Second, when I say "I don't care what the rules say" I mean it in the context of the rest of my post.
"I don't care if the rule says you can do it, you left me no recourse and you caused me to flip, you did it on purpose and I think you're an a-hole on account of it."
I strongly disagree that causing your competitor to flip is within the bounds of good sportsmanship and the spirit of yacht racing. If it is, then I'm in the wrong sport and peace out. This aint no nascar.
Maybe I'm just a big fat baby then.
Then again, the rules are supposedly written to prevent this sort of thing from happening.
If you are on the last lap of a race. You are heading for the bottom mark (flying your spinnaker), with a beat still to go. You know if you get to the bottom mark first, you can hold the other cat off to the finish. He is to windward of you, has just picked up a gust, is bearing off, and is coming down on you quite fast and will take your wind roll over the top of you and get to the mark ahead of you.
You will not try to luff him up
He knows the rules. If he puts himself in that position to try and win the race - that's his problem.
I am sure that the guys who will be racing against you this season will now know that they can chance a few dodgy moves on you because you will not defend yourself
