This photo remains one of my favorites. A memory, a happy one; taken with a polaroid camera. I do not remember who took it.
We were in Harwichport at David Steere’s house. He was the owner of “Yankee Girl”, which along with “American Eagle” and our boat “Carina” were leaving the following day to sail to Cowes for the Admiral’s Cup and Fastnet Race. It was 1971. My good friend Mickey Spillaine was the pro on “Yankee Girl” and Joe Kennedy was his mate along with John Scott, a classmate from St. George’s.
We crossed the atlantic in 14 days, as I remember, we beat “Yankee Girl” and American Eagle” boat for boat by a day. They sailed a more southerly and warmer route.
This was before GPS. We navigated by sextant and dead reckoning. Crossing the Grand Banks in the cold and fog we had not had a fix in days. Dead reckoning put us about 20 miles south of Sable Island. I was off watch when I felt something strange, we were running with a spinnaker at about 8 knots. My immediate thought was that we were going ashore on Sable Island. I leapt out of my bunk and headed on deck when there was a second bump. I arrived on deck in time to see a whale pop up astern.