"And I must say, for a Worlds why couldn't they find better marks."

Thanks Rick, I had no absolutely doubt about that, hence my comment about the "invisible flag."

While it is generally preferred, there is absolutely no "requirement" in the RRS to remove the original mark (I haven't seen the SIs for this event to see if that was modified). To the contrary, there are situations, such as at regattas with multiple flights (starts), when you must have both marks in the water.

May not be the case at this event, but when the weather mark is a totally different color than the change mark (often a different shape to boot), it drives me completely insane to hear people complain about not understanding what to do when the mark is moved. (If the marks are similar, that's another story.)

It's so simple it's ridiculous: if Charlie is up, go to the other mark.

Now, having said all of that, most of the sailors that I've seen complain aren't usually the ones in the top 10 at big events (I'm sure that's no coincidence). Normally, if a top 10 guy goofs, he blames himself and picks off the boats he lost.

Mike

EDIT: Hard to say without being there of course, but it may have been better in this case to leave the original mark in the water, record who rounded where, and prepare to deal with it ashore.