and virtually certain to be DSQd....
It's a port starboard for cris sake!....
You are so far over the line ... all you can count on is that Starboard forgets to hail protest.

remember... Starboard does not have to wait and measure the cross in millimeters... He takes action and hails protest and you fail. He is the ROW boat.

"I know I could have made it.. had he just held his course" is a Fail. He was starboard. he is the ROW boat.
"It was soooo slooow that damage would be non existent...and I thought I had it...." Fail
He has no interest in trusting your mental calculations... or your risk reward calculation... or your opinion on love taps .... He is starboard and has right of way. What Port thinks about the cross is irrelevant... Starboard has right of way and will Hail Protest when he judges that the line has been crossed... He will win. it's a port starboard and ROW is fundamental to the game.

Now... if you want to come back and say... well... in this fleet.... we give you (and we count on) the gentleman's wiggle... That is another conversation....(Jake is not making this argument) full of lots of problems.. Notice that the the top of the sport that the GPS systems of the AC45's have eliminated all of this crap... there is no question about the facts and so the racers adjusted and just go racing.... We don't have the gps gear... we have the rules to fall back on to make the game safe and competitive.

Once again... I think these rule discussion veer off into areas that are destructive to the game...
Starboard has ROW ... period.

Eric wears the Judge hat very well... He is not opining on your risk reward calculation.. So... please don't read how he determines and judges the facts and applies the rules as POSITIVE ADVICE...

When he goes racing ... he races as a competitor and not as a judge... He respects the intent of the RRS... Starboard has ROW. He sails clean and tries not to let his emotional attachment to making the cross on that SOB effect his judgment on the stick. But, I am sure he has been caught, like all of us, ...does his turn, AND then he resets the mental line for himself on these situations and races on.

Starboard has ROW.... ROW means A LOT in this game. Starboard makes the call.

Jake, the crossing is not being refereed... This is not the last play of the superbowl... there is no third party judge on the water... Starbord just has to have a reasonable doubt and he will and should call protest... The judgement you make is based on the physics and the mindset of the starbord boat. THIS is racing.