When Sailing Turns Deadly

28. maj 2012

Offentligtgjort af New York Times Boating

Klik her for at komme til artiklen hos New York Times Boating

Landlubbers might be forgiven for wondering if sailboat racing, seemingly such a genteel and boring pastime, hasn't turned into a rich man's version of Indy car racing.
A HIGHLIGHT of the New England yachting calendar is an immensely popular sailboat race called the Figawi. Ted Kennedy used to love to participate. The race, which began in 1972, takes place over Memorial Day weekend and typically attracts more than 200 boats, which sail from Hyannis Port to Nantucket, roughly 30 miles across Nantucket Sound. As sailboat races go, the Figawi is not particularly long or arduous: the fastest boats complete the course in just a couple of hours. But there are squalls sometimes, and you never know when the fog will blow in on the southwest breeze. It's not impossible to go aground off Nantucket. The race gets its name, according to legend, from a couple of hapless sailors who once missed the island entirely and called out to a passing fisherman asking where on earth they were - or words to that effect.