KW,
Weither you calculate time or distance doesn't matter.
It is all relative.
If you raced more, you would see many close finishes.
YOUR own thread "news flash; this must have been nail biting !" showed two f16s finishing within 15 seconds of each other after one (1) hour and fifty-five(55) minutes.
That is 15/6900 = 0.22%

I won a race at the Tommy Whiteside Regatta by covering the boat behind me.
He could have bumped into my rudders at the finish.
The third and fourth place boats finished witin thirty seconds of us.

At the 2003 Hobie Tiger & 20 Continentals, I was working on the Race Committee boat and I saw seven (7) boats finish within thirty seconds in light air race.

I have been in and seen many boats finish with a boatlength of each other and calculated many finishes with boats within a minute of each other.

Your dismissing a 1.0% advantage is disingenuous and shows a lack of racing knowledge.