GL: "right of Way" (was: USCG Auxiliary boat ...._

[KevinR]

> -----Original Message-----
> Doesn't matter who hits who ... it's strictly "who had right of way".

With just one exception on the Western Rivers, the term "right of way" was
removed from the Rules back in the 80s. Before then, vessels with the "right
of way" had been standing on into the collision, and vessels were being
sunk. That all changed with the re-write over twenty years ago.

Now, there is a "Stand-on Vessel" and a "Give-way Vessel" (the CGAux boat
was the Give-way vessel in this case), but when it was apparent that the
speed boat was not going to avoid the collision, the Stand-on Vessel was
required by Rule 17 to avoid the collision.

It's time to remove the term "right of way" from our vocabulary. When two
boats hit, in most cases BOTH will be found at fault.

Kevin