This last weekend the winner of the J105 fleet at Big Boat Series was unfortunately DSQ by the race committee on an alleged infringement of Rule 9 of the COLREGS. This made me realize how little the recreational sailors actually understand about the COLREGS. Most know not to get in the way of a frieghter but I think racers in particular need to learn them as well as we doing the RRS. I didn’t use to think this believe me – I justed stayed out of the way of big boats 🙂 It is important though as between sunset and sunrise the RRS are turned off in most SI’s and what you have to comply with is the COLREGS – so take the time to learn them as well as you learn the RRS.

BTW It is the law that any boat over 39 feet has to carry a copy onboard the vessel. You can download them from www.racingyachtmanagement.com/blog/documents/navrules.pdf