<img loading="lazy" src="https://i2.wp.com/www.sailingworld.com/resizer/U7RsGAJklhXqo1RGZb2SfAMQSgI=/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/bonnier/FOZFVVI7FFELJLDDZDRVKKLKIY.jpg?resize=620%2C465&is-pending-load=1#038;ssl=1" alt="Pyewacket 70 boat captain Mark Callahan keeps an eye on the horizon while 11th Hour Racing co-skipper Mark Towill keeps the turbocharged Volvo 70 at pace.” width=”620″ height=”465″ data-has-syndication-rights=”1″ data-recalc-dims=”1″ srcset=”data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7″ class=” jetpack-lazy-image”>
<img loading="lazy" src="https://i2.wp.com/www.sailingworld.com/resizer/U7RsGAJklhXqo1RGZb2SfAMQSgI=/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/bonnier/FOZFVVI7FFELJLDDZDRVKKLKIY.jpg?resize=620%2C465&ssl=1" alt="Pyewacket 70 boat captain Mark Callahan keeps an eye on the horizon while 11th Hour Racing co-skipper Mark Towill keeps the turbocharged Volvo 70 at pace.” width=”620″ height=”465″ data-has-syndication-rights=”1″ data-recalc-dims=”1″>
<em>Pyewacket 70</em> boat captain Mark Callahan keeps an eye on the horizon while 11th Hour Racing co-skipper Mark Towill keeps the turbocharged Volvo 70 at pace. (Peter Isler/)
Close your eyes and imagine a 2,200-mile ocean race where you start out going upwind in light air. Not very exciting—yet. But within a few hours, you transition to a few hundred miles of brisk and sometimes rough close reaching across a chilly ocean under gray skies. Not fun—yet. Then, over the course of half a day, you go through the boat’s entire reaching sail arsenal until the wind is aft and you are surfing downwind in 18-knot trade winds for days. Now it’s getting good.
But wait—it gets better…