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From Matt Willis
Whose fault was it? The 29er, no question. Quite apart from making a marginal judgement on port/starboard (a questionable decision at the best of times when not actively racing) this just goes to show that modern sailors ought to respect the history of their sport a little.

Vintage skiffs are big, heavy - and still very fast, particularly downwind. They carry huge amounts of sail, and because of this and the mass of the boat, there's a lot of energy there that you don't want to be in the way of. They won't change direction, slow down or stop with the same responsiveness as a small, modern dinghy. In addition, as the pictures show, these old skiffs weren't exactly overburdened with buoyancy when capsized.

All in all, if the 29er helmsman had known a little about the nature of the boat he was sailing in such close proximity to, he might have thought twice about trying to nip ahead. Guilty as charged!

From Keith Jamies
Whose fault was it? Given that I don't know all the facts I'll make a couple of assumptions 1) Both boats are racing but not each other 2) The skiff is running and the 29er reaching. As both boats are racing but not each other I would imagine that this comes under either rule 2 or the collision regulations. As such one might think that it is a simple case of port / starboard i.e. the skiff is in the wrong.

However the right of way boat may sail any course but always retains some obligations e.g. must always try to avoid contact or to give reasonable room. Taking these factors into account and that I'm working from the photographs (good as they are) I feel that the 29er neither took action to avoid contact or gave the skiff enough room (as you say a difficult enough to change course quickly on). The long and short of it the 29er was in the wrong, I hope he's well insured!

From John Watkins, Seattle
Whose fault was it? It would be the duty of the overtaking vessel to keep clear, and the vessel on port, unless the privileged vessel changed its course or speed. Like by stopping because it was in the lee of a boat with about five times the sail area. The skipper of the 29er should have been aware that if he tried to pass in front of the 18, he would stop right in its path. It was a bad bit of seamanship, regardless of what the protest committee may have decided.

From Steven Levy, Seattle
Whose fault was it? If they were racing, which is unclear from the description, both boats are obligated as a primary requirement of the current RRS to avoid collisions, and thus are both at fault. (If they were not racing, maritime regulations likewise require them to avoid collisions.) The skiff should have seen that the 29er was attempting to cross on starboard and was required to duck.

The 29er should have recognized that the putatively burdened boat was not very manoeuvrable relative to the 29er, and thus the 29er also became a burdened boat required to give way to avoid a possible collision.

From P Mugs
Have you ever experienced a water spout? I was a guest crew aboard a Formula 40 on a practice day before a ProSail race in North Carolina in 1989. The skipper was Tom Blackaller and on mainsheet was Cam Lewis. The rest of crew were really good sailors from Santa Cruz, CA.

We were just out tuning up before the regatta in the middle of the afternoon when a rally dark cloud came upon us. Then two waterspouts appeared below it. They were about 100ft tall and about 5-10ft wide, not really looking like an upside funnel, but a consistent column of water. You could see fish spinning inside them, they came within 50ft of the boat. We brought the main down right away and sailed with the jib. The rain was intense and everyone took shelter in a hull.

Tom was hidden in the back of a hull while Cam drove, waiting for them to pass. It must have blown about 50 knots. I must say, if we had been run over by a spout we could only guess what carnage would have been in store for us. It was really scary, and I had recently sailed in the Olympics with Pete Melvin in Pusan in a Tornado where it blew 40 knots with 20ft seas most of the time. This was a different experience due to the fact that it happened so quickly. After it was over, it was back to business, but I could have used a Stoli Martini, straight up with olives.

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