[Tom Alexander]

Originally Posted by Dartskipper

I agree with Naytikos in his post #4.

When I was crossing oceans under sail in the '70's, there were some proper yachts to be seen in most ports and marinas. One of our crew had been in the crew of Sayula II that won the first Whitbread Round the World race. I later saw Sayula II in Acapulco moored at the yacht club.
The owner of the yacht I skippered had taken part in the TransPac a couple of times, and had sailed the Baltic, the Med, North and South Atlantic coasts of North and Central America, and most of the West coast as well. I met several well known characters, but won't do any name dropping!
One particularly impressive ocean racer was Kialoa III owned by Jim Kilroy. Another older vessel was Windward Passage. When we crossed the Atlantic, we weren't too far away from another old classic, Voortrekker.
Now they all look rather extreme and hard work compared to my memories.

I seem to remember Windard Passage competing in the Swiftsure Classic our of Victoria some years ago. Basically had the lines of a big dinghy.