched.

This was interpreted as contact by the observer, so I did my penance

• Is the hooked yacht regarded as being part of the mark?

• Even if it did not start the race?

I welcome your comments

David

A Mark is defined in RRS as the mark itself and "and an object intentionally attached to the object or vessel"

The hooked boat was not intentionally attached and so does not become part of the mark

You guys seem to enjoy finding weird questions.

This is my opinion.

There are a lot of ‘NOTs’ in this question.

The boat you hit was not racing. The boat was not part of the mark (see definition of mark). The boat you hit was an obstruction, but there is no rule about hitting an obstruction (just about giving room to anther boat that is racing). As the boat was not racing, R 18 does not apply.

The preamble to Part 2 says that the tangled boat was intending to race, so the RRS may apply.

It is possible that you broke R 14 however the tangled boat moved, hitting you without giving you room to avoid but you should still have stayed more clear. As you did a penalty turn, there is no further penalty.

John

Edited August 30Aug 30 by John Ball
added comments about R 18 and cleaned up phrasing