🔍 Key Concepts

• Rule 18 – Responsibilities Between Vessels (hierarchy: NUC, RAM, CBD, fishing, sailing, power-driven, seaplane, WIG) • Difference between vessel engaged in fishing and a sailing vessel in terms of who must keep clear • When the port/starboard rule actually applies (which types of vessels and which rules)

💭 Think About

• First, decide which rule applies here: is this a power‑driven crossing situation, a sailing‑vs‑sailing situation, or a ‘responsibilities between different types of vessels’ situation? • Make a short list (from memory) of which vessel must keep out of the way of which in Rule 18, and place fishing and sailing in that order. • Ask yourself: in that hierarchy, does the vessel that must ‘keep out of the way’ become the give‑way vessel, and the other become the stand‑on vessel, regardless of which side the other vessel is on?

✅ Before You Answer

• Verify from Rule 18 which vessel must keep out of the way of the other: the sailing vessel or the vessel engaged in fishing. • Check whether the ‘to starboard’/‘to port’ crossing concept is part of Rule 15 (power‑driven vessels) or applies between fishing vs sailing. • Confirm that the definition of vessel engaged in fishing (using gear that restricts maneuverability) really applies here and not just any boat with a fishing pole.