Rules World Sailing Case Book
  1. If specified in the notice of race or sailing instructions, a boat takes a Scoring Penalty by displaying a yellow flag at the first reasoable opportunity after the incident.
  2. When a boat has taken a Scoring Penalty, she shall keep the yellow flag displayed until finishing and call the race committee's attention to it at the finishing line. At that time she shall also inform the race committee of the identity of the other boat involved in the incident. If this is impracticable, she shall do so at the first reasonable opportunity and withing the protest time limit.
  3. The race score for a boat that takes a Scoring Penalty shall be the score she would have received without that penalty, made worse by the number of places points in the notice of race or sailing instructions. When the number of points is not stated, the penalty shall be 20% of the score for Did Not Finish, rounded to the nearest tenth of a point (0.05 rounded upward). The scores of other boats shall not be changed; therefor, two boats may receive the same score. However, the penalty shall not cause the boat's score to be worse than the score of Did Not Finish.