Getting dressed seems to take ages when you are trying to get on deck quickly. Mid-layer salopettes, then boots, mid-layer jacket – yes, it's that cold – then foulie salopettes, tugging gently over the boots because pulling hard just jams them… Velcro-strap the ankle, and finally scarf, woollen gloves – eugh, still wet and cold, foul-weather jacket, harness, fur hat and then the gauntlets.

The differing but complementary roles that Olin and Rod had within S&S were another of their great strengths. Olin would muse over hull shapes, keels, rig proportions and their relationships with the appropriate rating systems while Rod oversaw the development of structures, deck layouts, rigging schedules and detailing.

In a sunny New York City on 20 October 1970 a team of FBI agents scoured the buildings on both sides of Manhattan’s Madison Avenue between 28th and 29th Streets. Questioning shopkeepers, janitors and secretaries, they gave special attention to the offices overlooking no79, a dull 16-storey building on the east side. From early the next morning uniformed police banned all parking on the block and kept pedestrians on the move. They vetted every entrant to no79.

If Tetley was willing Victress was less so. He'd sailed at reduced pace in the Southern Ocean. The boat's structural problems were severe. The skins and frames of the starboard hull were threatening to part company, yet the prospect of being fastest man around the world was tantalising.

Fortunately, as the boat lay on her side on the beach, when the tide receded a lot of this equipment, including winches, instruments and even her recently fitted new engine, was recovered by the crew who camped on the beach for several days to save as much of their yacht as they could. They were cheerfully helped in their efforts by several hardworking gauchos from the nearby 'estancias' (ranches and farms).

The Elwood Seahorse possibly originated as a response to the uncontrolled enthusiasm of some paddling canoeists of the day to hoist a sail or two for the odd impromptu bumping race on Port Phillip Bay.