In a dinghy race governed by Appendix P the wind speed is in the range 2-6 kts and averages 5kts. A downwind leg is 0.25 NM long and the boats take 15 minutes to sail it with an average boat speed of 1kt. At the start of the leg, a boat is observed to roll due to an athwartship movement of the crew. The roll is not immediately repeated. Five minutes later the boat is observed to make another crew-induced roll which is not immediately repeated. Five minutes later the same thing happens. Five minutes after that, just before the leeward mark the same thing happens again. Did the boat break Rule 42.2(b)(1)? If so, at what point along the leg did the breach occur? How should the observers interpret the phrase repeated more than once in the same area of the leg to decide whether to give a yellow flag penalty under Rule P1.2?
Was there any other reason for the crew's movement?
Was the roll associated with anything else : wave, wash, gust
I had a similar incident in an SB20 event. Every so often, a crew would stand up, let the boat heel and then bring the boat back up to normal sailing angle.
We penalised on the 3rd time.
I personally would not consider single actions that were 5 minutes apart and at different places down the leg to be repeated more than once in the same area of the leg. I therefore would not yellow flag such actions unless any one of them individually broke Rule 42. (But I would flag any one of them if I considered that they contravened BASIC 4 or ROCK 5).
The rolls did not clearly propel the boat.
There was no other reason for the crew movement.
No wash or waves, just flat water and less than 5kts of wind.