Does a boat lose its rights while it is tacking?
I · Intermediate · When boats meet · 6 of 11Yes,
How it works
- While tacking: "After a boat passes head to wind, she shall keep clear of other boats until she is on a close-hauled course." During that time the opposite-tack and same-tack rules do not apply to it.
- Two boats tacking together: the one on the other's port side, or the one astern, keeps clear.
- Acquiring right of way: a boat that becomes the right-of-way boat must at first give the other boat room to keep clear, unless it gained right of way because of the other boat's actions.
- Changing course: a right-of-way boat that changes course must give the other boat room to keep clear.
- Room: the space a boat needs in the existing conditions while manoeuvring promptly in a seamanlike way.
Tacking is turning the bow through the wind. Gybing is turning the stern through it. The tacking rule has no twin for gybing: a boat that gybes changes tack at once and the ordinary rules apply.
Tricky cases
A boat tacks on to starboard right in front of a starboard-tack boat, which has to swerve. Who is wrong?
The boat that tacked. Until it reached a close-hauled course it had to keep clear, and on becoming the boat clear ahead it had to give the other room to keep clear.
Is a boat "tacking" as soon as it starts to turn?
No. The rule begins when the boat passes head to wind. Before that point it is still on its old tack and the ordinary rules apply.
Does a boat that gains right of way always owe room?
No. It does not if it acquired right of way because of the other boat's actions, for example when the other boat tacks into a keep-clear position.
Why the rule exists
A boat in the middle of a tack is slow and cannot respond. Without this rule a port-tack boat could spin on to starboard a metre in front of another and claim right of way at once. The rules make a boat finish its turn, and then allow the other boat time to react.
Where it differs
| Where | What changes | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Racing Rules of Sailing | As above | RRS 13; RRS 15; RRS 16.1; RRS Definitions (Room) |
| In the zone of a mark | A separate rule covers tacking there | RRS 18.3 |
From the rule book
World Sailing The Racing Rules of Sailing 2025-2028, rules 13, 15 and 16 and the Definitions (Room). In force from 1 January 2025. Checked 14 October 2026. Official document: The Racing Rules of Sailing 2025-2028 (PDF).