See...you probably slowed down before you pitchpoled...if you were going faster you would have been thrown clear! (that's my theory anyway). I had dilegently checked the bow clearance before requesting the crew join me on the wire after round A mark for C in Charleston, SC. As soon as he popped out, we received a monster gust and pitchpoled my 6.0 so hard that the boat shot straight down and popped up backwards like a cork. As the boat was driving into the water and came to a screaching hault, my crew and I were skipping across the water out in front of the boat. The boat launched well clear of the water and landed about 12 feet downwind of where we pitchpoled. I do remember thinking how strange it was that I had to swim 10 feet downwind to get to the tip of the mast. Later that evening, the guy driving the RC boat poured me a beer and told me what happened and that it was the most spectacular thing he had ever seen! We were not being terribly serious during this race but the the gust really did catch us by surprise.

Disclamer: Don't try this at home.