Right of way at an unmarked narrowing with a sailboat and a float
You are steering a 5.5 m open powerboat down a narrow, unmarked channel on a large lake at about 12 knots. Visibility is good, wind is 12 knots from the west, and the water is choppy. Ahead and to starboard, a 9 m sailboat under sail is crossing from your starboard side toward your port side, moving slowly in the light air. Beyond it, a small fishing boat is stopped with lines out and a person leaning over the side. A rowing skiff is coming toward you on your port bow. The channel is about 60 m wide at that point. You have a planing hull with good steering response and a kill switch lanyard.
1. Rank the traffic you must account for and explain who has right of way between you and the sailboat, and between you and the rowing skiff.
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The sailboat is the controlling conflict first because it is crossing from your starboard side. Under the collision regulations, a power-driven vessel gives way to a vessel under sail in a crossing situation unless the sailboat is overtaking. Here the sailboat is crossing, not overtaking, so you are the give-way vessel. You must take early and substantial action to keep clear, preferably by altering course to pass astern of it, and you should not cross ahead.
The rowing skiff is a vessel under oars. A power-driven vessel normally keeps out of the way of a vessel under oars, so you also give way to the skiff. But the skiff is on your port bow and closing; the practical move is to reduce speed and hold a predictable course while the sailboat clears, then pass the skiff port-to-port if room allows.
The stopped fishing boat is an obstruction and a possible person-in-the-water risk. You owe it a wide berth and a speed reduction, and you should not assume its lines are visible.
The order of decisions: avoid the sailboat first, slow for the skiff, and give the fishing boat a wide, slow pass. Speed is the tool that buys time in a 60 m channel.
2. What specific actions do you take in the next 30 seconds, and what makes this a narrow-channel problem rather than a simple crossing?
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In the next 30 seconds:
- Ease the throttle back to displacement speed or just above, so impact energy and stopping distance drop.
- Alter course to starboard early and obviously, aiming to pass astern of the sailboat, and hold that course so your intention is clear.
- Sound the appropriate signal if there is any doubt the sailboat has seen you; a short blast means you are altering to starboard.
- Keep the kill switch lanyard attached and be ready to go to neutral.
- Plan the skiff pass after the sailboat is clear; do not try to solve both at once.
It is a narrow-channel problem because 60 m gives little room to swing wide, the sailboat is slow and may not answer quickly in light air, and the fishing boat constrains the far side. In a narrow channel you keep as near the outer limit on your starboard side as is safe, avoid crossing the channel unnecessarily, and use speed reduction as your main separation tool. The exam is testing whether you give way early and visibly rather than threading a gap at 12 knots.