40 seconds is an eternity to sailboats going 4kts. In cars and on bikes, we make split-second decisions all the time.
Also, 10kts is the kind of breeze where turning is easier, boat speed is relatively consistent, there's no panic because it's not yet windy, and it's not so light that you're going to lose steerage.
Lastly, a IMO a starboard boat cannot reasonably protest in a situation like this without being within a percentage of a boat length. Maybe it's 1/2 boatlength in big swell or swirling conditions, but it's probably 1/8th boatlength or less in champagne conditions IMO.

IMO, 10 seconds is plenty of time in most boats, and I might even argue 3-5 seconds is more reasonable in many boats. In bigger boats, the complexity grows, (as do the targets) but the boat must be crewed reasonably well, including being prepared for evasive maneuvers in a close situation.

As Calum notes, communication from both sides would be preferred here (even though it is not required). A hail of "Starboard" at 40-80 meters is useful. A hail of "I see you" at 30-70 meters (or in response) is also useful for assuaging the fears of the starboard boat.

The WASZP rule 42 guidelines are interesting, but seem to be pretty difficult to enforce; I do believe that it is the class prerogative to determine the best way to address rule 42 for these kinds of boats.  In general, the answer is probably to not hold events for foiling classes in non-foiling conditions; sailors on foiling boats generally don't want to race if they aren't on foil anyway.  For the wingfoils specifically, pumping includes the foil and the sail together, and is a generally accepted practice as written in Appendix WS.

The world sailing judges manual changes on improper act or ommission in each version, each seeming giving judges more room for interpretation. Just track the change next time, it may be what gordon and i may expect.
The old bad race management hidden behind the word may not shall,, may not be tolerated.
A time of change perhaps! I believe for the better if we are to improve standards and improve the sport.

To me once a boat had done a 44.2 set of turns, they have not initially finished and there can be no other score but the last finish.

Other rule breaches are something else which really should be protested by boats.

There is no reason for a rc to act if they score the finish after the turns.

John,

Very interesting question. To shed some light on the question of whether someone goes faster by flattening the boat than "otherwise", here's a video of an ILCA acceleration with actual speeds in the top right. I'd suggest on focusing on the footage from 02:10 to 02:30. (I'm the guy in the video.)

Here are my observations of this video:

Without the speed chart, I could see you claim (in good faith!) that at 02:14, I'm committing a prohibited ROCK 4 to propel (accelerate) the boat faster. But in fact, the boat slows.

Meanwhile, the "single action of the body that clearly propels the boat" is hiking parallel to the water. I doubt anyone here would claim that hiking hard would be considered a ROCK 4, but the data show it's propelling (accelerating) the boat.

Curious to hear your thoughts.

Addendum: in case anyone's curious about the data source, it's a GoPro Hero 13 Black, with GPS position sampling at 10 Hertz (10 latitude/longitude readings per second).