"Avoid and protest" seems a good description, and on the whole a desirable outcome too. 

We mentioned room made freely available above. It seems to me that in a protest situation it will be hard for "sneak in" to defend against "I was not making room freely available, I was forced to make space for" barger in" so as to comply with rule 14.  It seems to me that a possible effect of new RRS14 could make it harder for a give way or give room  boat to avoid being penalised, since it seems to me to strengthen the concept that no contact does not mean no rule broken. 

Ken ... I don't have any other-than-English regatta experience .. but I've been looking at your OP and the replies and have a couple thoughts. 

Are you considering competing in this event or have you been asked to review the race docs as a member of the PC?  In either case, you have an opportunity to improve the docs by making queries and/or recommendations to the PC Chair and OA.  

I take the view that "it takes a village" to run a regatta.  The vast, vast majority of regattas are run by volunteers with varying knowledge of the RRS and even the most knowledgeable and experienced people can make mistakes.  

I've got myself a bit of a rep in my area for "helping" when I find potential issues with the race docs in events for my J/105 fleet and reaching out ASAP to the OA or RC depending upon if the issue is in the NOR or SI or both. I figure it's always best to give them a heads-up about things early ... so they can try to fix it up before racing and not try to untangle an error, problem or conflict later in a hearing.

You will find some people are grateful for the heads-up ... some will get defensive. In the end, if you are only a competitor or the PC ... neither the NOR or SI are "your" docs .. they are theirs. 

If you are being asked to serve on the RC ... or help the OA .. then that's a different matter.  You are then in a better position effect the change. 

Sounds good John

Mark re: "Maybe we need a new thread 2025-2028 RRS Rule 14."

Sounds good. Wanna frame that up and get it rolling?

A lot of the cases have been pulled for updating, hopefully an answer pops back up as they are reviewed.