OVERTAKING YACHTS.—LUFFING, AND BEARING AWAY.
If, when before the wind, a yacht is ahead, and you cannot pass her, run dead in her wake or a little to windward of her wake so as to cover her ; you may do her a little harm in this way and prevent her getting away farther. If you are overtaking a vessel and desire to pass her, give her a wide berth either to windward or to leeward; to leeward for choice, as if the vessels are dead before the wind your antagonist cannot bear away after you to do any harm; if you try to pass to windward, a senseless luffing match will most likely be the result.
If a vessel is coming up fast astern and threatening your weather quarter, and you make up your mind that she shall not pass to windward, do not wait until her bowsprit is over your quarter before you lull, but take a wipe out across her when she is fifty yards off or so. She will then know what you mean to do, will probably be unable to get on your weather at all, and more probably will not try it. If she bears up to attempt to go through your lee, do not follow her off; if you do, it will probably end, after frequent backing and filling, in her ultimately getting her bowsprit over your weather quarter, and a long luffing match will ensue, followed up perhaps by a protest for bearing away.
When one of two yachts which are close together succeeds in going through the lee of the other yacht, the latter, if possible, should run dead in the wake of her antagonist that has just passed her. If the wind is very light, she may succeed in holding her. But the yacht that has just passed through the lee of the other should luff out to a clear berth, and she may thus be able to rid herself of the intended covering. If there be an obstruction to sea room she will be unable to luff out clear perhaps, and may very likely try to get clear by running off to leeward ; but here she will find that the sternmost yacht can follow her, and generally running off the wind in such a case is of no avail. It must be understood that the prohibition contained in the Y. R. A. rule on " luffing or bearing away " is not involved here, as it is presumed that one yacht has passed clean through the lee of the other, and if she drops back again that other yacht which was passed becomes in the position of an overtaking yacht. An overtaking yacht is not precluded from bearing away provided she does not cause the yacht overtaken to bear away also to avoid collision ; but an overtaken yacht is forbidden to bear away to hinder another passing to leeward ; that is, a yacht that is overtaken by another yacht must concede an unmolested passage to leeward.
It must be clearly understood that the foregoing relates to "yacht racing" alone. Yachts ordinarily are subject to the customary rule of the road, which enacts that " every vessel overtaking any other vessel shall keep out of the way of the last-mentioned vessel," and " when one of two ships are to keep out of the way the other shall keep her course." It is thus quite clear that by the ordinary rules of the sea a yacht that is being overtaken must neither luff nor bear away to prevent an over taking vessel of whatever description passing her.
By the rule of the road before referred to, a steam yacht must keep out of the way of all sailing vessels ; but there would appear to be one position in which the sailing vessel would have to keep clear of the steam yacht. It frequently happens that a sailing yacht is overtaking a steam yacht in a narrow channel or on the open sea, and the question would arise which was bound by the rules to give way ? The sailing yacht would point to Article 15, which says : " If two ships, one of which is a sailing ship and the other a steamship, are proceeding in such directions as to involve risk of collision, the steamship shall keep out of the way of the sailing ship." This is clear enough; only Article 17 says that every overtaking vessel shall keep clear of the one she is so overtaking. Either rule is imperative, and so far there is not a word to direct the master of a vessel as to which rule he must be bound by under such circumstances. However, some light is thrown upon it by the catechism of examination issued by the Board of Trade for the use of examiners in seamanship. Question 62 asks, " What is to be done by A., whether a steamer or a sailing ship, if overtaking B. ?" The answer is, "A. is to keep out of the way of B." It is thus quite clear the Board of Trade intends that in all cases the overtaking vessel, whether she be under steam or sail, or both, must keep out of the way of the one she is overtaking. The popular opinion is, that in all possible directions of approach, the steam yacht must keep out of the way of the sailing yacht; but there is, as we have shown, one direction of approach, at least, under which it is the duty of the sailing yacht to keep clear of the steam yacht. A vessel, it must be understood, is only considered as an overtaking one when she is steering in the direction of the one ahead or in the wake of the one ahead, and only in such case would the sailing vessel have to keep clear of the steamer she might be overtaking.