t was all happening very much in slow motion. On board at the 17th Vele Storiche Viareggio regatta off Italy’s Tuscany coast, the most wind we saw all day was about 6kts and our top speed was 2.4kts. Although wasn’t even in the same class as , it felt as if she was the boat we must beat because she was another Italian designed and built motor sailer from the early 1960s. For most of the race we managed to hold her off but on the last upwind legs she was pointing higher than us on port tack and crept past. However, after we both tacked we somehow managed to sail through her lee. All we then needed to do was to get round the last mark and bear away to the finish line about half a mile away, but the wind seemed to be getting even lighter
