Word: rios
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Blue-water yachtsmen who have made the 1,200-mile thrash from Argentina to Brazil are convinced that the triennial Buenos Aires-Rio race is the most infuriating test of men and boats yet devised. The prevailing northeasterly head winds often hit 40 knots or more. Complicating matters is the mast-snapping pampeiro, a westerly-land wind that frequently howls off the pampas at even greater force-only to die in a sudden, glassy calm. The Brazilian Curfent-the backwash of the Gulf Stream-is supposed to flow southward at two or three knots. But it weaves like a snake...
...Ondine has sailed 130,000 miles. Last year she competed in 14 international races, finishing first in Class A six times and first in the fleet twice. Two weeks ago, as 26 boats from eight nations swept out to sea for the start of the Buenos Aires-Rio race, Ondine's chances looked slim indeed. The favorite was Stormvogel, a 73-ft. ketch owned by Dutch Timberman Cornelius Bruynzeel. The heaviest yacht in the race (43 tons), she was the defending champion; in 1962, she won the race in the record time of 191 hrs. 37 min. What...
Plastered over the windows of an airline ticket office in downtown Rio were defiant posters: IT IS EASY TO DESTROY, BUT IT TAKES 35 YEARS TO BUILD! WE WILL NOT DIE! The protests were against one of the most severe economic reforms yet attempted by Brazil's revolutionary government. In a special decree, President Humberto Castello Branco ordered the country's big Panair do Brasil airline to cease operations immediately, grounded its planes, and turned over its domestic and international routes to other Brazilian lines...
Then, in 1961, bowing to the intense nationalistic pressures stirred up by President Jánio Quadros, Pan American sold its 30% controlling interest to Brazilian investors. The new owners, notably Mário Simonsen, a wheeler-dealer who made a fortune speculating in coffee, quickly put Panair into a financial nose dive. To win friends and influence politicians on other business deals, Simonsen started handing out so many free tickets that on overseas runs as many as 40% of Panair's passengers were flying now and paying never...
Weak as it was, Panair was still something of a national institution, and Castello Branco's sudden action brought shocked outcries. The governor of Amazonas State declared a state of emergency and flew to Rio to try and plead with Castello Branco. Panair's directors vowed to appeal the President's order to the Supreme Court, but it does not reconvene until March 9. By then the airline will probably have been torn apart by its competitors and creditors...