The starting gun boomed. Thirty-four seagoing yachts jockeyed their way across the line and out of Los Angeles Harbor to the open sea. It was the start of the first postwar 2,225-mile California-to-Honolulu handicap race.
That nightJuly 4 was no night for Sunday seamen. The schooner Morning Star radioed to shore: "Heavy swells with cross-chop." Radiomen on other boats were more explicit: all hands were sick and wished they were dead. The yawl Emerald's crew let their stomachs guide themback to port. Patolita lost her mainsail. One boat had hopefully taken along a dry-land chef. Near Catalina Island he was feeling poorly;...
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