HistoryThe Wind Gods did not smile favorably on our racers this year, and as a result the first boat to finish took more than twenty-one days, and the last, over twenty-seven. The first slow period was within about 400 miles of the start and was so bad that one day the greatest distance traveled by any racer was only sixty miles, and this lasted for several days. Then there was another area below the equator that was as bad or worse. The race finally developed into two races, with NATOMA and BRAVURA having a boat-for-boat race and a fight for first-to-finish, and TINSLEY LIGHT and TENTATION having their own race and battling for third place. These two latter boats wound up sailing in totally different weather than the first two. If you can imagine it, the famous Trade Winds did stop blowing, so they had their own private dining match. TENTATION finally came in ahead of TINSLEY LIGHT and won third overall, with TINSLEY LIGHT as “Tail-end Charlie.”
By the way, TENTATION is a Carter 37, owned and skippered by Jean-Francois Lussan, of Papeete, who shipped her to Los Angeles in order to participate in the race. BRAVURA, the overall winner, is Irving Loube’s new Freers 48 that was launched only ten days before the starting gun. You all know Don Dalziel’s NATOMA that won first-to-finish honors and Hank Grandin’s TINSLEY LIGHT