Perhaps we should get back to basics. Sailing, per the Basic Principals: Sportsmansip and the Rule “… A fundimental principal of sportsmanship is that when a boat breaks a rule and is not exonerated she will promptly take an appropriate penalty…” In other works a basic principal of sailing is that it is a self policing sport.
Rule 2 states that a “boat and her owner shall compete in compliance with the recognized principals of sportsmanship……and may be penalized only if it is clearly established that these principals have been violated…”
1. At least one of the “recognized” principal's of sportsmanship for sailing is defined in the Basic Principals of the RRS.
2. Based on the original scenario presented, Boat A acknowledged that they broke a rule and knew it; and did not “promptly take an appropriate penalty”.
The bigger issue is do we want to continue to be a self policing sport - or do we want to eventually end up with referees in every race, where you did not break a rule unless caught. I do a fair amount of rule 42 judging at Opti events, and we are seeing more young sailing who clearly break a rule (such as running up over the stern oof another boat) waiting to see the other boats response before taking a penalty turn. I am concerned that these young sailers are, at leaast in some cases., being coached to “wait and see” approach to taking penalties. If they are being taught this approach when the at 10 years old, how will they respond when they are adults?
US sailing accredits instructors/coaches. How about requiring instructors/coaches to complete an online Rule 2/Basic Principles refresher and sign a pledge each year that they will instill and support those principles in their students/athletes? And, that if they witness one of their student/athletes break an unexonerated rule without taking a penalty on the water, that they pledge to discuss the incident with them and if appropriate (verify it is unexonerated) encourage them to retire?
I think it is possible to differentiate between: