The Sailor's Chronograph: The Rolex Yacht Master II In Action

A race really begins five minutes before the opening flag, with boats performing a delicate ballet for prime starting position, weaving and circling within feet of one another The goal is to cross the starting line at maximum speed the moment the countdown hits zero, but not a second early Others, like the American-owned boat and eventual winner Quantum, broadcast a more unique strategy, crossing the starting line exactly at the 5-minute warning, before soon circling back and aggressively butting into a line of their competitors moments before the official start.

"The start of the race is where the cards are dealt," five-time Olympic medalist and helmsman of the Onda, Robert Scheidt told me Because not all regattas have a five-minute starting sequence, Rolex engineers spent 35,000 hours devising a new movement, the calibre 4161, that allows the watch to adapt to countdowns of between 1 and 10 minutes in conjunction with the rotating bezel and the crown "In the Atlantic Ocean, about one nautical mile offshore from Portugal, race officials have just issued the 1-minute countdown in the final race.

The air is tense, and almost eerily silent near the starting line The only noise is the creak of drum-tight carbon fiber sails as the boats zig and zag towards the starting line, approaching speeds of 25 knots Quantum sneaks in next to another boat and takes a daring left turn to cut it off and claim its patch of ocean.

Then, officials chime in,"3, 2, 1″ - at this moment, with mere feet separating the nine boats from one another, they cross the starting line, and the race is underway "The rich get richer," is often said in sailing to describe the importance of a lead at the start, meaning that the leading boat will enjoy clean wind, open sea. . Source