Well put, Jake.

Probably the main reason that the preamble is written that way is to give the RC / jury some way to maintain control over someone being a complete idiot (deliberately ramming someone). Of course, you really can't control that, and you would then be in 69-land, but I can't think of any other reason to penalize a boat (in terms of scoring) for hitting another boat between races unless it was deliberate.

Mike