Page 112 - Collision Avoidance Rules Guide

applied but the Auriga was held to be 60% to blame for bad look-out
and, in particular, for setting a converging course which created a
dangerous situation.
In the case of Olympian-Nowy Sacz it was held by the Court of
Appeal, 1977, that the Overtaking Rule (previously Rule 24) begins
to operate when a vessel is coming up with another from more than
22y abaft the beam and may apply before there is risk of collision.
Sir David Cairns said:
. . . If, therefore, ships came in sight of each other when many miles apart,
we think it would be wrong, whatever their relative positions and courses
may have been, to say that one was 'coming up with' the other. It does not,
however, follow that for one to be coming up with the other there must be
risk of collision between them. For instance, if two ships are on parallel
courses and one is ahaft the other and travelling faster, we think a time
would come when the faster ship should be considered to be coming up with
the other, provided that the courses were not more than a few cables apart,
even though if each ship maintained its course there would be no risk of col-
lision. . . . We would hold accordingly that Rule . . . begins to operate before
there is risk of collision and as soon as it can properly be said that the over-
taking ship is coming up with the overtaken ship. When exactly that will be
may not always be easy to determine but we see no reason to suppose that it
will he any more difficult than the decision as to when the situation involves
a risk of collision.
In the Manchester Regiment-Clan Mackenzie, the two vessels were
proceeding in approximately the same direction when the leading
vessel, which had the other about 22.5" on her starboard quarter,
altered course eight points to starboard in the process of adjusting
compasses. It was held that up to the time of the alteration the
Regulations did not apply (the vessels were distant about 2 miles)
and the vessels were considered to be crossing prior to the collision.
The distance at which the Rules apply will depend largely on the
speed of approach; it may be less than a mile in the case of two slow
vessels proceeding on similar courses with little difference in speed.

Action to be taken by the overtaking vessel
A vessel which is overtaking another vessel is required to keep out of
the way and to pass at a safe distance. She is not required to avoid
crossing ahead of the other vessel but altering course, or reducing
speed, in order to pass astern of the vessel being overtaken may be
the safest form of avoiding action. The overtaking vessel is also

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