Rules of The Road - IV - Who has the Right of Way - Power vs. Sail?

UP UNTIL this point, I have mainly focused on the buoy and marker systems used for navigating a waterway. Rules of the Road, however, also regulate the conduct of the many different vessels on the waterway. Vessels as small a canoes and kayaks and as large as 1500 feet long (5 American Football Fields) weighing over 250,000 tons. 

FOR THE blog's perspective, the currently largest cruise ship is the Royal Caribbean Icon of the Seas, nearly 1200 feet long (4 football fields) and nearly 250,000 gross tons. There are a number of other ships that are nearly as big. There are many other vessels in between, including wind-powered vessels, military ships (including aircraft carriers - themselves as much as 1,000 plus feet long and 250 feet wide), commercial cargo ships, commercial passenger vessels, and hundreds of thousands of pleasure craft.

UNLIKE ROADS, which can contain and direct traffic geographically effectively, the world's waterway are not so easy. They are vast. Over 70 percent of the earth's surface is water. As we have noted above, the vessels that sail these waters can vary from a very tiny single person kayak, to the 1500 foot long cruise ship described. Obviously, there are many factors that effect maneuverability, including size, propulsion type and power.

THERE ARE some general rules. First, in general, a boat that is powered by a sail "always" has the right of way over a power boat. It gets less clear, however, once we define "under sail." This rule only applies to a vessel that is solely under sail. If a sailing vessel is actively using an engine, it is no longer a sailboat "under sail" (even if has sails up). That's a fun one. How does the cruise ship captain know whether the boat is running its engines? Then there is another exception to the rule that says when operating within a narrow channel (probably defines most of the ports), the vessel that needs to be in the channel because of its draft (how far does it extend down in the water) has the right of way. I have often thought, standing on the upper deck of my cruise ship and watching sailboats around us, about that right of way rule. So far, I have not been of aware of it having been tested. Most of the time, all the smaller boats maintain a respectful distance from the cruise ships that are under way.

AN OVERRIDING rule, though (as is the case for most rules in our society) holds that even if you believe you are following the rules, if you see an issue and there is something you can safely do to avoid a problem, you must do that. I would call that the rule of common sense, which will undoubtedly be best exercised with a thorough background knowledge of the rules of the road. Do those small sail-only powered vessels really want to "play chicken" with that 250 ton cruise ship that is under way? We all know who will win in that collision, no matter who is technically at fault. In the cruising world, though, the ship captains and navigators still must know these rules and are technically bound to follow them. It is interesting to think about the knowledge and judgment required of cruise ship bridge officers, as we watch the ship come into and depart from busy ports around the world.