Great reminder Eric!

I sum it up as... Sailing is a game where you HONOR the rules... IE... you call the foul on yourself.

You get three bites at the apple to take a penalty.
Call the Penalty on yourself and take it as you point out.
Listen to the call PROTEST and Reconsider taking the penalty and finally, before you walk into the protest hearing choose to Retire. The responsibility is on you..

Golf is the only other game with a similar honor code that I can think of.