Port and starboard tack
World Sailing · 2025–2028When boats are on opposite tacks, the port-tack boat must keep clear of the starboard-tack boat. Tack is determined by the windward side, not by the direction the boat appears to travel on a chart. Keeping clear means the right-of-way boat can continue without having to take avoiding action.
The rule
When boats are on opposite tacks, the port-tack boat must keep clear of the starboard-tack boat. Tack is determined by the windward side, not by the direction the boat appears to travel on a chart. Keeping clear means the right-of-way boat can continue without having to take avoiding action.
In practice
Starboard tack is not permission to collide. The right-of-way boat remains subject to contact-avoidance and course-change restrictions, and mark-room rules can matter too. Against a vessel outside the racing rules, applicable collision regulations or government navigation rules govern the encounter. Do not treat this racing summary as a replacement for those navigation rules.
Sources & approach ↗