Duncan, 
not seeking redress, it was a beer can, doubt it was enough to change the 4 min gap outcome in my fleet, but was damn frustrating to lose all that momentum. Not worried about winning protest per se, this is to make the overt point that if you intentionally gybe in front of a 10 ton boat in light air, you deserve to be crushed.

Rather than sink the bastard, I'll settle for his DSQ and humiliation. 

Our likely PC chair is the guy who did the jibeset.net database, and has an interest in such stuff, so I have already sent an annotated log file to all parties as "evidence" that I wish to bring in

His counter protest is that I didn't hail or post flag "promptly", which is easily refutable, as I have a LOUD voice, and my log file will show > 20 seconds of maximum rudder both sides to avoid and resume course which would be a means of establishing when a "reasonable opportunity" period was starting. Enough people witnessed my "Moby Dick" imitation when I hung my scarlet shirt in the mizzen rigging and completed the leg shirtless. 


FWIW.
This is part of the reason I am also looking at getting a Garmin VIRB as a Dashcam, and looking into using VLC to display it, time lapse video adds a certain credibility. 
 
to make it even easier, if our esteemed author noodled up a timestamp interface, then one could have a single point of control to replay the synched log/chart and video windows. That could be pretty convincing.   

Ben, the shirt is flamboyant red, and was "flown conspicuously at first reasonable opportunity" per 61.1.A

Whether a shirt can be a flag is another discussion. I don't sail beer cans expecting to protest, with a code B pre positioned under a shroud on my rig, as is common in some OD fleets.

I searched current case book but could not find specifics on what flag or conspicuous means.  As we are a Yawl, the main backstay is not as distinct a location as on a sloop. I used starboard mizzen forward shroud

I recall in years gone by the size of the flag needed to be reasonable for the boat, as with burgers and ensigns.

For a 12 m boat, a 2XL shirt nearly a meter long, seems a sensible size.  The RYA inch of fly per foot of length rule for ensigns.

See Ussailing appeal 66:
" the strip of red cloth qualifed as a protest  flag in the context of rule 61.1(a) because it was a red  flag. However, rule 61.1(a) also requires a boat to “conspicuously display” the protest  flag.  is requirement is necessary to inform other boats in the race, as well as the boat to be protested, that a boat intends to protest.
The phrase “conspicuously display” must be interpreted in the context of the size of the boat displaying the  flag . An object that is conspicuous is not merely visible; it “catches one’s eye or a ention” or is “obvious to the eye or mind” (dictionary references). Whether the  ag is displayed conspicuously depends on a number of considerations, such as the place on the boat from which the  ag is displayed, its proximity to other objects of the same or a similar color, and the size of the  ag in relation to the size of the boat. On a 40-foot boat a 2 inch by 8 inch  ag is too small to be conspicuous. In this case, the  flag’s proportions also detracted from the conspicuousness of its display"

As noted shirt met the 1" per foot of length guide.

Ben,

Been there, seen that. The results of protest won't change standings in any case.

Will go find my "B" flag and bend on the hoist for the next race.