First of all the I20 guy in your story doesn't sound like a nice guy. Second he isn't necessarily in the right. The situation may not be as cut and dry as port starboard. It is true that the port tack upwind boat is obligated to anticipate that the boat rounding the mark will bear away. However it's often the case that as soon as that spinnaker fills you need to do a bit of an extra bear away to stay in control (or head up to fly the hull). This happens after what can be called the rounding. I think this would be the case if the angle you set the spinnaker at was different from your angle after the spinnaker went up, which is often the case. If this is the case the starboard boat may be changing course in a way that inhibits the port tack boat from keeping clear. This would not be legal. I'm not saying this was exactly what happened but I am saying it's not a cut and dry situation. If I was on the protest committee and realized that the port tack boat was trying to keep clear and could not I would have serious questions for the starboard tack boat. At any rate the I20 sailor made an error that slowed them down. Sometimes it doesn't matter if you are right or wrong.

As far as spinnaker boats not being able to head up in a windward leeward situation, the answer is tough luck. You need to head up and if that causes you to flip then flip you must. This is often a **** young Tornado sailor's initiation into the big leagues and it's perfectly legal. Ask Johnny and Charlie to tell you about their incident with Chris Dickson. It's a funny story. You can hope for sympathy from your competitors but by the rules you are obligated to not get that close to a leeward boat.