AMY & NORTON ACROSS THE ATLANTIC *
In last month’s issue we previewed the Mini-Transat. Thirty-five starters came to the Penzance, England starting line, and 27 of them made it to the first leg finish line at Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in the Canaries. Two boats sank in the expected gales, but both entries were picked up. Two other entries abandon¬ ed the race and were lifted with their boats onto freighters; one ended in Ger¬ many and another in Greece. One fellow abandoned his boat to climb on a freighter and learned his boat had drifted into Las Palmas, close to the finish line, well ahead of manned en¬ tries. Both Bay area entries (the only Americans) put in surperb perfor¬ mances in this 1400-mile first leg. Nor¬ ton Smith made the prohibitive favorite by French bookies, sailed his Wyliedesigned and Don Peters-built American Express to first place. Norton broke out to an early lead, but hit light air and with 500 miles to go, was only 30 or so miles ahead of the fleet. He still managed to win by over 24 hours, with a time of just over 13 days — about the same as his Singlehanded TransPac time.
(The following in a very sombre voice,)
Saying goodbye is hard, 1 just left to¬ day, (heavy sigh) and saying goodbye, to Scott is so hard because 1 haven’t seen him in so long, and then I had so little time with him. I stayed on land last night so I could have a last good night’s sleep for the race. Scott and I went to a bed and breakfast place, and got up and had breakfast early and ran down to the boat which still wasn’t ready. I don’t think anyone was. They all were rushing about; everyone had something to do. Ha, nobody was just sitting around calm. I still hadn’t even planned my course yet, so I ran down below, changed my clothes and began to plot my course. Scott was lashing things still. They said
Amy Boyer’s performance was no less remarkable. Breaking her tailbone, getting knocked out, nearly hitting a tanker' forgetting how to navigate, and losing her radio were the least of her problems. Two lower shrouds and her headstay all failed several hundred miles from the finish, putting her mast in jeopardy. Forced to sail under a triple reefed main and storm jib, Amy made it in, unbeknownst to her with a mast that severed the last night out. Despite all these adversities, Amy finished^ in 15 days for 11th place; was the first woman to finish and the first production boat to finish. At twenty years old, Amy is the youngest entry in the race. What follows is Amy Boyer’s taped day-by-day account of the race. It’s a shame each one of you can’t hear it to pick up the feelings that come from the tone of voice. It was a difficult trip for her and the self-portrait she took after the third gale (see the opposite page) tells it all. LATE NEWS: The second leg of the Mini-Transat started on November 27th. Norton and Amy did receive rig¬ ging replacements the night before the
they were going to close the gate soon, so we had to get out. So, I went and tied to the wall outside the gate and sat down with Scott and cried. I was really nervous and scared . . . and tired and lonely. So I sat down and cried and Scott helped me for a while. Ha, ha, ha I just told him I had to cry, just to get it out of me. I did, and that was fine. Scott and I sailed out a couple of hours before the start, until he found a boat to get off on. And so . . .he got off the boat . . . and I said goodbye. (Long, long silence.) The start (sudden enthusiasm for two words) was pretty exciting. I was third over the line, which I was pretty happy about. Now, it’s blowing about 25 or 30 knots, I had a third reef in when I started, with my 90 genoa up. Well, it just happened! (Very tired
start. After the gun the winds rapidly piped up to 25 knots and the hardcore racers, including Amy and Norton, started throwing up chutes and broaching, With Norton pulling into the lead. Twenty hours out of the Canaries, Amy’s Wilderness 21, Little Rascal, hit something in the water, loosening the keel. At first, she was bailing “five buckets an hour,” but as the weather worsened, so did the leak. It took Amy two days to sail back to Santa Cruz de Tenerife, where she called us up with the news. Amy hopes to be back on the course as soon as the caulking dries. As the following tapes will reveal Amy was very lonely on the first leg. This next leg will be worse. It will take almost twice as long, the fleet will be spread out, and there will be almost no ships to talk to. We wish her luck. While it will be extremely lonely without the contact of other racers and freighters, the weather is much much warmer and she will be running with the tradewinds. If Amy does make it across she will reportedly be the youngest woman to sail the Atlantic alone.
and resigned voice.) One of my self¬ steering systems, the Tiller Master, just broke. It’s the electric one. It’s got corro¬ sion on the plug and I think that rats it. I tried scraping it off, but it didn’t work. I tried WD-40 and changing fuses and everything, but it didn’t work. I’ve got the windvane on now, and it’s doing fairly well. If I can’t fix that I’m going to have a hard time on this trip because my windvane is really just my backup, it’s not a very good one. So, (very heavy sigh) I’m not feeling very happy right now. But, (in a very firm voice) I can still see one boat, I think it’s called Dificile Afital or something, No. 23. She’s crawling out of my sight very quickly and she’s using a Navique vane. I wish I would have spent the extra money on one, but you can’t wish now (heavy sigh.)
