As far as I personally am concerned, I think that not going around any of those required marks should mean disqualification from the race, regardless of whether the reason for shortcutting is ignorance or arrogance.

Until this year, there was only one required mark in the Key Largo Steeplechase, and that was at the Key Largo Sheraton. We always had spotters at the hotel to make sure all the boats rounded it. If a boat skipped it, that boat would be disqualified from the race. And that mark was just required for publicity purposes for one of the race sponsors.

A required mark is a required mark, no matter what the reason. It should not be something that can get off with a time penalty. There is no way to assess a penalty for something like that in advance in the rules, and anything assessed after the fact is going to be arbitrary, and unfair to others in the race.

Disqualification is the only proper verdict, and it should be in the rules. But that's just me, and I am old school, from the years that when you hit a mark, and nobody saw you, you dropped out of that race and requested a DSQ.