bayflite,
Good that you caught this, and you have reason to be upset...but I am certain Chris would not have ignored this issue had it been brought to him before race day.
I'm not involved with this event, however I would like to believe this was an unintentional error. I am sure Chris Moore and others involved are trying to do a good job and promote acceptable race standards. I sent a PM to Chris over a week ago with some suggestions/concerns and he immediately adopted and coordinated as appropriate.
It is too bad this was not caught earlier. Perhaps next time these notices should be generated much earlier so people can proof-read and catch the inevitable gaff. I am sure it's a bit embarassing to have let this slip thru the cracks, but nobody is perfect - and thankfully there was probably no harm done today since the race probably never happened.
While it's pretty obvious why you are upset and that it is commonly unacceptable to rip thru the swim zone it's hard to enforce this sort of thing on a massive downwinder...
unless you set up some specific turning marks that require all riders to head off-shore a bit to put some gauge between the race course and shoreline. If people round the proper marks and try to return close to shore they would surely lose the race by sailing a longer course...but then you also have to station an observer to verify everyone rounding properly...tough to do in heavy air and seas. So it will still probably boil down to individual integrity to some degree. But sending the fleet offshore a ways might make it obvious who is not racing the proper course, which would result in DQ.
(don't taze me bro!
)
hopefully we have some better wind tomorrow
cheers