Sport: Goose and the Golden Shell

In 1922 the Nylandska Jaktklubben (Royal Finnish Yacht Club) put up a golden nautilus shell, no larger than a lady's hand, to stimulate international competition at six-meter yacht racing, an old Scandinavian specialty. No longer than it took them to say smorgasbord, rich U. S. yachtsmen began to build six-meter boats (almost one-fourth the length of America's Cup yachts), found them fun to maneuver and comparatively inexpensive to maintain (about $3,000 a year in addition to some $8,000 initial outlay). Within four years there were enough good six-meter sailors in the U. S. to send a representative (each country is limited...

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