I've read the '09-'12 rules and it seems to me that we were just sunk. I don't think boat B owed us anything. The Mark Room rights gained by entering the zone with overlap looks like it evaporates when either one of us tacks. Then it becomes room and opportunity to tack (which we wouldn't be able to give since we were so close) and port / starboard. His proper course was to tack for A-mark but him tacking just short of the mark is a reasonable "proper course" expectation. I think we should have started working on an exit at the point we realized we weren't going to make the mark.

Could we have luffed him into oblivion before we reached A and make him uncomfortable to the point that he would have to tack? It may have taken us both down by letting the traffic behind catch us AT the mark - so probably not a maneuver I would have tried in that instance...but it may be a thought. Can I tack under and inside another boat and proceed to luff him inside the zone since neither of us are fetching the mark? I can't say that this has ever been a real possibility on a cat because you usually get rolled right away when you tack under someone.