By Paul Pascoe
One of the rules that has changed from January of this year is rule 20, “Room to Tack at an Obstruction”. This is where you are beating to weather, you are approaching an obstruction, but you have a boat on your hip that is preventing you from tacking. The application of the rule hasn’t changed, but what has is the hail you make to the other boat. Previously the rule was “a boat may hail for room to tack” but the rule has changed by adding “by hailing ‘Room to tack’”. So previously a call of “water”, “I need to tack” or something similar would have been acceptable, but now it is very specific that the hail must be “Room to tack”. There has already been a protest and appeal where the leeward boat called something other than this and lost the protest and appeal, so please remember the wording if you find yourself in this situation.