Blue was allowed to sail her course until she was the give-way boat. As soon as she overlapped Camelot, she was the give-way boat, and had to keep clear. When a give-way boat is so close to a right-of-way boat, such that the right-of-way boat cannot turn in either direction without immediately touching the give-way boat, the give-way boat has violated her obligation to keep clear. They do not have to touch in order to prove that Blue did not keep clear. See Dave Perry's "Understanding The Racing Rules of Sailing through 2016, page 96. In addition, the right-of-way boat must take the appropriate action to avoid hitting the give-way boat , when it appears that the give-way boat is not going to keep clear, after which she can protest the give-way boat.
There is no requirement for either boat to communicate with the other boat, but it is prudent to do so. If Camelot had called to Blue to head up, or yelled "leeward boat" or "no room", it might have been enough to keep the boats from colliding. If Blue couldn't control her direction, she could have called to Camelot to fall off, that she couldn't steer away, Camelot might have been able to fall off and avoid the crash. She then could have protested Blue. Since both boats broke rules of part 2 of the Racing Rules of Sailing (Blue-Rule 11, Same tack Overlapped; Camelot-Rule 14, Avoiding Contact), both boats should have been penalized by retiring from the race (Rule 44.1(b). Alan Bergen C&C 35 Mk III Thirsty Rose City YC Portland, OR
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