Hi Bob
You've saved me some homework as I was wondering about last Sundays situation. At the time there were five different Class starts so like I said earlier the committee boat looked like a washing line with pink, orange, yellow (not the I flag, I double checked that) light blue, navy or faded black flags flying what seemed like continuously. And to be fair to the PRO and her crew of volunteers they did an excellent job. I was a visitor at this event so not having been issued with the SI's when entering didn't have a clue what our Class flag was so was a bit of a sheep. This didn't help during the third race because the Class which should have started 5 mins before us were all 3 mins late, hence Wayne and I were miles away from the start which resulted in a general recall, Wayne and I were also very relieved on hearing the double sound signal. However, I'm not sure if a black flag was flown as the PRO was very helpful with her advice. When I started a minute too early she very politely told me I was on the course side of the line and this happened again just 50secs later when again I was OCS. After going around the Committee boat and started on my third attempt I commented on my disastrous start and they just acknowledged me some jovial comment which certainly didn't include disqualification. In fact I think they were just happy to see the back of me.
Had the Black Flag been flying then I'm sure with the level of competence they appeared to have the relevant sail numbers would have been noted and further action taken.