At twenty minutes from the start the two leading competitors were rounding the mark buoy. The _Kestrel_ was still a good two hundred yards from it. Four other boats, bunched together, were bearing down on the port tack for the turning-point. As luck would have it the second boat’s bowsprit was almost level with the leader’s counter as they prepared to go about at the mark buoy. This is what is termed “establishing an overlap,” and the second craft has the right to hail the other to give her more room. If, however, there is no overlap the leading craft can carry on, leaving the other to get out of her way and pass outside her. At this critical moment a collision occurred. The leading yacht, with her mainsail ripped, fell away, leaving the second with her bowsprit smashed off close to the stem-head and her jib trailing in the water. “Rough luck!” commented the sportsman-like Craddock. “They’re out of it.” But Peter was wrong. The yacht with the damaged bowsprit was automatically disqualified; but the other, in spite of the sorry condition of her mainsail, bore away and continued to race. Presently it was the _Kestrel’s_ turn to round the mark buoy. She had it all to herself, for the bunch of four were already on the homeward run, while the remaining two competitors were well astern. “Stand by!” cautioned Mr. Grant. “Ready with the spinnaker!” Moving as softly as cats, Carline and Heavitree prepared the halliards and out-haul of the spinnaker. Round swept the _Kestrel_, making the mark buoy curtsey in her wash. Over flew the boom in a deliberate gybe. “Up spinnaker!” ordered the Scoutmaster. In double quick time the huge but light triangular sail was set and sheeted home. Now the _Kestrel_ was at her best. Running was her strong point. The foam frothed at her cut-water and trailed astern in an ever-diverging double wake. In five minutes she had overtaken the partly crippled Plymouth cutter, the crew of which, far from being dismayed, had also set spinnaker. She was making a gallant fight against long odds, and the _Kestrel’s_ crew broke a prolonged silence by giving the West Country Sea Scouts a rousing cheer. A stern chase is proverbially a long one, but slowly yet surely the _Kestrel_ was decreasing the distance between the now straggling procession of leading boats. The task entailed ceaseless vigilance on the part of the Scoutmaster. An accidental gybe at this state of the proceedings would be disastrous. In all probability the _Kestrel’s_ mainmast would be carried away, but in any case the mainsail would mask the spinnaker and deprive it of its pulling power.