Basic Rules of Right of Way Clinic

By Professor Viggo Hansen and Captain Grant Headifen

This FREE Online Sailing Lesson will give you essential knowledge regarding the Rules of Right of Way with other vessels. Can you instantly recognize who should Give Way in this situation below? If not, then perhaps you could do with a refresher course (did we say for FREE?). NauticEd believes this information is so crucial to safety of lives at sea (SOLAS) that we are giving this clinic to you for FREE. Just register and go. Be careful, the test is difficult. The clinic should take you about 10 minutes to read and then about 10 minutes to take the test. You will be presented with a NauticEd Basic Sailing Rules of Right of Way Certificate when you complete the clinic. The clinic is taken from Module 5.8 of the NauticEd Skipper Course.

Please tell your friends and crew to take this FREE online Basic Rules of Right of Way Course. It's that important!

If you've still got questions about NauticEd, the courses and/or the sailing certifications, contact us via email or phone we're happy to help.

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Sailboat rules of right of way

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Excerpt from the course

The basic sailboat rules are:

You must act to avoid a collision even if you are the Stand-On vessel.
Port tack must Give Way to starboard tack.
If both vessels are on the same tack, the leeward (furthermost downwind) boat is the Stand-On vessel.
When under power and meeting head on, both boats turn to starboard and pass port to port.
If a sailboat is overtaking a power driven vessel then the sailboat must Give Way
When a sailboat is using its engine then it is automatically classified as a power driven vessel and loses all rights as a sailboat.
When a sailboat is using its engine, it must Give Way to other power driven vessels approaching from its starboard side.
You may deviate from any rule in order to avoid immediate danger.

sailboats rules of right of way

Above: From the set of the sails, the wind is obviously from bottom to top on the image. Therefore, Blue is on Port, Red is also on Port. Red is the leeward boat and therefore is the Stand-On vessel. Thus, Blue must Give Way and in a hurry from the looks of it. The best action here would be for Blue to steer up into the wind - turn to port - NOW!