You are correct, it was prior to the start. With the crowd of boats at the committee end of the line, it was kind of messy. The air was already screwed up (and light), and there was enough chop to keep me guessing about boat speed...

I also think that the stalled boat in front of me may have been drifting backwards, but it was pretty confusing there in those 10 seconds before the start. I had to drop down (or slam on the brakes somehow - boatspeed was probably 2 kts) if I didn't want to get my bow in between the sterns of the font boat (and bean the skipper with my own snuffer)

In this example, if the lead boat were going backwards, does that still make me the overtaking boat? It would only be going backwards if it were in irons, so I think I would have to give it rights in that case. Am I off base on that?