Mark, you're asking questions that I cannot answer because I was not there.
As far as I know, a sailor can initiate an equipment protest at any time.
I think an inquiry can be as simple as someone walking up and asking a question. The word does not exist in RRS. Perhaps the SIs?
This situation was basically caused by the measurers originally missing the breach when they certified the boats during registration. The fact that they discussed it amongst themselves on Monday, rather than file a report with the RC (who would then have protested on Monday), only compounded things.
Speculation: More than likely, they took it upon themselves (perhaps with some discussion with the RO or IJ, who knows?), to trust that the sailors in question were not intentionally cheating, and hoped the whole thing would go away and not taint the event.
This was further compounded by the timing of the inquiry from a sailor (on Thursday), which was unfortunate, to say the least, because it left no good options.
For a moment, put yourself in the position of the RO or IJ...
I would say that no one really wants to toss a boat at the end of a regatta, unless the violation is so blatant that a major performance advantage is gained, and/or sportsmanship is in question.
