With a speed that amazed Penny, she trimmed the main and jib sheets flat amidships, placing the tiller a little to starboard.
“Haul up the centerboard!” she instructed.
Penny pulled up the board, feeling a trifle awkward and inadept.
Sally leaped out onto the dock, and casting off, held the boat’s head steady into the eye of the wind. With a tremendous shove which delighted the spectators, she sent the Cat’s Paw straight aft, and made a flying leap aboard.
With sails flat amidships, the boat shot straight backwards. As they started to clear the stern of the boat that was to starboard, Sally let the tiller move over to that side. The bow of the Cat’s Paw began to swing to starboard.
Not until then, did Penny observe that the Spindrift was tied up only a few boat-lengths away. Jack, armed with several bottles of pop, came hurriedly from the clubhouse. Noting Sally’s spectacular departure, he joined the throng at the railing.
“We’ll give the crowd a real thrill,” Sally muttered, keeping her voice low so that it would not carry over the water. “If this trick works, it should be good.”
Even Penny was worried. The bow of the Cat’s Paw had swung rapidly to starboard. But Sally, calm and cool, still hung on to the sheets.
“Put your tiller the other way!” Jack shouted from the dock. “Let your sheet run!”
Enjoying the boy’s excitement, Sally pretended to be deaf. Wind had struck the sails, but the Cat’s Paw continued to sail backwards. A crash seemed impossible to avert. Then at the last instant, the bow swung clear of the neighboring boats.