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Rule 21: Starting Errors and Taking Penalties

Rule 21 of the Racing Rules of Sailing 2025-2028 takes a boat's rights away while she fixes a mistake. A boat sailing back toward the pre-start side after her starting signal to start keeps clear of boats that are not, and so does a boat taking a penalty. Her tack does not matter.

RRS 2025-2028 · Rule 21, Starting Errors; Taking Penalties; Moving Astern · Updated

Rule 21.1 covers the boat that was OCS at the gun. While she sails back to restart, until her hull is completely on the pre-start side of the line, she keeps clear of every boat that is not doing the same, starboard tack or not. Then she has her right of way back, and starts.

Rule 21.2 covers a boat taking a penalty turn: while she does her turns, she keeps clear of boats that are not. Rule 21.3 does the same for a boat moving astern, or sideways to windward, by backing a sail.

The upshot: an early boat gets back fast and wide of the fleet, and a boat owing turns takes them in clear water, not in the middle of traffic.

The start line at the gun, a yellow dashed line across the frame, with the wind blowing from the top. The blue boat, labeled OCS in amber, is above the line on the course side, over early. The red boat, labeled CLEAR in green, is below the line on the pre-start side.
Rules Lab: one boat over the start line at the gun.
A red boat sailing away to the right, with the wind blowing from the top of the frame. The dotted line of the track it has sailed loops round twice behind it: two full turns the same way round, each through one tack and one jibe.
Rules Lab: the standard penalty is two full turns, each with one tack and one jibe. One turn applies only for touching a mark, or when the sailing instructions say so.

Sail it

One boat is over the line at the gun. Sail her back to the pre-start side, keep clear of the boat that started properly, and start again.

Try it in the Rules Lab

Questions

Does a boat returning to the start line have right of way?

No. Under rule 21.1 she keeps clear of boats that are not returning until her hull is completely on the pre-start side of the line. Starboard tack gives her nothing while she does.

Who has right of way when a boat is doing penalty turns?

The other boats. Under rule 21.2 a boat taking a penalty keeps clear of one that is not.

Does rule 21 apply before the gun?

Rule 21.1 starts at the starting signal. A boat holding her bow on the line before the gun keeps her normal rights.

Paraphrased from rule 21 of the Racing Rules of Sailing 2025-2028, not quoted. The rule text is World Sailing's, and the rulebook is what a protest hearing reads.

In the glossary

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Read the rule, then race it.

A Quick Race puts you on a start line in a shifty breeze, against a fleet that follows the racing rules and protests you when you break one.

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