(FORTUNE Magazine) – The lead boat rounds the mark and up goes a spinnaker emblazoned with the logo of Prudential-Bache Securities. The skyscrapers of lower Manhattan loom in the near distance. Must be a TV commercial, right? Not quite. Several other firms' boats are astern, fighting for the lead in a corporate sailboat race. Michael Fortenbaugh, 24, got the idea for company-sponsored boat races in New York Harbor while watching corporate running teams compete in Central Park. Within a year and a half, he had found investors; become an affiliate of the South Street Seaport, a thriving tourist attraction minutes from Wall Street; bought 12 24-foot sailboats; and launched his Manhattan Yacht Club. Companies pay him $3,500 to race a team on one of his boats for an eight-week season. The winner of the first series this spring: insurance brokerage firm Johnson & Higgins, with J.P. Morgan just behind. Twelve teams hit the water (and a local bar afterward), including two from Goldman Sachs. Says Vice President Jane Hilton of Chase Manhattan, which requested sailing resumes from employees who wanted to join the five-person crew: ''It's a fun way to bring together people from different parts of the bank.'' Eighteen boats have set sail in the summer series. James Crowley, president of North American investment banking for Prudential-Bache, whose boat came in third in the spring series, is perhaps the most enthusiastic sailor. He invested some of his firm's money in Fortenbaugh's yacht club, which expects to do a good business selling individual memberships to would-be salts who cannot afford their own boats. Fortenbaugh says none of the other big cities washed by water -- such as Chicago, Boston, Miami, and San Francisco -- have yet organized corporate sailing races. He is plotting the course.