Interesting. I'd always learned that rowboats, canoes and the like had the right of way over sail, motor, etc, at least when meeting in open water free of obstructions. That usually seems to make sense, as a sailboat with a decent breeze can usually avoid the paddler easily.
Here's a reference supporting this general interpretation: http://newboatbuilders.com/boating/navrules.html . I'd imagine opposing viewpoints can come up with opposing references. The example Jonathan brings up is a situation where the sailboat is constrained and the paddler should try to give way. Knowledgeable paddlers know to stay out of the way of boats in the channel, just as we sailors know to stay out of the way of freighters! Actually, there's also reference in Dennis' link to similar situations, both "vessels constrained by their draft" and rule 9, narrow channels. This topic of sail vs paddle reminds me of a number of incidents from my days on the sailing team in college. We raced dinghies on the Charles River in Cambridge / Boston, which was also the home of quite a bit of human powered traffic including rowing shells. Shells are very fast, but very slow to turn, especially the eights that were often out practicing. We were told to stay out of their way, but on occasion during a drifter there wasn't much we could do, and the shells had to avoid us since we couldn't avoid them. In one of the first regattas where I had just started to figure out how to do well, I managed to lead around the last leeward mark and thought I had the race wrapped up, heading into the finish. Approaching the finish, an eight that had decided to row through our course realized (probably because of all the yelling from other sailors) that they could have picked a better place to go. They decided to turn around, and in the process completely blocked the finish line, overlapping both finish marks with their long hull just as I arrived. As the first one there, there was nothing to do but wait and guess which end of the line was going to open up first. Unfortunately I guessed wrong and lost quite a few places. In hindsight it seems pretty funny - they couldn't have timed or placed their turn worse had they tried. Bill C&C 37 Starfire Ludington, MI On Tue, Jun 7, 2016 at 9:23 PM, Indigo via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: > I would think that "manually propelled" vessels form a different class of > vessels. When two vessels belonging to different classes meet, the vessel > belonging to the more maneuverable class is the "give way" vessel. In > general, manually propelled vessels have minimal draft, and can therefor go > where most other vessels cannot. This imho would place manually propelled > vessels at the absolute bottom of the pecking order and be required to give > way to all other classes of vessels. While I am always courteous and > careful around them, they do irritate me hugely when they insist in > sticking to the middle of a channel! > > -- > Jonathan > Indigo C&C 35III > SOUTHPORT CT > > On Jun 7, 2016, at 20:46, Dennis C. via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> > wrote: > > Saw a post on a local yacht club board this week. Seems a sailboat was > approaching a group of stand up paddle boarders (SUP's). Sailor didn't > know who had ROW. As he went by the SUP's, he asked them. They didn't > know either. > > With the exception of required lights, the rules seem to be minimal on > situations with oared craft such as dinghies, SUP's, kayaks, canoes, etc. > The Admiral and I rarely put the outboard on our dinghy. We just row > ashore or to neighboring boats. > > Here's some vague guidance: from navcen.uscg.gov: > > "13. Where do Kayaks and Canoes fit into the Navigation Rules? Neither the > International nor Inland Navigation Rules address "kayaks" or "canoes" per > se, except in regards to "vessels under oars" in Rule 25 regarding lights. > One could infer that a "vessel under oars" should be treated as a "sailing > vessel" since it is permitted to display the same lights as one, but, > ultimately the issue of whom "gives way" would fall to what would be > "required by the ordinary practice of seamen, or by the special > circumstances of the case" (Rule 2)." Source: > http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=navRulesFAQ#0.3_13 > > Interesting topic. What say you? > > Dennis C. > Touche' 35-1 #83 > Mandeville, LA > > _______________________________________________ > > This list is supported by the generous donations of our members. If you > like what we do, please help us pay for our costs by donating. All > Contributions are greatly appreciated! > > > _______________________________________________ > > This list is supported by the generous donations of our members. If you > like what we do, please help us pay for our costs by donating. All > Contributions are greatly appreciated! > > -- William D. Hall, Ph.D. 617 620 9078 (c) wh...@alum.mit.edu
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