At the start Roger looked after Leo Friede while I looked after Walter Busch

During the trial races Roger and I had sailed close to the buoys, and found that they were moored with chains. and could be cut very closely, so all was well, but then these trial races had taken place in the shallower waters in the bay, and when the course was laid out for the international contest in the deeper water of the sound, these chairs were not long enough, so ropes were used.

After the race we all gathered aboard the committee boat and yarned. The speeds that day worked out at 4 1/2 knots, as 2 hours had been taken to do 9 miles, and as there was no windward work, we had stood no chance at all. But we hoped for more wind on the morrow.

As I was the elder it would be better for me to play Mr. Nuisance if possible, for my football position had been centre half, where I used to fairly successfully prevent the other team from playing football, so I hoped to be able to hold back the two American canoes. By the rules, only the first canoe home counted, so it would not matter where I finished, as long as I attracted the American canoes from Roger, so that he could finish first.

Saturday morning came in with a flat calm there was not a ripple, and the race was timed for 11:00 a.m., at which time there was still not a breath of wind, so the committee said they would postpone the race, and give us half an hour's notice before the start. So we put our canoes tidy, and did odd jobs to them. Then the four of us, the two Americans and we two English, went off to lunch together. We were still feeding happily when the committee routed us out to race, and Roger and I were delighted to see a smart breeze.

The wind this day was in exactly the opposite direction from the day before, and as we were being sent round the triangle the same way, it meant that we should get a good beat to windward. Everything looked good to us, but to make sure we thought I should still be Mr. Nuisance. Away we went with two reaches, and then a beat to windward, and at the end of the first round Valiant was first, East Anglian second, with Mermaid third and Loon fourth.

Now, my job was to delay the first American canoe till the other one came up, and then try to hold the two back or at any rate keep them from causing Roger any fear. So on the second reach Mermaid and East Anglian luffed, bore away and fought like two wild cats, all of which time Valiant pulled out ahead and Loon caught up. As we approached the leeward buoy East Anglian was in front with Mermaid and Loon close astern. This would never do, for it would mean that I should round first, then Mermaid would split tacks to clear her wind, and I should be forced to tack on her, which would let Loon away on the other tack. So East Anglian slowed up, and Mermaid went round the buoy a length ahead, then round came East Anglian shooting up on Mermaid's weather quarter, so preventing her from tacking. Later, Loon came round far enough astern to have a clear wind. So she stood on the starboard tack as we were, and did not tack until Mermaid had been driven well under Valiant's lee, where she could bring nothing but delight to Roger's eyes when he saw her. I went off to make sure Loon did not pick up any advantageous shift of wind, so the game went on. The newspapers reported that Mermaid and East Anglian changed places five times on one reach, and this illustrates the combat.

The morning of the final race was just what the doctor had ordered for us, as a strong wind was blowing from exactly the same quarter as the day before, and we imagined we should be sent round the triangle the same way, but as we approached the committee boat, running dead before the wind, we were surprised to see the signals hoisted for the course the opposite way round. So we started with a dead run to the lee mark, with no chance of a windward leg, unless the wind shifted. East Anglian led over the line and then started her attempt to hinder Loon and Mermaid hoping to get Vaaliant away, but as Valiant rounded the lee mark,her foresail gybed round and fouled her foremast, and so she was practically hove-to. East Anglian then fought Loon and Mermaid, and soon first won first place, leaving Roger astem. However, he soon had Valiant sailing again, catching Mermaid and then Loon, but instead of coming on ahead into first place, while I dropped back to the enemy, he stayed with them, and attacking Loon, refused to come on. Roger in Valiant was doing such a good job with the foe, that I in East Anglian sailed, reaching and running round the course quite happily, until there came a heavy shower of rain at the end of the second round, which knocked the wind down to almost a calm. Then the pace slowed, and Roger had to fight very hard to keep the now faster Loon back, but he held her until the wind freshened again at the end of the third lap and all was well once more. On the last lap, after rounding the leeward mark, the wind shifted a little, making the close reach to the weather mark possible with sheets slightiy eased. So East Anglian romped down this reach, and Loon, rounding the leemark behind Valiant, tacked at once to starboard. Roger, although he could easily lay the weather mark, swung about with Loon and it was not until a motor yacht, under way, put Loon about, that Roger came round with him. Then they both reached with sheets well off for the weather mark, round which East Anglian had already passed to reach across the line and win, thanks to her team mate's aggressiveness.

These were the fastest times of the three races, but as there was no windward work, the speed through the water was far below that of the previous day, 9 miles in 1 1/2 hours equals 6 knots

So after 48 years, the canoe trophy left America, the first time it had ever been won from them during all those years

Roger and I were very pleased and proud at having beaten the best canoe sailors of America on their own waters, but this joy was tempered with a strange sadness hard to define. They had welcomed and opened their hearts to us, taken us into their tents and homes, and we had been the best of friends before and throughout the races, and now that the races were over, were better friends if possible than before.

Only in adversity and defeat does real sportsmanship show up, as it is easy to smile after victory, yet when East Anglian swept across the line to win the deciding race for the International Trophy, such a shout of joy and noise of tooting went up from the yachts witnessing the race, that I felt a lump rise in my throat. For here were Roger and I, strangers in a strange land receiving cheers that could not have been louder had they been given for Leo Friede and Walter Busch.

And so our canoe races in America ended enjoyably. They had been marked by clean sailing with no protest, or the need for one, throughout, and this added greatly to the pleasure the races had given us.

A few days later the International Canoe Trophy was presented at the New York Athletic Club, by William P. Stephens, and a challenge read out immediately afterwards. Roger and I said we should like to give them a trophy for their canoe racing to show how grateful we were for all their kindness. We suggested a model of East Anglian and Valiant to be given for a nine mile race on the triangle.

Two days later four cups left America in the Olympic with Roger. These cups had never before, in their 48 years' history, been won from America. The International Trophy, the National Sailing Championship, the National Paddling and Sailing Combined Championship, and the Paul Butler Trophy were to sojourn in England for a year.

Roger and I had enjoyed our visit, for we had met in America canoe sailors who had fllled us with