No way - or at least not often in the instances I have seen collisions and protest in these situations. The aggressive tactics come from the port tackers who use ambiguity in the rule to push situations. Your behind but you might win in the protest room.

A boat has to provide opportunity to avoid, they do not have to provide opportunity for the other boat to do whatever they want. In my view the lead boat accomplished their tack and was sailing. I do not agree there was a broken rule then because GE appeared to have both time and room to accomplish their own tack, but they did not, they forced a protest and lost their boat for a few days. The still could have tacked and protested, but it is a lot more visual to the judge boats to try a spectacular bear away.

The judgment call comes from how much room is required to be clear ahead for a maneuver. In the crappy video shot, it appeared to me to be enough. Eric and the judges saw it as not enough. As the lead boat was on or even past the lay line there was also then plenty of opportunity for GE to realize a tack was coming – not part of the rule, but something that should be considered in the decision of determining that all was done to avoid a collision.