Local sailboat crew tested in 2015 Transatlantic Race

Each sailor aboard Prospector had a defined role, at times performing whatever task was necessary. In a completely self-serving environment, the crew members worked in shifts, with as many as six people on deck at a time for four hours. They slept in brief intervals on small cots and shared one bathroom. There were no showers, only the spray of ocean water sweeping over the deck. By the time it neared 600 miles offshore, the boat had sailed out of the range of any potential emergency rescue by helicopter.

Tery Glackin, a Huntington native who lives in Rhode Island, served as the boat’s captain. Mr. Glackin, who sailed professionally from 1994 to 2002, became close with Mr. Landry. The two sailed together on a boat Mr. Landry owned called White Witch.

Andrew Wolf of Greenport, who co-chairs the Shelter Island Yacht Club’s junior sailing program, landed a spot aboard Prospector after sailing with Mr. Landry on White Witch around Shelter Island. Mr. Wolf became the Prospector’s “lead grinder,” something he said is akin to being a football team’s offensive lineman. It’s not the most glamorous position, but it’s a critical one that entails raising and trimming the sails by operating winches.

For Mr. Wolf, who sails locally and doesn’t consider himself a professional, the opportunity to compete in the Transatlantic Race was too good to pass up. A bucket list item, he said.

“I fit the bill to go along,” he said. “It was fantastic.”

The lone woman on board, Colette Storck, took on perhaps the most unenviable job on the boat, spending nearly the entire trip below deck. As the chef, Ms. Storck, a Huntington woman whose family’s lives revolve around sailing (her son Erik competed in the 2012 Olympics), was responsible for feeding the entire crew, preparing meals, mostly of the freeze-dried variety, even as the boat surfed through one wave after another.

The biography for Ms. Storck on the Prospector’s blog summed up her responsibilities thusly like this: “Her job is miserable. Looking after 14 rambunctious, opinionated, smelly guys.”

When the Prospector first launched toward the Atlantic, Mr. Landry, as the navigator, had to set the course. The best option was to initially head south toward a gulf stream.

“It just moves you along like a magic carpet,” Mr. Wolf said.

It was a move that set them behind at first. The gamble of heading farther south than the rest of the boats in the fleet meant the crew could pick up better wind and make up the time surging back east.

“You have to have a forecast, develop a strategy and stick with it,” Mr. Landry said. “If you’re wrong, it’s game over.”

Prospector dropped into ninth place early in the race as most of the boats began sailing east sooner. By the time it completed its initial strategy, the crew had surged into first, Mr. Landry said.

A few mistakes made early in the race ultimately cost Prospector a chance at winning, the biggest being two lost spinnakers — large, three-cornered sails — that “blew up” after staying up for too long. Mr. Landry took the blame for another mistake — changing course at a time when Prospector was about 120 miles ahead of the next-closest boat.

“The mistake I made was I kept sailing out of stronger wind into weaker wind,” he said. “I hesitated and was far too conservative.”

Prospector then fell back into fourth place.

“The part I’m proudest of, was that once we were in fourth and we didn’t have everything we needed, we came up with a strategy that pulled us back and got us back into third,” Mr. Landry said. “We were gaining on those boats the last third of the race. We just ran out of real estate.”

The ocean is only so big.