In the second Frostbite race held on Sunday, September 29th, the PHRF fleet incorrectly sailed a shortened course. The Race Committee had signaled a “J” course, per SI 11. For the JAM fleet, a “J” course involves a triangle, a “sausage”, and a finish to windward. However, for the PHRF and Dinghy fleets (per Appendix F), the “J” course involves an extra “sausage”, for a total of eight legs.
Instead of sailing eight legs, the first PHRF boat finished after six, and received a sound signal from the Race Committee. The rest of the PHRF fleet then followed them across, although some later reported that they were aware of the error. One boat sailed the extra two legs, but only after crossing the finish line to “cover their bases”.
The results as published reflect the finish times for the boats after six legs. No protests nor requests for redress were filed within the prescribed time limit, so the published results will stand.
This is a good opportunity to review how an incident like this should really be handled. The boats that knew they still had two extra legs to sail should have rounded the windward mark (and not the finish pin) and sailed the course as published in the SIs. Had they done so, the boats behind them likely would have followed, and even the boats ahead of them who had crossed the finish prematurely likely would have realized their error and turned around to sail the correct course. If they had not, then those boats that didn’t sail the correct course would be subject to disqualification under RRS 28.1.
In summary: make sure you read and know your rules, follow the flag signals, and don’t assume that the other boats know what they’re doing!
As an aside, a few years ago on a PHRF race, the RC tried to do an illegal change of course. The leaders knew that what the RC was doing was not per the RRS and thus ignored their instructions and continued to sail the course in accordance with the RRS and SIs. Everyone followed and it was a non-event.