EXPERT ON BOARD
Andy Du Port explores which rules need to be followed to the letter to avoid collisions at sea
Saying ‘International Regulations for the Prevention of Collisions at Sea’ is something of a mouthful, let alone learning all of them verbatim. Commonly called the ‘Colregs’, they are a fine example of comprehensive, logical and unambiguous rules which have been adopted worldwide by almost all countries with coastlines (the only two which have not are the Western Sahara and Taiwan). In case you are yawning already – ‘Not another sermon on the Colregs!’ – this article is not about the rules themselves. Instead, it is more of a discussion about some of the rather perplexing wording which is open to interpretation and allows for some discretion.
As yachties we are near the bottom of the pecking list as far as the Colregs are concerned. We are required to give way to most other craft, even to fishing vessels and to other power-driven vessels if they are in narrow channels, traffic separation schemes or constrained by their draught. Compared with most ‘big ships’, our boats are small, slow and difficult to detect. They are also susceptible to rough seas and strong winds, and tend to be shorthanded, often with no more than two people on board.
Nevertheless, we have to share both the open seas and crowded coastal waters with everyone else including, of course, other yachts and leisure craft. AIS has, to a great extent, made detection and collision avoidance much easier, but not everyone is fitted with it and it doesn’t yet appear in the Colregs.
The reason for this is because an AIS readout gives courses and speeds over the ground (COG and SOG) whereas collision avoidance is based on the relative movement between vessels: courses and speeds relative to each other.
Given our unique status, we need to intelligently ‘translate’ the Colregs. Luckily, they allow for their varied customers, and Rule 2 is the key. It is worth quoting here (in abbreviated form) as it is fundamental to many decisions made to prevent collisions: ‘Nothing in these rules shall exonerate any vessel [...] from the consequences [...] of any neglect of any precaution which may be required by the ordinary practice of seamen, or by the special circumstances of the case.
‘In complying with these Rules due regard shall be had to […] the limitations of the vessels involved.’ In other words, we are told to us
