The Great American III is Skipper Wilson’s sailboat. It was designed by Bernard Nivelt. Thierry Dubois built the boat in 1999, named it Solidaires, and sailed it three times around the world before selling it to Skipper Wilson in the spring of 2006.

There are different types of sailboats, and the Great American III is what’s called an Open 60 yacht. That means that the whole boat is 60 feet long and 17 feet wide. That’s about the same length as the distance between home plate and the pitcher’s mound on a baseball diamond and about the same width as three adults lying end to end. The “open” part of the Open 60 refers to the design of the boat. Open boats can have any design that the ship builder wants, as long as they meet exact measurements and have certain safety features installed, such as a keel that lets the skipper flip the boat back over if it overturns. Open 60s are built for speed and strength and usually are made from fiberglass or carbon-fiber.

Open 60s aren’t comfortable boats, but they are very practical for a lone sailor. Most of the time, the skipper sits in the “crash seat,” which separates the deck from the navigation work station. Open 60s are equipped with complicated computers and electronics that help the sailor steer, communicate, and keep track of his or her performance and the weather. From the crash seat, the skipper has everything he or she needs at hand.

Sails help a boat travel in two different ways. If a boat is sailing in the same direction as the wind, the sails collect wind to help push the boat along faster. A boat traveling into the wind or perpendicular to the wind uses sails to shift the wind toward the back of the boat, helping move the boat forward. Each Open 60 can use three types of sails—the mainsail, the headsails, and the spinnaker—all of which are made of synthetic materials sewn in groups of panels that help to trap the air. Each boat carries a variety of these sails to suit different types of weather. The mainsail, as you might guess from its name, is the most important and most used sail, on the boat. It is set up toward the aft (or rear) of the boat and is attached along the side to the mast and along the bottom to the boom (a wooden bar that’s attached perpendicularly to the mast). The headsails, or foresails, are smaller than the mainsail. They are set up toward the fore (front) of the boat and are attached to the mast and to the forestay, a cable that runs from the bow of the boat to the top of the mast. Spinnakers are the largest sails and are used only in very stable conditions. Because of their size, in good weather they can help speed the boat along, but in bad weather they can cause it to topple over. Each sail has its role and the combination used depends on the conditions of the rain, wind, and sea.