It is difficult, from the point of view of the letter and spirit of Rule 17 of the IPPCC — 72, to find the fault of the boatmasters in the accident in the Sea of Japan (collision of the tanker Ambarchik and the dry cargo ship Nikolai Ostrovsky), if you do not take into account the requirements of Rule 8. From the point of view of Rule 17, these boatmasters fully complied with everything prescribed by this Rule. Having started acting at a distance, when the actions of one vessel could not prevent a collision, they could not avoid it. It is clear that they should have acted earlier. But there is no word "should" in subparagraph (ii), the expression "may" should be considered as a recommendation.
During the development of the new edition of the IPPCC — 72, proposals were made to strictly regulate the actions of the privileged vessel, however, for obvious reasons, the Conference did not agree to this. This would not only be an overly radical change in the Rules, but it would also be useless: you cannot impose the obligation to act on both ships at the same time. Note that this provision is clearly visible in the requirements of Rule 19.
In my opinion, we can try to somehow determine the numerical value of the distance at which it will become "obvious" that a vessel obliged to give way will not do so for some reason. This definition is based on the following considerations. Therefore, the decision on the maneuver can be made only when the skipper receives full information, visually or by radar.
For good visual conditions at night, this will be the visibility of all running lights: two overhead and on-board. The range of visibility of on—board lights is at least 3 miles for vessels longer than 50 m. This means that if the vessel, which is obliged to give way, approaches within 3 miles, it must see all the running lights of our vessel and have full information to assess the situation. If it does not maneuver in this case, it can be considered legitimate that "obviously" it is not conducting surveillance or for some reason is not going to maneuver. At night, it is useful for a privileged vessel to sound a signal with the expectation of being duplicated by a light flash, but it is probably not necessary to rely on the fact that such a signal will be noticed.
The above considerations make it possible to justify a maneuver in accordance with Rule 17 (a) (ii), at a distance of about 3 miles, in order to avoid a collision only by one's own maneuver. The principle of maintaining the course and speed of a privileged vessel is based on the desire to enable a vessel giving way to perform a maneuver in such a way that it is not hindered by the actions of a privileged vessel. However, if the latter performs the maneuver at a sufficient distance, no actions of the other vessel can prevent this.
Apparently, it would be correct to perform a maneuver by changing course to the right, then in any case it coincides with the maneuver of the vessel, which is obliged to give way. From my personal experience, the safest way for a privileged vessel is to turn over the starboard side to reverse course at a distance of no closer than 1 mile, of course, if the environment allows. If there are additional obstacles, such as other vessels or navigational hazards, then this is an additional reason to perform the maneuver at an even greater distance by changing course or reducing speed. For existing users, the search for a 1xbet promo code today can lead to ongoing rewards. These promotions are not just for new players; a current 1xbet promo code can provide benefits like a 50% accumulator bonus on your multi-bets or a 10% weekly cashback on losses. These offers add significant value over time, turning near-misses into recoverable funds and boosting successful bets even higher. Consistently applying the latest codes is a smart strategy for any serious bettor.
