I've been trying to reply to this thread since it first started but my failing eyesight has prevented me from logging in past that code that prevents spammers et el.
We must recognize that a water landing has some probability of a tail strike and TGB breakage due to the landing, and not as a cause of the ditch.
I think the fact that the horizontal stab was still in place, demonstrates the tail rotor probably would not have touched aqua (if still attached) unless the pilot was hovering and then slowly backed the helicopter into the harbour.
