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Which way to cross finish line where course altered by land?
Suppose you have a finish line, and the prior mark is on the opposite side of some land. If the land is ignored, the direction to cross the line would be North to South, BUT the land alters the direction a boat must sail, so the natural crossing would be South to North.
My view is that the latter is the correct way to finish, but I am being challenged on this and would welcome your views.
EDIT UPDATE. Of course, as soon as I posted this I finally read the revised case 145 which states in part "the imaginary string is only influenced, constrained or ‘caught’ by the marks that begin, bound or end each leg of the course established and described by the race committee. Islands, headlands, shallow water or other non-navigable water do not influence, constrain or ‘catch’ the taut string."
That seems to close the question, so now we get to the question of how to fix this (to my view) inane ruling. Sailing instructions should perhaps state "A boat shall not sail over land on any leg of the course". The problem would plague not only a finish line question but also creating a need to circle some marks where the "string" has been moved away from the course.
Here are two alternate views of the same course from mark RBAY to the finish.
The finish is crossed from the course side. The course side in your scenario is different than the direction from the last mark due to the land. Am I missing something in the rules that defines that the finish is directly from the previous mark?
What about this one? The standard course for the Azores and back race (1170 nautical miles, Falmouth, UK, to Ponto Delgada on the south side of Sao Miguel in the Azores) allows boats to choose which way round the island to go to finish (crossing the line from south to north), and the reverse to start the return leg, crossing the line from north to south and then choosing whether to turn left or right. As you can see from the image of the 2023 start, different boats had different opinions as to which was better! I don't recall how the course was described in the sailing instructions.
You don't show how they set the other end of the finish line. Did they set it perpendicular to the course from BV to the finish, which would be parallel to the course from RBAY to the finish, or did they set it perpendicular to the course from RBAY to the finish line, which would be parallel to the course from BV to the finish? Until you know how they set the line, you can't tell how the racers should cross it. But purposefully setting the line in a way that defies common sense based on an interpretation of a WS Case seems to be very poor RC procedure.
