In 1968 I sailed the Bermuda race and then the trans-atlantic race from Bermuda to Travemunde, West Germany aboard George Moffett's 48 foot sloop"Guinevere". A wonderful boat designed by Alan Gurney, probably most famous for "Windward Passage"
When I start to write one of these entries it is more about what to exclude, as there is for me, simply too many threads,each significant in it's own way.
It would be no surprise to anyone that the personalities play an important role in any of these tales. the boats are usually a reflection of their owners. The events selected certainly play a role.
Geroge Moffett was no exception, an exceptional sailor, one of the most natural helmsman I have ever seen. An ever curious mind.
I had sailed the 1966 Bermuda race on "Guinevere" unable to sail the trans-atlantic race that year as I had a job waiting at home.
we placed in the top of our class each time in the Bermuda Race. In the Trans-atlantic race we won our class and finished second overall. Our German hosts gave out fabulous prizes.
This was a long race,taking just over 22 days. The track took us north of Scotland across the North Sea through the Skagerrak down the Baltic, through the Danish Archipelago, finishing at Fehmarn lightship making sure we did not wander into East German water.
the photo of a rock is Rockall a few hundred miles west of Scotland.
We had a contest during the course of the race as to who was the fastest helmsman, I won, as I did in 2005
The British Museum of Natural History gave each yacht entered in the 1968 trans-atlantic race a log book asking each crew to record sightings of mammals including where,when, and under what conditions the sightings occurred. There were many sightings, I had forgotten until now, I described the porpoise in the photo, Geroge Moffett, the owner of the boat turned the log in at the end of the race. About a year later he wrote to me that the porpoise had been identified as a unique species within the family of Phocoenidae and that the Museum had attributed it the name "Guinevereous Liraki" 
