Title: An exciting story of yacht racing and social classes
Product review: This is as good an account as we will get of the 1905 trans-Atlantic yacht race. Cookman sets the race in its time, describing how different American life was then. Social classes were more separated from each other, and lives were shorter. Cookman depicts the main players, nearly all of them rich and powerful men who looked down on ordinary mortals. The most interesting commoner is professional yacht racer Charley Barr, who captained the great three-masted schooner Atlantic to victory despite the yacht's self-centered owner. Racing across an ocean was more dangerous then; no radio, no global positioning system, no weather faxes, no emergency beacons. The outcome was unpredictable until the lead yacht appeared off the Lizard. If you like sailing and adventure, this one is worth reading.
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