One of the many changes to the Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS) for the 2025-2028 cycle concerns rule 20. That rule deals with room to tack at an obstruction and sets out the process of making and responding to a hail. 

So, what changed and why was it changed? Read on to find out. 

What’s changed? 

The first sentence of the old rule 20.1 said that “A boat may hail for room to tack and avoid a boat on the same tack.” Under the new rules, that sentence reads: “A boat may hail for room to tack and avoid a boat on the same tack by hailing ‘Room to tack’.” The rest of rule 20 is unchanged. 

What does it mean? 

This means that to hail for room to tack, the hailing boat must use the exact words “Room to tack”. Calls like “water”, “we need to tack”, “tacking”, or “room” are not sufficient – you must use the exact words in the rule. 

As the hailing boat, you should: 

1. Use the exact words “Room to tack” when hailing. 
2. Hail as loud as you can and hail a second time if need be. 
3. When conditions are such that a hail may not be heard, you must make a signal to clearly indicate your need for room to tack. This signal is not codified but rule 20.4(a) requires such a signal to be clear. For example, the following are established signals: 

• for ‘Room to tack’, repeatedly and clearly pointing to windward; and 
• for ‘You tack’, repeatedly and clearly pointing at the other boat and waving the arm to windward. 

Why was this rule changed? 

Fortunately, we don’t need to be mind-readers to work out why the rule was changed. World Sailing helpfully publishes a “Study Version” of each new RRS, which shows all rule changes marked up. To download the Study Version, go to the World Sailing Racing Rules page and, under the “RRS Study Pack 2025-2028” tab, download the document titled “RRS Study Pack 2025-2028 - Study Version of the Racing Rules of Sailing for 2025-2028”.

The screenshot below is taken from the Study Version. In it, you’ll see: 

• The text of the old rule 
• The addition for the 2025 rules in red text, and 
• A comment listing the submission which led to the change (sub 014-23) and providing some extra information. 

Submission 014-23 indicates that we’re looking for submission 14 from 2023. To find it, scroll a bit further down the World Sailing Racing Rules page and find the document called “RRS Study Pack 2025-2028 – 2023 submissions”. 

Reading through the submission, you’ll see that the main reasons for the change are to make hails clearer and improve consistency (other hails required by the RRS demand exact words be used). 

Finally, you can look at the RRS Study Pack 2025-2028 - 2023 RRC Yellow Paper, which sets out the Racing Rules Committee’s response to each submission. In this case, the submission was approved without amendment or comment. 

To read a recent appeal decision concerning the new rule 20.1, click here. 
To read a World Sailing Q & A on the new rule 20.1, click here. 
To read the 2025 – 2028 Racing Rules of Sailing, click here. 

By Michael Arnold, with assistance from the Rules Specialist Group.