Mike,

This was way back when "mast abeam" still existed and tacking too close/room and opportunity didn't exist yet in the RRS's. And the wind was maybe 10-12 knots ... just short of trapping for us ... but hiked out w/ the footstraps ... (I was +220 lbs at the time and my crew was 180-190 lbs ...)

The H-18 that protested me rounded the leeward mark first, went low ... followed by two H16's "C" Fleeters then me quickly on my H-18 ... maybe there was a wind shift cause we came around and point up maybe 10-15 degrees higher immediately ... the two H16's didn't get rolling/going quickly as they got into a pinching contest ... I was trying to get "mast abeam" and roll them ... and was there ... when the other H-18 tacked and came "hunting" us on starboard ... I couldn't duck ... the angle just wasn't there to duck ... I would have accelerated too much and still wouldn't have cleared him ... and I couldn't tack away w/o hitting the H16 only a few feet to my Port .... I was the "meat" in the sandwich ... all I could do was go straight as fast as I could ... and I tried ... the H-18 hunting us never eased his mainsheet and hit my rudder ... and then informed me that he was going to protested me "After" we crossed the finish-line (this happened at the last rounding/on the beat to the finish ...) No hail any where near the collision ...

I was placed in a "no-win" situation ...tack onto starboard and hit the H-16 or be hit by the H16 ... go straight and try and clear ... but the other H-18 hunted us and under the rules at the time had no obligation to avoid the collision ... and he didn't ... remember at the time you needed to hit someone to prove that it was too close and win the protest ... and that's what he did ...

... and as I've always said ... on a H-18, right or wrong, he or does the hitting gets a hole in his boat ... and that's what happened ... and on a H-18 that's the main reason why you avoid a collison at all costs ... self-preservation !!!