I tacked into the A mark traffic, was up to speed, when a friend tacked into line in front of me. He may have been close-hauled but was not moving much...not up to speed. I had to tack off to avoid a collision. Neither of us were sure of the rules. Was my friend's move a foul or good sailing?
David
Need more info. Who was on port and starboard tack, windward or leeward. I am assuming both ended up on the same tack. If he tacked onto starboard tack and even if "not up to speed" but was clear ahead of you, I would say he had the right of way and you have to avoid him. Try to give more info.
ditto. while he is tacking he has to stay clear. once he is on his new tack he has rights even if he is is dead in the water. i would say that once he tacks his jib he is definitely on the new tack. since you missed him you would seem to have had room to tack or duck unless you had to execute a crash tack to avoid him. if you did then you can protest. if you were going a lot faster could you not have driven off under him, pinched up and cut him off? where was the 2 boat circle?
Thanks, it seems that my friend had right-of-way. I was on Starboard and he tacked to Starboard in front of me. Therefore, I had to tack to port in the middle of lots of Starboard traffic. Fortunately, I ducked the sterns on one boat and cleared the line of traffic where I could tack back to Starboard to go for the mark.