Rowers! What's A Sailor To Do?

Race 1 on Saturday set the fleet on a collision course with three rowing teams heading up the lake. Paul and I watched helplessly from the committee boat as Bruce found himself smack in the middle of them with no escape options. Bruce called out that he was going to tack. Then there was lots of hollering on the center rowing shell that was closing in fast on Bruce …’heads up, Heads Up, HEADS UP … someone yell starboard, STARBOARD … STOP, STOP, STOP!’ … bam!

In reading several rowing sites, I discovered that the rowers probably didn’t yell ‘STOP’ since that only stops one crew member from rowing.  The proper term is “Weigh Enough, Hold Water” which is so foreign to me that even if they’d yelled it, I certainly didn’t hear it.

Doug was at the committee boat giving the Lasers a two minute head start and confidently said human power boats have right of way over sailboats but they shouldn’t have hit him.  Later, Bruce said quite confidently that sailboats have right of way. The team’s coach came over to the committee boat later and very politely apologized and said they were totally in the wrong. But were they?

Oh, by the way, Bruce was fine. He pulled out of the race until Doug caught up to him and reassured him that the big gaping hole he thought he had in his boat was maybe a scratch and then Bruce jumped back into the race. From the committee boat, the collision seemed more like a tap because when they dug their oars in, they looked like they stopped on a dime but drifted into Bruce. If they’d hit him with any speed, it could have been bad. Instead … learning opportunity.

So, I’ve scanned the US Coast Guard regulations, US Rowing Safety Guidelines and the International Regulations for Prevention of Collisions at Sea (“COLREGS”). USCG’s Rule 18 is a bit vague when it comes to rower/kayak/stand-up paddle boarder vs. sailboat. Various rowing sites have interpreted the USCG regs and have trained their rowers that a sailboat with wind must yield right of way but a sailboat without wind has right of way. Seems a bit subjective to me. What is the definition of a sailboat with wind? Bruce had wind but not enough to get him out of the way. Alas, an explanation of the COLREGS made it super simple:

General Responsibility - you’re not supposed to run into other people or things.

Tonnage - boats with more tonnage always have right of way even if they don’t.

Right of Way - man-powered beats sail beats motorboat beats seaplane. Human-powered boats (canoes and rowboats) have the right of way over sailboats.

BUT …

Not Under Command - a vessel that is “not under command” has right of way. This refers to anchored or unoccupied vessels as well as those that have lost the ability to maneuver (e.g. through loss of power or their rudder [in irons]).

AND …

Restricted Ability to Maneuver - boats with restricted maneuverability, whether due to fishing, draft, length, towing, or other causes, have right of way over vessels not so restricted.

Bottom line folks, as we start to see more and more kayakers, stand-up paddle boarders and rowers on the lake, in most cases, they have right of way and we must yield. I would argue that Bruce was unable to do so since the three rowers essentially had him pinned so he became the least maneuverable boat.

Had I been in that same situation, I would have defaulted to my foolproof emergency mode of: scream, let go of everything and throw my hands up in the air. Boat not under command … that trumps all.

As an aside, when I was on a judge boat during some match racing in Fort Worth, there was an instance where we had gotten in close (like we were supposed to) and the two sailboats were circling us. The judges stopped the boat, let go of the steering wheel and put their hands up and called ‘obstruction’ and immediately obtained right of way.  Works every time.

Contrary to what I've heard asserted, it is probably important to note that even though we might be racing, we do not have the authority to block off part of a public waterway and claim it as our race course. We must still follow the rules of the road even if someone wanders onto our race course.