The annual Cutty Sark Tall Ships’ Race is high-seas adventure at its best.

The Robb Report, July 1999

Copyright 1999, Dale Leatherman

    Wordsworth wrote of a "sea that bares her bosom to the moon; The winds that will be howling at all hours. . . .For this, for everything, we are out of tune."

    As the Dutch brigantine Swan fan Makkum plowed her way through waves that towered over her decks, 41 novice sailors and a few of the permanent crew felt decidedly "out of tune."

    With the ship’s deck on a 30-degree heel to port and subject to sudden rolls in any direction, most of those on board spent the evening on the floor of the main dining salon, having pulled cushions from the couches and accepted blankets passed out by the crew. The theory at work: you can’t fall if you’re already down.

    Throughout the night the sea continued to "bare her bosom to the moon," but the sturdy Swan shook off waves that submerged her main deck and dashed against her elevated wheelhouse. At the helm, the Swan’s owner/captain Willem Sligting squinted into the night, looking for ship lights. Radioed reports from race officials had placed the larger Russian ships Mir and Kruzenshtern just ahead of the Swan. Sligting hoped to close the gap.

    Off the Swan’s stern, nearly 90 other tall ships were enduring the surprise storm the best they could. Several of the smaller boats and others with storm damage had radioed that they were turning back to port and would start out again when the weather cleared.

    It had been sunny and mild that morning when the ships left Vigo, a busy shipbuilding port on the northwestern coast of Spain. The wind had been just brisk enough to present a showy Parade of Sail to the tens of thousands of spectators who lined the harbor or swarmed about the ships in pleasure boats. Small planes and news helicopters buzzed overhead.

    It was a fitting start for the final leg of the 1998 Cutty Sark Tall Ships’ race, one of the world’s largest and most spectacular annual sailing events. . . (more)

Contact me to read the entire story and discuss second rights or a rewrite. daleatherman@cs.com