Would anything have been different if the traveler stayed centered (or almost centered) and the main was dumped? I've always been taught that creating that "twist" is going to depower on a reach more effectively. Going on memory, the NF18 that saved the pictchpole looked to have the car centered or almost centered. Also notice the force of the mast moving forward on the NAF18 sequence and creating a very loose forestay (jib is bagged up). I've known that this happens, but have not seen such a dramatic capture of the effect of pitchpoling on the jib.

Obviously, no amount of depowering helps in certain wind ranges.