I was 12 years old then and one of my father's best friends then was a TWA pilot who had been a fighter pilot in World War II. So, we planned to sail in the race with maybe 100 or more yachts of different classes (we were a 40 foot fiberglass hull Bounty II that was a sloop). so, My Dad's friend and two other TWA pilots and my Dad and I prepared to sail south.
It was sunny when everyone was getting ready for the race but by that night after the race had started it was stormy and loud and rainy. So whoever was at the tiller (steering wheel mechanism) (a long wooden bar connected to the rudder) had to wear heavy weather gear to stay warm enough to keep sailing in the rainstorm. For me, since I was the littlest at about 5 foot 2 inches then I was put up in the bow to sleep which is very bumpy so during the storm I was often catapaulted up to 2 feet out of my bunk during the waves and storm during the night. So, I put soft things around me so when that happened at night I wouldn't get a concussion. (I guess they figured I was young enough and a good sound sleeper enough to handle this). Anyway, it was a little distressing all the bouncing around. But, I didn't completely freak out (internally) until I got up on deck and couldn't see the land. The Captain of the ship (my Dad's friend) had gone way out to sea to avoid crashing on rocks close to shore during the storm so we couldn't see land. This wasn't okay with my 12 year old sensibilities so I didn't say anything because I knew I had to be a man. When we went to the bathroom mostly we just did it overboard or into a bucket which we rinsed overboard as the toilet wasn't working well in the storm. You had to be careful not to fall overboard in the storm though. The storm finally ended after about 24 hours or so and it settled down.
The storm was so bad all the faint of heart or summer sailors dropped out of the race but since we had three World War II fighter plane veterans and my Dad on board we were going to finish the race no matter what.
So, as we pulled into Ensenada Harbor in Mexico it was a really beautiful day. It was amazing to me just how many yachts started and how few finished. I went about my business of buying fireworks (firecrackers, M-80s, skyrockets) that you could not buy in Los Angeles County then to take home with me. But, I didn't tell the other guys what I was bringing home to play with. They had to pour their Mexican wine down the scuppers (drain) when we entered the U.S. a couple of days later.
My friends and I had a great time with the firecrackers and stuff when I returned home. I still had some when I went to Mt. Shasta. We would put firecrackers under cans and watch them go skyward like rockets and other stuff like that.
I also saw this done in Rewalsar in 1986 when Tibetan New Years was happening there on Lotsar. They put (cherry bombs M-80s) under a Maxwell house empty coffee can and it would go about 200 to 300 feet into the air like a rocket. You just had to watch out for when it came down.
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