Chapter 8: Rules of the Road There is a risk of collision every time boats come near each other. Recognizing this, early seamen devised local rules of thumb to guide them out of each other's way. As the sea was internationalized, so were these rules, which came to be called the rules of the road or, more formally, the Navigation Rules. These rules (like those that apply to roads ashore) lay out specific requirements for ways in which boats maneuver near each other and signal each other. These rules apply to all craft -- cruising sailboats, aircraft carriers, personal watercraft, sailboards, seaplanes, rowboats, tankers -- and are enforced by the United States Coast Guard, state and local maritime police, and courts of law. The rules are summarized below. The complete rules are contained in the well-illustrated Coast Guard booklet Navigation Rules: International-Inland, available at many marine stores and from Coast Guard district headquarters. Boats larger than 39 feet are required to carry a copy of the rules.

The Navigation Rules have two very similar parts. One, the Inland Navigational Rules, or Inland Rules, applies to lakes, rivers, and near-coastal waters inside a boundary that is a few miles offshore and is marked on charts.The other is the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea -- also known as the International Rules of the Road or COLREGS -- which applies to outer coastal waters and the high seas.The Inland Rules and COLREGS use the same numbering system and arrangement and are almost exactly the same, with the important exception being different requirements for alerting nearby vessels of your maneuvers using whistle, horn, and light signals.The rules lay out specific rules for action as well as general guidelines. Caution and forehandedness are essential. For example, Rule 8 instructs us to slow down or stop if a situation is of doubtful safety, and Rule 2 makes it clear that the specific regulations are no substitute for good seamanship. Good seamen know their own and their vessels' capabilities, are alert to nearby vessels, carefully regulate their vessels' speed, keep a lookout in periods of restricted visibility, and are always looking ahead, anticipating trouble.

If you have any doubt about another vessel's intentions, call her on radiotelephone channels 6, 9, 13, or 16, or shine a light at her, or make the danger signal (five or more short horn blasts or light flashes) -- or do all three.Give-Way and Stand-On Vessels. Under the rules, when two or more boats are in a situation that might lead to a collision, at least one of them has to stay out of the way by altering course, speed, or both. A boat that must stay out of another vessel's way is called the give-way vessel. A boat that does not have to get out of the way is called the stand-on vessel. (These terms replace the old "burdened vessel" and "privileged vessel.")Sometimes under the rules all the boats are give-way vessels (for example when powerboats are headed directly at each other). In that case, every boat involved must alter course.

But most of the time there is at least one give-way vessel and at least one stand-on vessel. The give-way vessel must get out of the other vessel's way by altering course and/or speed. The stand-on vessel must continue on her course at her current rate of speed in order not to mislead the give-way vessel. Of course, if the give-way vessel does not get out of the way, then the stand-on vessel must alter course, change speed, or both.The preferred course alteration is to starboard (the right). However, if a turn to starboard will take you into the path of the other vessel, you may turn to port (the left), or you may stop or back down. There are prescribed signals for announcing actions or intentions.Size Ranges.

The rules sometimes specify different requirements for different size boats. The demarcation is the.