Get Out of the Boat and Go

Remember when sailing meant being "on" a boat? Tell it to the young man opposite, whose only points of contact with a Tempest sloop churning along Buzzards Bay are the soles of his shoes and a trapeze hooked to his midsection. Such is life on small racing hulls like the Tempest—the newest Olympic class—where weight out to windward means a lot more than the same body aboard. Turn the pages for more John Zimmerman photographs of an exhilarating way of nautical life, followed by a look at the Americans who rule the Tempest class.

A horizontal sailor exhibits perfect trapeze form, while the captain and crew at right blast through lumpy seas in a 30-knot Buzzards Bay blow.

Jostling up to a start, the fleet jams the line's favored windward end in a moderate breeze.

Action at the weather mark (below): the lead boat rounds, another storms up close astern.

There is trouble aloft as a spinnaker halyard gets loose and lets the kite go kiting off.

Oops—the crew gels a chilly bath when a trapeze hook breaks.

Ouch—having right of way didn't save the mast when a collision came.

EIGHT PHOTOS

JOHN ZIMMERMAN