Section 8.3 paragraph 4 : '...may do so for a technical pitstop, having obtained the approval of RM...' So, generally it is an exclusion zone.

PS in response to Ed's comment - AIS doesn't tell you if a boat is racing or not.  

John re: "I can't believe that anyone reading Case 78 would remain in any doubt. Was there some more background?"

Nope. Just thought others might benefit from considering the questions for themselves and reading the answers/opinions of others.  

Correct.  Discards are just that - discarded. So for e.g in a 4 race series with 3 to count a boat with scores of 1, 1, 3, 25 is tied with one on 1, 1, 3, 4 - at which point A8.2 comes into play and the latter boat wins. 

Perhaps you can give us more context to explain any confusion? 

Gordon - while you might not like the term 'unbreaking', I would argue that it is appropriate.  When a ROW boat alters course and is no longer giving the KC boat room to keep clear, she has broken rule 16.1 at that moment.  That is what the words of the rule say.  However, if the ROW boat continues to change her course and later is giving the KC boat room to keep clear then we say that she has met her obligations overall.  The rule was 'broken' and then 'unbroken'.