Sailing down the fleet

Can you imagine a motor race where a driver allows everyone else to go past, but swerves around at 20 mph in front of the car which needed to beat him to win the race?

Mind, in motor racing they seem to think it is OK to ram cars off the road.

Tennis is difficult because you only have to beat the person in front of you - there is no one else there to win instead.

In cricket, I seem to remember an incident where the odd run or2 was needed off the last ball, so the bowler bowled underarm along the ground to stop it being hit. Roundly condemned as being unfair play. All your examples are cases of trying hard to win.

How is a tackle the same? Again, no other teams out on the pitch, so difficult to see a parallel.

I agree with Brass - sledging is different from sailing someone down the fleet. Sledging IMHO breaks RRS2.

As long as the boats are of the same class and both are competing in the same race series, sSailing someone down the fleet is OK - very similar to croquet (and no that is not my background;-) )

I've no idea how to phrase a rule that allows covering but has a limit on it.

theres nothing wrong with the act of sailing someone down a fleet if you have the skillset to do it IMHO. 

The whole medal race system at world level seems to encourage this, which must be the opposite of what was intended. To me, it makes the sport look terrible to outside eyes - the boat in first place sails the boat in 2nd to the back of the fleet in order to ensure he doesn't get enough points to beat him over all - never mind that they come last and 2nd to last in the "medal race". Yes, I can see that it is in the rules, and yes, I can see that from a racing point of view it makes perfect sense, and no, I've no idea how to phrase a rule that allows covering but has a limit on it.