Meeting Head-on: Both Vessels Alter to Starboard

What the rule requires

Both vessels turn. When two power-driven vessels are meeting on reciprocal or nearly reciprocal courses so as to involve risk of collision, each shall alter her course to starboard so that each shall pass on the port side of the other COLREGs Rule 14(a). The rule names no stand-on vessel and no give-way vessel. The duty is on each of them, and on the exam this is the single most productive fact about Rule 14: the question "in which situation do the Rules require both vessels to change course" is a head-on question, and the correct option reads both vessels alter course to starboard.

Three conditions have to be present before paragraph (a) bites:

• both vessels power-driven
• courses reciprocal or nearly reciprocal
• risk of collision exists

Drop any one of them and the paragraph does not operate. The rule as written speaks only of power-driven vessels; nothing in Rule 14 addresses a sailing vessel meeting another head-on, so a question that puts a sailing vessel in the meeting is being decided somewhere other than this rule.

The old rhyme red to red, perfect safety, go ahead is the one every mariner has already heard, and it is worth keeping — port to port means your red sidelight is showing to her red sidelight, which is the arrangement paragraph (a) is driving at. What the rhyme does not carry is the duty. The duty is the alteration to starboard, and it is owed before the port-to-port passing exists.

Recognising the situation

Paragraph (b) tells you when the situation is deemed to exist: when a vessel sees the other ahead or nearly ahead, and by night she could see the masthead lights of the other in a line or nearly in a line and/or both sidelights, and by day she observes the corresponding aspect of the other vessel COLREGs Rule 14(b).

Read the and/or carefully. Masthead lights in a line or nearly in a line satisfies the test. Both sidelights satisfies the test. You do not need both indications together, and a question that shows you only the two white lights nearly in a line has given you enough.

Night, clear visibility. Dead ahead you make out two white masthead lights nearly in a vertical line. You cannot yet distinguish a sidelight. Is this a head-on situation?

Yes, treat it as one. Paragraph (b) is satisfied by masthead lights in a line or nearly in a line and/or both sidelights — either aspect deems the situation to exist, and you have the first of them. Waiting to identify a sidelight before acting is not what the rule asks of you.

Doubt resolves against you

When a vessel is in any doubt as to whether such a situation exists, she shall assume that it does exist and act accordingly COLREGs Rule 14(c). There is no option to hold course while you resolve the ambiguity, and no threshold of doubt below which the assumption is excused. Any doubt, and you are in a head-on situation for the purposes of this rule.

This paragraph is a standing gift on multiple choice. Where an item describes a near-reciprocal meeting and offers you one option that hedges ("hold your course until the situation is clear") and one that acts ("assume a head-on situation exists and alter to starboard"), the acting option is right.

The Inland-only material

Inland paragraph (a) opens with three words International does not have: Unless otherwise agreed 33 CFR §83.14. Under International the mutual duty to alter to starboard carries no such qualifier COLREGs Rule 14.

Then there is paragraph (d), which exists only Inland and operates notwithstanding paragraph (a). A power-driven vessel operating on the Great Lakes, Western Rivers, or waters specified by the Secretary, and proceeding downbound with a following current, shall have the right-of-way over an upbound vessel, shall propose the manner of passage, and shall initiate the maneuvering signals prescribed by Rule 34(a)(i) (§ 83.34(a)(i)), as appropriate .

Three duties and privileges attach to the downbound vessel, which is why the answer to a question of the form "which statement is TRUE of a power-driven vessel proceeding downbound with the current when meeting an upbound vessel on the Western Rivers" is so often all of the above. She has the right-of-way, she proposes the manner of passage, and she initiates the maneuvering signals.

The trigger words are worth learning exactly, because each of them is a place the exam can pull a distractor:

• power-driven vessel — the provision is written for a power-driven vessel
• downbound with a following current — downbound alone is not the condition stated
• Great Lakes, Western Rivers, or waters specified by the Secretary — not all Inland waters

There is nothing to derive here. The rule assigns the right-of-way to the downbound vessel; learn the assignment and the three waters named with it.

You are upbound on the Mississippi, power-driven, meeting a downbound towing vessel with the current behind her. Who proposes the manner of passage, and who sounds first?

She does, on both counts. Paragraph (d) gives the downbound vessel with a following current the right-of-way, puts the proposal of the manner of passage on her, and requires her to initiate the maneuvering signals prescribed by Rule 34(a)(i). You are not the vessel who opens the exchange. An option telling you to sound first and turn to starboard under paragraph (a) is the trap in that item, because (d) operates notwithstanding (a).

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Telling it apart

The two regimes diverge on exactly one axis on this topic: whether the rule contains a current-based departure from the mutual turn to starboard.

• COLREGs Rule 14 (International) — three paragraphs, (a) through (c), and no current provision anywhere in the rule. The mutual duty to alter to starboard is unqualified COLREGs Rule 14. Most often misfiled: answering an "(International Only)" item with the downbound right-of-way, which International Rule 14 does not contain.
• Inland Rule 14 (33 CFR §83.14) — four paragraphs. Paragraph (a) is prefaced "Unless otherwise agreed", and paragraph (d) gives the downbound-with-following-current provision on the named waters 33 CFR §83.14. Most often misfiled: applying (d) to any downbound vessel on any river, or to a vessel downbound with no following current.
• Identical under both — the deeming test for what the situation looks like by night and by day, and the rule that doubt is resolved by assuming the situation exists. A question about masthead lights in a line, both sidelights, or the corresponding day aspect is a "Both International & Inland" question, and so is a question about doubt. No hedging needed on either.

Working a question

You have the conn of a 92 GT passenger vessel making 11 knots at night in clear weather, well seaward of the demarcation line. Ahead and slightly on your port bow you observe two white lights nearly in a line, with a red and a green sidelight beneath them. The bearing is holding.

1. Confirm both are power-driven. Masthead lights and sidelights on that aspect put her in the class paragraph (a) addresses. If the item had described a sailing vessel or a vessel showing the lights of a class Rule 14 does not name, this rule would not be the one deciding the answer.
2. Test the aspect against paragraph (b). She is ahead or nearly ahead; masthead lights nearly in a line; both sidelights showing. Either of the last two indications alone would have been sufficient, and you have them together.
3. Establish risk of collision. It is the third condition in paragraph (a). How you determine it belongs to its own rule and its own lesson; here the steady bearing settles it.
4. If step 2 or step 3 left you uncertain, stop deliberating. Paragraph (c) directs you to assume the situation exists and act accordingly. "Nearly reciprocal" and "slightly on the port bow" are the phrases the exam uses to manufacture the doubt this paragraph disposes of.
5. Alter course to starboard, by enough that you will pass on her port side. She owes you the same alteration; your duty does not wait on hers.
6. Check the waters before you accept an answer that ends at step 5. These are International waters, so the analysis is complete. Had the item placed you on the Great Lakes or Western Rivers with a following current behind one of you, paragraph (d) would displace the mutual alteration and hand the right-of-way, the proposal of passage and the first maneuvering signal to the downbound vessel.

The step candidates skip under time pressure is step 6, and it is the step the "(Inland Only)" label on the question was warning them about.

Where candidates lose the point

• Picking an option in which one vessel holds course. The stand-on and give-way framework is so well drilled that candidates apply it reflexively to a meeting. Paragraph (a) puts the alteration on each vessel; a head-on situation has no vessel that keeps her course and speed under this rule.
• Answering a fog signal heard ahead with Rule 14. The published sample item that puts you in heavy fog hearing a signal somewhere ahead attracts an alteration to starboard, because the words "ahead of your vessel" look like paragraph (b). They are not: the deeming test in paragraph (b) is what a vessel sees — the other ahead or nearly ahead, lights in a line or both sidelights, or the corresponding day aspect. A signal you have only heard does not put you in a head-on situation, and that item is decided by the restricted-visibility rule, which has its own lesson.
• Requiring both indications in paragraph (b). Read as "masthead lights in a line and both sidelights", the test looks unmet by two white lights alone, and the candidate rejects the correct option. The text is and/or.
• Treating "Unless otherwise agreed" as universal. It reads like a general common-sense allowance, so candidates accept it on an "(International Only)" item. Those words are in the Inland rule; International paragraph (a) has no such qualifier.
• Simplifying paragraph (d) to "downbound has right-of-way." The provision as written is a power-driven vessel, on the Great Lakes, Western Rivers, or waters specified by the Secretary, proceeding downbound with a following current. A distractor that strips out the current or moves the meeting to other waters is answering a different question.
• Altering to port to open her starboard side. It can look like the cleaner maneuver when the other vessel is already a little on your starboard bow. The rule specifies starboard and a port-to-port passing, and both vessels are working to that same expectation.

Check yourself

(Both International & Inland) Two power-driven vessels are meeting head-on with risk of collision. Which action is required?

Both vessels alter course to starboard. Paragraph (a) imposes the alteration on each vessel so that each passes on the port side of the other. Options offering five short and rapid blasts, backing down, or stopping engines are not what this rule requires.

(Both International & Inland) By day you sight a vessel nearly ahead and cannot decide whether her courses and yours are reciprocal. What are you required to do?

Assume a head-on situation exists and act accordingly — alter to starboard for a port-to-port passing. Paragraph (c) resolves any doubt in favour of the situation existing. Holding course to develop the picture is not an option the rule leaves open.

(International Only) You are meeting an upbound power-driven vessel while proceeding downbound with a following current. What does Rule 14 give you?

Nothing beyond the mutual duty to alter to starboard. International Rule 14 has three paragraphs and contains no current-based right-of-way. The downbound provision is Inland paragraph (d) only.

(Inland Only) A power-driven vessel is proceeding downbound with a following current on the Western Rivers and meets an upbound vessel. Which is TRUE?

All of it: she has the right-of-way, she proposes the manner of passage, and she initiates the maneuvering signals prescribed by Rule 34(a)(i). Paragraph (d) assigns all three to her, notwithstanding paragraph (a).

(Both International & Inland) At night you see the masthead lights of a power-driven vessel nearly in a line, dead ahead, and no sidelights are yet distinguishable. Does the head-on rule apply?

Yes. Paragraph (b) is satisfied by masthead lights in a line or nearly in a line and/or both sidelights. Either aspect deems the situation to exist where there is risk of collision.

(Inland Only) You are downbound on a river with the current behind you, but the water is not the Great Lakes, not a Western River, and has not been specified by the Secretary. Do you have the right-of-way over the upbound vessel?

No. Paragraph (d) is limited to the Great Lakes, Western Rivers, or waters specified by the Secretary. Outside those waters the meeting is governed by paragraph (a), and each vessel alters to starboard.

(Both International & Inland) You are meeting another power-driven vessel head-on. She has not altered course. Are you released from your duty?

No. Paragraph (a) states the duty of each vessel independently — each shall alter her course to starboard so that each shall pass on the port side of the other. Your alteration is not conditional on seeing hers first.