The 2008 Tybee 500 Race Coverage

A Puffy, Tiring Ride, but Pierce and Livingston Again Win

Kenny Pierce of Team Tybee said, "Wow, I'm tired today." Pierce has been sailing the Worrell 1000 and Tybee 500 for years now and is still a young man. What he was telling us was the puffs and lulls along the coast had him sheeting and releasing the sheets constantly, in and out of the trapeze.

And think about it -- the normal wind of 15-20 mph when forced between buildings converges to produce puffs of over 30 mph.

This is what all the teams had to deal with all day. Luckily it was a fast day. Team Tybee handled it better than others and finished a few minutes ahead of Steve Lohmayer/Jay Sonnenklar on Marleys Yellow, who finished about the same time ahead of Jarred Sonneklar/Collin Page on Marleys Orange.

Marleys three teams made a great finish.., all in the top four. Dennis Green/Jason Childress of Marleys White was the fourth boat to finish and offered the best phoo ops (see Dennis hamming it up below).

Seacats was next in, followed by Accelerated Chaos, Moose-Burd, Cat in a Hat, and Velocity. Cat Fever had a breakdown and hit the beach for repairs. He notified the RC that he would be about 1.5 hours late for the finish.

Tomorrow there will be two more teams to track. Team Tybee and Cat Fever will also join the group being observed. Unfortunately they will be at a different URL, but at least we will know where they are.

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Again Team Tybee is first to the line

The youngsters on Marleys Orange have another great finish in third.

Three Marley boats in the top four. Here Dennis Green and Jason Childress of Marleys White hot dog to the finish line

Then Green flies by the finish line team high in the air..., and...

...comes down with a splash. Glad we could catch all that. Well done! If this were Dancing with the Stars, Green would get three "10" votes.

Here are the folks that run the races. They really do a lot of work.., much of it not appreciated.

Accelerated Chaos was vieing for the lead for a while, but slipped back to 6th at the finish

The F18 had its best finish today at 7th

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And They're Off on a Blustery ride to Jupiter Beach

Indeed most of the fleet (8) did not fly a spinnaker after the start. Two did -- Accelerated Chaos and Marleys White. They sailed nearly out of control in the gusts, nearly going over. However, it paid off for them as it took them pretty far out away from the shoreline lulls.

Last seen they were flying by the boats closer to shore that were all sitting a building wind shadows.

Other that that there was nothing too spectacular about the start.

Chris Titcomb and Tripp Burd of Accelerated Chaos were one of the only two to fly a spinnaker. It seemed to work. After getting pretty far out, the dropped the chute and went flying by the fleet on inside of them

Dennis Green and Jason Childress on Marleys White also use the kite and did well

Marleys White goes out

Here you can see the two spinnaker boats -- Marleys is just this side of Accelerated Chaos

Accelerated Chaos dropped their spinnaker a blew by the fleet in closer to shore

Stand by for more and be sure to check out the HOTLINE!

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Teams are Readying for Lots of Spinnaker Work.., Maybe!

Here is the weather forecast for today:

Partly sunny with a 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Breezy. Highs in the lower 90s. West winds 15 to 20 mph becoming northwest 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon.

So, it would appear the fleet will be flying kites off the beach or very soon after they launch. And it should mean a pretty fast trip as well.

However, if the wind is too much abeam and strong, they may not be able to hold the boat down. Perhaps flying the chute and stay as high as possible, then when you get too far offshore, drop the chute and sail a closer reach back toward shore.

Staying close to shore might not work at all because of the many buildings -- causing huge gusts between the building and big lulling shadows behind them

Just a follow up on yestereday's leg -- all of the fleet crossed over from the bay side of the islands to the ocean side at various places. Some went across at Stiltsville (just south of the Key Biscayne) and many went across near Soldier Key.

No one thought it was a big deal as the the tide was flooding and the water depth over the reefs was adequate while flying a chute and having the boards up.

The boats are lining up on the beach and getting prepared. Stand by for lots more coverage.

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For Video of the races and interviews at the finish, click here!

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