Word: saile
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...English club, the consequence of a five-bob (70?) wager between a balding ex-commando and a bespectacled manufacturer of pocket maps. The wager made, War Hero H. G. ("Blondie") Hasler and Mapmaker Francis Chichester approached the prestigious Royal Western Yacht Club for official sanction. Their casual proposition: to sail the perilous Atlantic, from Plymouth to New York, into the teeth of the prevailing westerlies -one lone man to a boat...
...first glance, Finisterre should sail like a washtub. Traditionally, the rulers of the sea have been rakish racing machines of 60 ft. or more with deep, stabilizing keels. But the 38-ft. 8-in. Finisterre, plump as a pigeon, is built for the good life. With only a vestigial keel, she relies on a retractable centerboard to keep her steady in the water. Below decks she is as roomy as any family cruiser, is loaded down with such superfluous gear as an ice-making machine, a hi-fi set and a second head. Even so, the heavy Finisterre drives well...
...Cory Cramer, a New Haven prep school history teacher, are not only fine navigators but can also turn a neat trick at the wheel. Dick Bertram, a Miami yacht broker, and Bobby Symonette, operator of a yacht basin in the Bahamas, are famed as helmsmen but are also skilled sail handlers. Mel Gutman, the boat's only hired hand, can tackle any job from cockpit to foredeck...
...think of lounging about during off-hours; each man dons eyeshade and earplugs and hits the sack for some serious sleep. In action, the crew spots trouble so swiftly that Mitchell seldom gives an order. As easily as lowering or raising a window shade, the men can change a sail in 15 seconds or less. Says a blue-water veteran who once shipped aboard Finisterre: "I felt like the village idiot watching those guys work...
...race. Crewman Bunny Rigg, burly editor of the Skipper magazine, cracked slyly: "Don't bet against us." Few did. When the winds freshened to gale strength on the fifth day out, other boats were plagued with seasickness. But Finisterre's shipshape crew kept every possible inch of sail flying, whipped past far bigger boats laboring under storm rigs. "That blow came through like a buzz saw," said Mitchell later. "The boat was knifing out of the water and porpoising. It was wet below, but we had our hot meals on schedule...