Meeting in the channel
Narrow channel with a ship and a yacht. Advanced level, about 4 min. COLREGs Rule 9.
The situation
You are in a 12 m motor boat heading north up the middle of a buoyed channel. Baltic Trader, a 120 m ship that can only navigate within the channel, is coming down it. Wren, a 9 m yacht under sail, is about to cross the channel from the east.
What do you do?
- Move over to the starboard side of the channel: Ease to starboard, then steady up along the edge.
- Hold the middle of the channel: A small boat takes up little room.
- Move to the port side, away from the yacht: Leave Wren the starboard side to cross.
Lookout: Rule 9 changes the usual order inside a narrow channel. Ask who can navigate only within it, and who is merely in it.
Each vessel’s duty
Baltic Trader: Keep to the starboard side of the channel
Rule 9(a): every vessel proceeding along a narrow channel keeps as near to its outer limit on her starboard side as is safe and practicable. Small craft and crossing vessels must not impede her.
Wren: Not impede the ship; stand on for you
Rule 9(b) and (d): a sailing vessel, and a vessel crossing, shall not impede a vessel confined to the channel. Towards you, a small power-driven vessel that is not confined, Rule 18 still makes her the stand-on vessel.
Your sound action
Move over to the starboard side of the channel
Rule 9(a): keep as near to the outer limit of the channel on your starboard side as is safe. It leaves Baltic Trader her side of the channel and keeps you clear of Wren, who turns down outside the marks to wait.
Why the other options fall short
Hold the middle of the channel
In a narrow channel you keep to the starboard side, whatever your size. In the middle you pass close down the side of a ship that cannot move out of your way.
Move to the port side, away from the yacht
Moving to your port side puts you in Baltic Trader’s half of the channel, head-on with a ship that cannot leave it. Wren is not crossing; she waits outside the marks.
Rule 9 · Narrow channels
Vessels keep to the starboard side of a narrow channel. A vessel under 20 m, a sailing vessel and a crossing vessel shall not impede a vessel that can safely navigate only within it. Between vessels that are not confined to the channel, the normal steering rules still apply.