I don't know about the rooster tail, but you can see the leeward tiller arm twitching as the skipper presumably jerks the windward one trying to get it to turn down. I can't correlate the skipper's arm movements to the leeward tiller movement but that may be because the resolution of the skipper just isn't that great in the video.

This is a whole lot of "arm-chair" skippering, but I agree that the release of the genny didn't help the rudders maintain traction. The main (particularly the traveler) did get eased but it wasn't enough or in concert with the genny. (but, I would personally have a hard time hanging onto the winch wraps with the genny if presented with the same scenario)

You can get a better sense for the tiller arrangement with this photo.



It was exceptionally impressive that the rig remained intact minus a few broken battens.