Races generally are postponed or abandoned, the rrs does not recognise cancellation.
This would be an act or ommission for which redress may be available if the other criteria are met. 
The results, subject to this would stand. 

Assuming that there is no damage, injury or loss of life (in order to avoid discussion about corporate or individual liability etc)

Conducting a race in conditions contrary to the SI is an improper action by the race committee.

I think that the score of every boat that raced that has not come in first place has been made worse by not abandoning the race, and that there is no fault of her own on any of these boats.

If one of these boats requests redress she is entitled to redress and I think that the redress should be that the race is abandoned.

Arguably the score of all boats that did not race in the race has also been made worse, and not going out to race when the SI said there was to be no racing is not any fault of their own, so these boats are also entitled to redress.

If one of the boats that did not race on the day requests redress she is entitled to redress and I think  the redress should be that the race is abandoned.

The race committee could also abandon the race without any request for redress in accordance with RRS 32.1.

Consequences for the individual race officer would be a matter for the club concerned, taking into account all the circumstances.

Hmmm - the OP set-up of the question made this black and white.  Which makes it easy for John’s response to be so black and white. (Altho I think he means 32.1 not 27.3). What about when it isn’t so black and white?  Say a 25 knot limit and some boats think it was 26-27?

I think the answers so far given are looking only at the narrow consequences for results. The fuller answer is that if there is any damage or injury or particularly death as a result of the race being run when it should not have been, then just refer to the reports on the Lyme Bay disaster & the Sydney/Hobart race. The Club would be open to claims for damages; the Race Officer & Club Officers would be open to criminal charges of gross negligence manslaughter. Has the Club prepared risk assessments for club/event racing that for yachts, assesses in what wind conditions and for what size yachts racing should or should not be run? The first question that the Coroner/Police will look at is the risk assessment, so every club should prepare these. A race in force 9 for large (say 50ft +)  yachts may be ok, but 28 -30 ft max 4 or 5. It is all very well saying it is each skipper's responsibility to decide whether or not to race, but the Club & RO in particular have an over-riding responsibility as to whether it is safe to run the race or not. 

Also if the race was cancelled by Club instructions before the event, then it did not take place, so cannot be run under RRS anyway, so cannot be scored. What happened on the water was a personal decision by the RO to run a private event as he failed to comply with Club instructions. Unfortunately if there is a claim against the Club its only remedy is to join the RO to the action as he purported to run a race for the Club when in fact he was not doing so.

Hi Matt, nice to see you.  Of course RRS 32.1.  I've amended my OP.

Robin, I think the Lyme Bay and 1998 Sydney Hobart disasters have very limited relevance to the liability of sailing organising authorities or race officials.

Lyme Bay involved a canoeing activity by schoolchildren conducted under the direct supervision of instructors of a for-profit Outdoor Activities Centre, which was specifically on notice about unsafe practices, resulting in convictions of the proprietorship of the Centre for manslaughter.

In the Sydney Hobart 1998, as far as I can ascertain, there were never any criminal charges and no findings, or even any actions, for civil liability.  If there had been, they would have been absolutely seminal cases establishing civil law obligations of race officials.

Of course OA and race committees need to engage in appropriate detailed risk management processes, and at least in NSW, this requirement is formally imposed on sailing clubs by the  NSW MARINE SAFETY REGULATION 2016 EXEMPTION ORDER.

But the OP asked specifically about when there was a SI referring to a Gale Warning being in force, so the observed conditions are irrelevant.

Mmmmm, How did the sailors respond? Were there any aggrieved sailors, requests for redress? I'd have to see the the NOR and SI . 

The tone of John's question  worrried me a bit - the question about penalties for the PRO. Made me wonder if John Anderson is a disgruntled party.  Of course, some competitors might have seen the Gale Warning and didn't turn up to sail and were pissed off, cos ithey missed the opportunity to sail, or they missed gaining possible points in a series. But did the sailors complain? After all said and done, sailing is all about enjoyment, having fun.

In my home waters, clubs have a policy of not starting a race in winds over 25 Knots. This is keel boats on very protected river waters. Races are even postponed/abandoned on the day before race day on the basis of an unfriendly weather forcast. I don't sail much now, but it used to annoy me because I loved heavy weather, and how else could crew abtain heavy weather experience before going off-shore, if they can't get the experience before-hand on safe waters. I always thought it was stupid. Still do. I felt it had more to do with insurance issues for the OA than the safety of the participants. 

Another view from the heart..

I'd be very cautions about reading anything into this that is not in the Original Post. What we know:

1) The SI is reported to have said: "Races shall be cancelled for the day in the event of an official Gale Warning for the Region on the day of the race."

2) The OP also reports that a "Gale Warning of the Region" was in place.

Therefore, in my opinion, the Race Officer made a mistake and broke a rule in running the race and the race should be abandoned. The race could be abandoned by the Race Officer promptly when they first noticed the existence of the Gale Warning even after the finish, or by order of a Jury issuing a Redress decision based on the two items above.

Other comments about things that aren't in the Original Post lead to all sorts of issues that may or may not exist. (EG: What weather causes a "Gale Warning" to be posted. Is there liability exposure for the Race Officer and Organizing Authority.)

FYI: NOAA says that for the US this warning is issued "A warning alerts mariners that a significant or hazardous weather event is likely, imminent, or occurring, and is a threat to life and property." It goes on to say that a "Gale" is "Gale Warning: A warning of sustained surface winds, or frequent gusts, in the range of 34 knots (39 mph) to 47 knots (54 mph) inclusive, either predicted or occurring, and not directly associated with a tropical cyclone." (Sources: https://marinenavigation.noaa.gov/weather-warnings.html#:~:text=Gale%20Warning,Storm%20Watch and https://www.weather.gov/marine/faq#14)

Given we don't know the country the event was held in, we can't know the local definition of a "Gale Warning". Similarly, we know absolutely nothing about any liability or consequences for the Race Officer or Organizing Authority in the country in question, as these legal question vary across many countries.

One of the side issues here relates to the risk versus forecasts:

John Anderson, I'm not sure that all the detail in your post  Created: Today 18:00 is quite correct for Australian waters.

Firstly, as others have noted, your OP in this thread referred to a sailing instruction referring to a Gale Warning and a Gale Warning actually being in effect.  Actual conditions, or further forecasts are thus irrelevant to your original question.

The Australian BOM provides some absolutely brilliant material on their website. A handy starting point is http://www.bom.gov.au/marine/knowledge-centre/index.shtml

See http://www.bom.gov.au/marine/about/six-things-about-wind-warnings.shtml

Wind warnings including  Strong wind warning, Gale warning, Storm force wind warning, and Hurricane force wind warning may be issued for any Coastal Waters Forecast Area or Local Waters Forecast Area.

These areas for NSW are shown on this map http://www.bom.gov.au/nsw/forecasts/map.shtml

Coastal Waters Areas usually cover 60 to 100nm of coastline and extend for 60nm to seaward.  Local Waters Areas are areas such as bays, harbours and inland waters on which frequent boating activity occurs. In NSW this means Sydney Enclosed Waters, which includes Sydney Harbour, Botany Bay and Pittwater.

Coastal Waters Areas off the NSW coast are roughly speaking a 60nm square.

A Gale Warning or any other wind warning will be in effect when winds in any part of the forecast area are forecast to reach the relevant threshold (34 kts for Gale Force).  So it is correct to say that a Gale Warning may be in force for a particular area when the Gale Force winds are only forecast to be occurring in one corner of the area, while in the opposite corner, significantly different conditions may prevail.

Except where a racing area close to shore or in enclosed waters is actually sheltered by the lee of a landform, there is no reason why winds will be any stronger far offshore than nearer inshore.

If, for example there is a Gale Warning for Sydney Enclosed Waters then Gale force winds may be expected throughout that area.

If there was a Gale Warning for Sydney Coastal Waters, unless there was a very clear detailed forecast, say on MetEye, it would be extremely unwise to rely on the proposition that ' winds in inshore coastal areas [will] very rarely reach or exceed Gale force'.  A Gale Warning is a Gale Warning.

BOM positively undertakes to update a warning, once issued, every 6 hours after it becomes current:  http://www.bom.gov.au/marine/about/six-things-about-wind-warnings.shtml

The warning indicates the period covered. Marine Wind Warnings are issued as much as 42 hours in advance and are then updated every 6 hours. However, if conditions develop rapidly, warnings can be issued and updated at any time.

I have great difficulty understanding this statement.

A Gale Warning is a warning that, in a certain Forecast Area, winds are forecast to  average from 34 knots and up to 47 knots, during the currency of the warning, that is, from the time the warning becomes current until it is cancelled.

You're certainly entitled to your opinion.  In my opinion that statement is unduly prescriptive.  It might be a useful policy to adopt (and publish), if a club wanted to give competitors a degree of certainty about whether or not racing would take place, as would the other SI wordings you mentioned above.

This is a pretty brave statement and quite disrespectful of the highly professional services provided by the BOM.

BOM publishes reliability data:  http://www.bom.gov.au/inside/forecast-accuracy.shtml

87% of next day wind speed forecasts for Coastal Waters are within 5 knots.