General information5operator of the other vessel can see whatyou are doing.“The general prudential rule”This rule is called Rule 2 in the InternationalRules and says,“In obeying and construing these rules dueregard shall be had to all dangers of naviga-tion and collision, and to any special circum-stances, which may render a departure fromthe above rules necessary in order to avoidimmediate danger.”In other words, follow the standard rules ex-cept when a collision will occur unless bothvessels try to avoid each other. If that is thecase, both vessels become “Give-Way” ves-sels.EMU25520Rules when encountering vesselsThere are three main situations which youmay encounter with other vessels whichcould lead to a collision unless the SteeringRules are followed:Meeting: (you are approaching another ves-sel head-on)Crossing: (you are traveling across the oth-er vessel’s path)Overtaking: (you are passing or beingpassed by another vessel)In the following illustration, your boat is in thecenter. You should give the right-of-way toany vessels shown in white area (you are theGive-Way vessel). Any vessels in the shad-ed area must yield to you (they are the Give-Way vessels). Both you and the meetingvessel must alter course to avoid each other.MeetingIf you are meeting another power vesselhead on, and are close enough to run the riskof collision, neither of you has the right-of-way! Both of you should alter course to avoidan accident. You should keep the other ves-sel on your port (left) side. This rule doesn’tapply if both of you will clear one another ifyou continue on your set course and speed.CrossingWhen two power driven vessels are crossingeach other’s path close enough to run therisk of collision, the vessel which has the oth-er on the starboard (right) side must keep outof the way of the other. If the other vessel ison your right, you must keep out of its way;you are the Give-Way vessel. If the othervessel is on your port (left) side, rememberthat you should maintain course and direc-tion, provided the other vessel gives you theright-of-way as it should.