So the crew who has right of way will itself be penalized if there is damage and they will not be rewarded a redress when there is no damage.

And on top of that the crew that was fouled also needs to make a effort to file their protest in time, only to see it thrown out because the fouling crew did a 360.

Like I said, the current racing rules favour crews that foul in many situations. Most often because it is so hard to proof anything and get a succesful protest filed.

Best course of action in this case is to still put the fouling crew into hospital and sink their boat.

Why ?

Because then the fouling crew will have gained nothing by intentional fouling you, something that will likely happen if you let it pass. And the fouling will know exactly why they deserved all the pain and suffering and will do so for the rest of their lives. Much better then looking them up on the beach later which will only give ISAF more reason to punish the crew who actually did nothing wrong.

Just say you never saw him coming and continue to deny all accusations as the other side won't be able to proof the contrary.

Sure, your event is wrecked, but so too is theirs ! Hopefully (for them) they still have enough braincells left to remember that the next time when they consider playing chicken again. And lets not forget that you set an example to all the other crews out there as well and they will think ten times before trying a similar trick. You throw one event but get plenty of room in all future events when you have right of way. So in the end you gain and the other looses.

Like I wrote earlier, I hate to say this but it really does seems the only course of action today and at this level of competition.

It is certainly one reason why I wouldn't want to race at this level even if I had the skills to do so.

Wouter