Having spent many of my almost 50 years of boating on rivers and navigating inlets where you can almost jump in a passing boat, I too am interested to hear the history of this particular rule.
And like you, just interested in the facts, as I have no desire to know how much better it has been with the rule (or not) or start any new (and surly futile) debate about the matter.
So anyone can offer up the unadulterated version of how this came to be I'll tip my hat to them.
