When bad shifts happen, the RC has four basic options (all valid, this shows up on NRO exams, and you are expected to list the pros and cons of each):

Abandon

Shorten

Change

Do Nothing

The last one often eludes people, partly because it isn't in the rule book, and partly because sometimes it's tempting to do whatever you can to try to fix everything.

However, sometimes, trying to fix a bad situation only makes it worse. This is especially true with multiple fleets, handicap races, unprepared mark boats ("We don't need all of those flags on every boat"), etc.

Mike