I would rather have fun while racing, then meet you at the keg post race and talk about the race, not argue in the jury room.
Actually, match races are umpired. Penalties are levied on the water. Protests that require a hearing are unusual, and much less common than in fleet racing.
I wonder how that ruling helps to stop future collisions, the judges must have said oh black tricked yellow by giving some room therefore it was okay for yellow to continue on port, even though if yellow had tacked early enough black would have held it's line on starboard and no collision.
When a right-of-way boat changes course, she must give the other boat room to keep clear. See RRS 16.1.
If Yellow wanted to go to the left side of the course, then she could have tacked when Blue (with the black sail) luffed up. Since she didn't, I presume Yellow wanted to go right. When Blue turned head-to-wind, Yellow was free to continue on her course (and she did). When Blue turned back down, she was bound by RRS 16.1 to give Yellow "room to keep clear" (which in match-racing interpretation means Yellow must do everything reasonably possible to avoid Blue). At that point, it's a judgement call by the umpire(s). If Yellow does everything she can to avoid Blue but still makes contact, then Blue breaks rule 16.1. I presume that's what the umpire(s) determined.
If Blue wanted to go right, then she could have held her course (or altered course/speed only enough) to force Yellow to tack. Then Blue could tack and go right. If Blue wanted to go left, then she could have either pinched up to cross Yellow with speed, or altered course/speed to force Yellow to take a bigger duck (and then accelerated to the left).
Instead, Blue luffed up early, freeing Yellow of the need to tack (or duck) to keep clear. When Blue turned back down, she did not give Yellow the opportunity to keep clear. Had Blue luffed up later, or turned down earlier (thereby giving Yellow room) then the encounter might have gone the other way.
No rule requires one boat to anticipate what the other boat might do. This boils down to "did yellow react fast enough" to how black physically presented his boat to him.
I'd argue that some of the rules do require a boat to anticipate what another boat may do, but those rules do not apply here. In this case, I believe you are correct.
I hope that helps,
Eric
