Friday, The Start From Tybee Island

Today the sailors had sort of lay day -- a chance to fix boats, sails, boat parts, and body parts. Rudee's threw a nice shrimp roast lunch for everyone.

About 2PM a huge storm rolled through the area in association with a cold front passage. It is hoped that the front and all its storms clear out so the sailors can have a nice ride tonite after their 6PM start. Actually, it may not be a 6PM start. Due to live TV coverage, the start may be delayed so it can coincide with the time when the sports is normally on the evening news -- usually between 6:20 and 6:25.

Winds are around 15mph out of the SW, which should give the sailors a nice ride to Isle of Palms. The teams are expected to start arriving there somewhere between 2AM and 5AM. And then there will be one more night start from Isle of Palms to Myrtle Beach.


Live TV Coverage, National Anthem, and Crashes in the Surf

What more could the throngs of cheering crowds ask for. This start was covered live on TV so that millions of others could get the thrill that the folks on the beach got. And to add a really nice touch of class, a local teenagers choir

A live, local, teenager chorus sang the National Anthem at the Five-Minute Gun

sang the National Anthem at the 5-minute signal. What a send off for these bravehearts.

There were three mishaps at the start. The problem: strong and gusty 15 knots winds were directly behind them, so that the boats could not turn and head out through the surf until the last moment. And then there was a good chance the boat, with rudders not all the way down, would have little steerage.
Sure enough! The first mishap was Team Chesapeake Bay Cats manned by John McLaughlin and Richard Pleasants. They were the only ones that tried to use a spinnaker off the beach. This turned out to be their demise as the boat was knocked sideways by the surf and then the wind caught the chute and flipped the boat.
The struggled in the surf and finally righted the boat to the cheers of the onlookers. They continued through the4 surf , jibed and headed for the Isle of Palms and then capsized again. They probably are not happy with the way things are going so far.

Another mishap was still another capsize by an unidentifed flying team (UFT),

Team Chesapeake Bay Cat capsized right in the surf and then were nearly run over by another boat out of control

however they were already in flat water and got the boat up quickly.
The third problem was with Team Pomodoro (Hans Meijer/Ron Jones). They broke a rudder casting on their Mystere 6.0 and had to return to the beach for replacement..

The ground crews are scurrying about, getting ready to depart.
Stay tuned – more to come at the finish line!














The Finish at Isle of Palms

Key Sailing II Leap Frogs over Chick's Beach for 2nd Place. Aussie Hang Tough

They weren't expected to arrive until nearly 2AM, but to everyone's surprise at 11:20 Australia II (Brett Dryland and Rod Waterhouse) roared into the expansive beach of the Isle of Palms. Brett Dryland said, " It was a screaming jib reach."
The winds were reported as being in the 25 knot range with huge rollers. Brian Lambert of Key Sailing II reported, "Water was flying and banging – it blew my goggles right off my head." Lambert and teammate Mark Murray piloted their boat to a close second place behind the Aussies.
Coming in six minutes behind the Aussies and nearly five minutes behind Key Sailing II was Randy Smyth and Jason Sneed on Chick's Beach. That little bit of time lost dropped them back into 3rd spot, with Key Sailing II grabbing the 2nd spot overall.
This is indeed a race this year.


Bobby Bailey (left) and Clive Mayo (right) landed 4th in Isle of Palms around 40 minutes ahead of the rest of the fleet.


Clive Mayo and Bobby Bailey of International Insurance flew their chute and double-trapped most of the way and hit the beach in 4th place. The winds were reportedly strong for the first 2/3 of the leg. Mayo figured they averaging 23 mph in ground speed during that time. There were strong gusts, then lulls, then strong gusts, then lulls. Later in the leg the lulls took over.
Mayo said, "Waves off the hull hit me so hard I thought I had broken a rib."

The rest of the fleet were caught in dying air, but still finished at a reasonable time.

Tonight's start at 6PM will have the teams racing from Isle of Palms (Charleston area) to Myrtle Beach, and then the next start won't be until Monday at 10AM



Meanwhile, Here is Something to Ponder

Some Food for Thought

(How About Scoring This Race as a Regatta?)

There has been some discussion for next year's Worrell 1000 to score each leg as if it were a race in a regatta. For example, if you were 20th in the first leg, 2nd in the next and 4th in the next, your total point score would be 26.
With all of the boat being scored in this manner, it would give those teams that had some sort of mini-disaster a chance to make a comeback. As it is now, once a team falls behind in time, it is difficult or impossible to ever make that time up again. And it may have only been one small incident that caused that big time lag.
Witness the fate of Rick Bliss and Sandra Tartaglino on Team Rudee's Restaurant. They dismasted and turtled. With help from other teams, they managed to get the boat to shore and jury rig the boat to make the finish before qualification time, but in the process they are literally out of the running – just sailing for the challenge of it.
With the regatta scoring plan, they would have a bad race, but they wouldn't be out of the running.

Michael Worrell said, "A lot of people don't know it, but I have been thinking that way for long time."
One sailor commented that there should still be an award for the overall best time and most people would agree to that.

Additionally, A really nice perpetual trophy should be sought for winners – something that offers some semblance of immortality. After all, this is tough race for tough sailors – they deserve something like that. Perhaps it could be named the Carlton Tucker Memorial Trophy.