Sailboat has right of way correct?

I was sailing at Lake Arrowhead this last weekend, I had sailed over to the yacht club to talk to a friend. I was sitting in irons and a power boat came in and tried to pull into a slip less then a boat length away. You guessed it a puff came up and away I went into the aft side of the power boat. I had NO PLACE to go no way to miss her. The "lady" driver (in fairness it was not a lady mistake it was a driver who happened to be female) was very upset and started hurling insults as her trust fund husband ran down the dock to also yell insults.

I was shocked to the point I almost started laughing out loud how stupid they sounded. The bows of the hobie left no marks on her boat and there were no marks on my boat. I am just glad she did not try this stunt with one of the little holder 12s the kid sail that come out of the same place where I was.

Her defense for pulling a power boat in front of a sailboat was that she said she honked and yelled. LOL she could have stood up and danced naked for all that matters the fact is she pulled a power boat in front of a sailboat. What a kook IMHO!

Am I wrong?

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Smooth Sailing

As far as I know, sailboats have the right of way over any non-commercial powered boats, or boats that aren't towing (i.e. skier, tuber, etc.). I have a HUGE problem with the latter rule, and I have problems almost every time I sail on Lake Travis in Austin, TX. Two weekends ago, I almost got overrun by a giant houseboat who was motoring about 1knt faster than I was sailing. I was on a close reach to clear the point. He made some kind of hand gesture indicating he was going to round the same point, which would have either made me fall off into him, or luff and drift into him. Some choice, huh? When I failed to give way, he evidently got all pissed and slammed the thing in reverse, did a donut, then slammed it back into forward, after we'd safely rounded the point, and passed us too closely on the lee shore. All he would've had to do is swing a little wide when he was coming up astern of us and passed us a safe distance to windward, but I guess he didn't realize that, or I was just to insignificant to his highness. BTW, he was driving a chartered houseboat, so it wasn't even his, and where does that fall into commercial vs. private craft? Such is the burden we bear for being sailors in a powerboat world. I believe Einstein said: "Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds."

Clarsen- what a great quote "Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds." True that!!

In general, those of us who sail are interested enough in sailing learn skills far beyond those necessary than some wahoo who has enough money to buy something that starts with a key. I do both, sail and motor, but I have also been a member of the local Power Squadron so I am acutely aware of the neanderthalic gene pool of stink-potters in particular and that everyone needs to learn the rules of the road in general:roll:

Here's the rule over all rules: avoid a collision even if it means you were in the right. Nobody cares anymore if someone is hurt or equipment is damaged.

I have been narrowly missed by an overtaking sailboat who didn't realize that I have the right of way as both the leeward AND the overtaken vessel because the idiot had the rules screwed up. That was a blow-boater who has read the rules but, like a blotter, soaked them up backwards. I bore off spilling drink and victuals and my child to the deck rather than have a collision.

I have had a power boater start up RIGHT in front of me with a skier in tow no less even though he could have waited about 3 seconds for me to pass. The narrowly avoided accident, due to my skill, would have taken the skiers head off with our forestay. That was just a drunken idiot.

I have been run over by a moron on a Jet-Ski playing tag with another moron on a Jet-Ski- both of them looking behind themselves at each other, oblivious to the crowded lake conditions. Those were just kids without rules, discipline or training. I was lucky that these are prop-less craft. (I heard that one kid was killed the next summer when he slammed head on into his friend as they BOTH jumped a boat wake TOWARDS each other. Sorry to hear that but it sounds like a nominee for the Darwin Awards).

Attend a Power Squadron course on sailing, or at least pick up some basic rules of the road if you don't know them. Yes, unless you are under power, you have the right of way in general. Just don't count on anyone else to know that. Commercial vessel does not mean rental- it means large tonnage and/or fishing vessel- not really some guy fishing on a boat, but hey, I'm also a fisherman so I appreciate the slack from the sailors

Well the driver of the power boat got more then an earfull and plenty of horse laughs because so many people from the club saw it and pointed out how wrong she was, over and over and over.

I also heard she called the lake patrol on ME, before she was shown the error of her ways. When they came and she told them what happend they gave her a lake ticket. (As Lake Arrowhead is not a public lake there is no DMV ramifications to them enforcing the lake rules trhe ticket if for a rules violation)

I think justice was served. Now she has to live that down...

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Smooth Sailing

I can hear it already:
Powerboater, "so, sailboats use sails ?"
"Yes ma'am- here's YOUR sign"