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Cracks & Leaks. By the time the field reached Cat Cay, 441 miles from Miami, eleven boats were already out of the race. Ragin' Cajun gave up with clutch trouble. Aboard Allied GX, a geyser of steam and water suddenly shot up from the ruptured bilges. The crew watched sadly from a life raft as the $140,000 boat sank in 600 fathoms.
The Bertrams were having their own woes. Harold Abbott's Rum Runner developed a 4-ft.-long crack in the cabin; the radio was smashed, and a reinforcing stringer had broken loose from the hull. In Lucky Moppie, every time Bertram tried to switch to his main fuel tank, his engines quit. Then, maneuvering at the check-in station on Cat Cay, Lucky Moppie slammed into another boat, knocking it into a sea wall and out of contention. Miraculously, Lucky Moppie kept going.
One, Two, Three. On the relatively calm 161-mile stretch from Cat Cay to Sylvia Light, Max Aitken's Vivacity clung to a narrow lead, pursued by two Formula 233s. Bertram's Lucky Moppie was now running fourth, and Abbott's Rum Runner was fifth. Then one of the Formulas ran out of gas. Cracking along at 3,500 r.p.m. and 50 knots, Bertram overtook the other—and shot into first place when Aitken veered off course. With just three miles to go on the final leg from Hog Cay to Nassau, Bertram seemed to have it sewed up—until his reserve tanks ran dry and he had to switch to the main fuel tank. Lucky Moppie stopped dead. By the time Bertram got his engines going again, Abbott's Rum Runner, damaged as it was, had passed everybody and was in front to stay. Up to the Nassau pier roared Rum Runner, and an official waved her in. "Hell, no!" yelled Abbott. "This boat is sinking. We're going to beach her."
Although he had to settle for second place himself, Builder Bertram could hardly have been happier. His boats had finished one-two-three, and the closest competitor, a Formula 233, was 10 min. behind. The durability of the Bertram had been proved again. Battered almost beyond belief, Rum Runner had averaged 32.6 knots to win the roughest Miami-to-Nassau race in history.