Yes John, I agree. I meant there may be no reasonable opportunity on some courses and so there seemed to be some suggestion that the protest needed to be raised before the NSC boat crossed the finishing line and I was merely trying to say that couldn't always be possible. 

Jolene, I think you're getting there.

Just to recap:

You want to use Mark H as an inner distance mark, without making it an obstruction.

Presumably you want the same to apply for both starting and finishing.

EDIT, AFTER SLEEPING ON IT

You also want to prohibit boats from sailing between Mark H and the Starting Box thus obscuring the race officers view of boats starting or finishing.  This applies all the time while boats are still racing.

You have suggested the following

Yachts must keep west of H Mark from the first warning signal until all yachts have finished’.

This has some problems:  it's defining a North - South line.  Boats won't be able to take a dig in towards the beach at the Beaconsfield, or in towards St Kilda Beach or Pt Ormond, nor to sail into the Marina behind and to the East of the breakwater.

How about:

Boats shall not pass between Mark H and the Tower from the first warning signal until all yachts have finished’.

The line between the Tower and Mark H is not an obstruction.
 
Boats that do not pass between Mark H and Mark A when starting shall be scored OCS.

Boats that do not pass between Mark H and Mark A when finishing shall be scored DNF.

Obviously the Glossary for Starting Line will also need surgery.

And I know you're a Yacht Squadron, but the things we race under the RRS are called 'boats'. But maybe that's a change too far for now.

You need to be aware of  Case 58

I think the OCS/DNF without a hearing SI will deal with this.

Has anybody got any more or different ideas?

I have just watched the Women's regatta on mastabeam. Fantastic.

I see the dropbox in the form for "AI Involvement" now and hadn't noticed it earlier.  Thanks for pointing it out!

See discussion above.

Hitting an anchored boat may found a claim for damages, but does not break any IRPCAS rule.

Hitting a dock or pier, the same.