Complex sentence: The two boats raced to reach the Catalpa first with the rowboat winning and the men climbing aboard as the police cutter passed by, it turned, lingered briefly beside Catalpa then headed to shore.
Split into simpler sentences: The two boats raced to reach the Catalpa first with the rowboat winning and the men climbing aboard as the police cutter passed by. The cutter turned, lingered briefly beside the Catalpa, and then headed to shore.