Rivals had capsized there in earlier races, clinging to overturned boats in frigid waters for days earlier than they had been rescued. In 1997, one sailor, Gerry Roufs, known as race organizers, frantic. “The waves will not be waves, they’re larger than the Alps,” he exclaimed. Roufs’s boat and his physique disappeared.
Dalin knew these tales. He spent hours on his laptop computer agonizing over projections of the storm. He determined he would take the extra conservative method, going north, avoiding the large swell.
