Worrell 1000 --
Catsailor's Beach Hot Line (Continued)
(Note:
The most recent news postings are on the top, toggle down for previous
posts)
10:10 a.m.
Everybody is off the beach okay. Still fairly big surf and light winds,
but only one pusher allowed today. The only team that had a little problem
was Tommy Bahama that tried to start with a spinnaker and lost time because
of messing with it. Pictures from the start are now posted on our primary
Worrell coverage site, just "Back" from this page.
EARLY ITEMS:
Weather report for Cocoa Beach to Daytona Beach is calling for winds of
5-10 mph out of the east or east-southeast.
* * * * *
Illegal trampolines are going to be the subject of a meeting that Michael
Worrell said he plans to call this morning before the start. Allegedly,
some of the boats have trampolines that are not class legal and do not
have the proper number of grommets. Sorry, but we do not have more specific
information except that it has something to do with having either more
or less than eight grommets, and we don't know which. We just know that
Michael is very upset about it. This possibly has resulted from a protest
by somebody. We do not know what action is going to be taken, if any,
like whether tramps will have to be replaced or boats disqualified or
sanctions against those boats or what.
* * * * *
Ground crew and spectators driving from site to site along the Worrell
1000 route can find complete driving instructions to each checkpoint at
the LexisNexis website, posted there courtesy of Expedia Streets &
Trips. Tells you exactly where to tack and jibe at every intersection.
Very helpful.
TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2002
9:30 p.m.
Regarding the boat for next year's Worrell 1000, Michael Worrell has not
yet announced what boat it will be, only that it will NOT be the Inter
20 again. There have been a lot of rumors about it being the Hobie Tiger.
I talked to Doug Skidmore, president of Hobie Cat Company, this afternoon
and he said he has never been contacted by Michael Worrell about making
any of the Hobie models available for the Worrell (although he said he
would have been interested if he had been contacted). Skidmore said he
has heard within the past day or two that the Worrell boat for 2003 will
be a Formula 18, and that class does, of course, include the Hobie Tiger.
However, it seems very unlikely that Worrell would announce the boat for
2003 if he had not first talked to the provider. Rick White seems to think
it is going to be a Formula 18HT (HT meaning high-tech), which is a class
popular in Europe and being promoted in the United States by WF Oliver.
Personally, I think the Tiger would be a better choice as far as handling
the surf and the beach landings. But the dice are probably already cast,
and we just have to wait for the announcement.
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3:55 p.m.
All the boats are in at Cocoa except for Howard's Pub and Dimension Data.
Howard's Pub was expected to be late because they came ashore before noon
with a hole in their hull. This was reported on the PI Sailing website
because the PI shore crew stopped to assist Howard's Pub and fixed them
up with some duct tape and sent them on their way. According to the brief
PI report, apparently the boat had capsized and a tightly-tensioned trapeze
hook, when released, hit the hull and made the hole.
3:45 p.m.
Apparently, the below controversy was resolved in favor of Tybee Island,
because they have been placed first on the official result sheet at the
Worrell 1000 website, followed by Alexander's 4 minutes and 4 seconds
later. (Sorry, I just corrected this...earlier I said 4 seconds.)
The relevant rules for finishing are:
31.3 A team shall be scored as a finisher for that leg when any part of
the boat hull(s) crosses an imaginary line between the gate poles.
31.3(a) In some instances, at the finish of a leg, only the right end
of the gate (facing the water) will be marked with a pole and flag and
perhaps a strobe. Then the finish line shall be an imaginary line from
this pole extending to the left (facing the water) parallel to the shore/waterline
for a distance not to exceed fifty (50) yards.
For this finish, there was a gate marked by two posts.
Just heard that this controversy may not yet be over.
3:10 p.m.
First two boats just finished at Cocoa Beach. Alexander's had a slight
lead over Tybee Island but lost control in the surf and missed the finish
line. They had to drag the boat manually back to the finish line; and
in the meantime, Tybee Island finished, taking first for the day. Castrol
is coming in in third place, followed by, it appears, San Antonio. The
wind is blowing about 15-18 mph now and the boats were reaching in without
spinnakers.
Whoops, we have a controversy brewing over the finish, between Alexander's and Tybee. Alexander's manager is saying Alexander's finished properly and should get 1st place because they had passed the first gate marker. But the Tybee team manager contends that you have to go through the gate. Mike Worrell said he will have to check the rules. So stay tuned.
11:50 a.m.
Just a note of clarification for Worrell-watchers: the catsailor.com site
as well as all the team sites I have visited are counting the legs starting
with the Miami-Fort Lauderdale leg as Leg 1. However, the official Worrell
1000 site calls the Miami-Fort Lauderdale leg the "Start Leg,"
and they call the leg from Fort Lauderdale to Jensen Beach Leg 1. So the
rest of us are out of synch with the legs for the official results postings.
We are all calling this leg from Jensen Beach to Cocoa Beach Leg 3, but
the results will be posted on the Worrell1000.com site as Leg 2.
Possibly this is because they already had all the legs formatted this
way on the website from when the race used to start from Fort Lauderdale.
Or maybe somebody is superstitious and does not want to have a 13th leg.
If the starting leg from Miami is #1, that makes the finish leg to Virginia
Beach #13.
10:08 a.m.
Everybody got off okay, but some had difficulty getting through the surf
even with two pushers. Some only had one. We will have some good action
pictures posted soon on our main Worrell 1000 page.
9:57 a.m.
They are ready for the 10 a.m. start. Mike Worrell is allowing two pushers
for this start, apparently because the breeze is light out of the east-southeast
and the surf is pretty big. Too bad for the teams that only have one pusher
available. Speculation: Could the second pusher get on the shoulders of
the other pusher so they could keep pushing until they are in 12-foot
of water?
7:25 a.m.
Leg 3 of the Worrell 1000 starts today at 10:00 a.m. from Jensen Beach,
with the next destination being Cocoa Beach, 79 miles north. Looks like
another reaching leg. Question is, will the wind shift enough to the south
to finally give the boats a good spinnaker run? The weather map on my
local Miami station last night made it look as though the best chance
for more southerly wind in the race area is along the shore.
7:10 a.m
Weather report for Cocoa Beach area:
Today. Partly sunny. Highs in the mid 80s. East
winds 5 mph increasing to 10-15 mph.
Tonight. Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 70s. Southeast winds 5 to 10
mph.
Wednesday. Mostly sunny. Highs in the upper 80s. Southeast winds 10 to
15 mph.
7:00 a.m.
It appears to me that the team list and links are now updated on our website.
Nobody bothered to tell me that they were updated, so please ignore what
I said in the post below this. Anyway, you can get to the teams and links
right from our main worrell 1000 page.
6:35 a.m.
As of last evening we were finally able to post several video clips, as
well as some still photos on our main 2002 Worrell 1000 page. Check them
out.
Teams with the best coverage on their own websites are PI Sailing and Tommy Bahama. PI Sailing has always been the leader in this realm, but this year Tommy Bahama gets my vote for best team site. PLUS, they have a GPS tracking unit on their boat so you can follow their progress on the water. PLUS, they have that really neat idea of giving a prize each leg to whoever comes closest to guessingin advanceTommy Bahama's elapsed time for that leg. They were having an antenna problem for the tracking system, and it is supposed to be fixed by Wednesday, if not sooner.
Meanwhile, as you may already have heard, the catsailor.com plans to have GPS tracking units on all the boats fell through totally -- apparently, a difference of opinion within the company that was supposed to be providing them. Now we know what Michael Worrell goes through in trying to get this race organized -- first they say they will and then they won't, then they say they do and then they don't....
Also, we are aware that our team list and links are not up to date. Rick will try to correct that as soon as he can. We, of course, like the rest of the world, did not see a current list with links until it was posted on the official Worrell 1000 site on Sunday. Since then, Rick has been busy trying to get the satellite dish working, and I, of course, am computer illiterate, so I can't fix the team list on our site from this end.
MONDAY, MAY 6, 2002
1:55 p.m.
The leaders are about 15 miles south of the finish
line at Jensen Beach. Alexander's has a big lead. Tybee Island is in 2nd,
San Antonio in 3rd, one of the Bay Wind teams is 4th and Tommy Bahama
is in 5th. They are expected to arrive at Jensen Beach in about 45 minutes.
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10:30 a.m.
The start went off smoothly at 10 a.m. Winds
are 12-15 mph out of the east and slightly north, so it looks like a close
reach to Jensen Beach, 80.7 miles north from Fort Lauderdale. Our media
bus avoided being decapitated by stopping just short of a low bridge getting
out of the parking lot. This diversion and having to unhitch the boat
trailer to get everything turned around is the reason this posting is
a little late. As usual, there are more problems on shore than on the
water.
12:20 a.m.
From the Team Bay Wind web site, http://baywindusa.com,
by Reigh North regarding the Sunday morning meeting with race organizer
Michael Worrell: The meeting went well. The big thing is that he (Mike
Worrell) will not allow another Jensen Beach to occur, if it is rough,
there will be no start.
12:15 a.m.
Team Caribbean/Cat Fever (Todd Hart and Davis
Murray) has a really good web site, www.teamcatfever.com, and I borrowed
the following excerpt to give you some incentive to visit their site during
the rest of the race. Links to the team web sites are on the team page
you can access from our main Worrell page. Cat Fever posted this on Saturday,
May 4:
Todd and Davis arrived in South Beach Miami to a very
hot afternoon where the temperature as well as the humidity was in the
90's. Very far cry from the balmy eighty degree weather of the Virgin
Islands. Making matters a bit worse the boats are in a parking lot adjacent
to the beach where there is little or no wind for cooling. Everything,
including metal tools, parts and pieces, that are left in the sun are
too hot to handle. Summer has definitely arrived in South Florida.
Before the teams arrival in Miami they confided in me about their secret
location. Turns out it was Ricks Place (see www.catsailor.com on the home
page) in Key Largo, where the team spent some time fine tuning the blue
magic carpet they are going to fly with to Virginia.
The hotel and staging area for the start of the first race is on the sea
end of 21st street and highway A1A. The racers moods are mellow and reflective.
Many of the competitors have raced against each other before and when
the days work ends spend time renewing old friendships.
Hour by hour the racers converge on the starting point. They unload their
gear, assemble the boats, do final adjustments and begin to prepare themselves
mentally for the racing days to follow. Many drive days to arrive in Florida
for the start, some come from foreign shores and many thousands of miles
away.
The team Caribbean- CatFever has been in a flurry to make final adjustments
preparing the small boat taking it from a buoy racer to an ocean endurance
racer. The boat must be prepared differently and much more resistant to
equipment failure. Extra gear is added aboard including epirbs, gps, and
survival material. Sail control systems as well as rig adjustments are
important and must be tested to maximize performance. Team logos brighten
the new main sails. Davis and Todds sail show off the crossed sabers and
skull of a jolly roger , the teams emblem. Also emblazoned on the sail
is the bright red logo from Latitude 18, and the yellow lightening bolt
of Lighting Phill.
Davis would like to thank everyone that made his fund raiser a success.
Keep tuned for more racing news and results as Team Cat Fever races up
the east coast to Virginia Beach.
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SUNDAY, MAY 5, 2002
11:55 p.m.
As usual, PI Sailing's website is the best place
to get the firsthand reports from sailors on the water -- and they even
have their ground crew writing. Here is a segment from the ground crew's
report today:
Again, no matter how much time we had to work and make adjustments on the boat, we just ran out of time, change trap lines, tape all rings, knots, anything sharp, took apart a rudder arm that was loose, used a coke a cola can to use a shims, broke a rivet gun, safety gear secure , chart bag placed, jib up and down a few times, sails measured and certified, back and forth from the vehicles a few dozen times, lost and found keys to the van once, ended up it was in the Team Mangers front pocket – did we say that he was the one looking for them??? PI did go out for a test run and came back saying – DO NOT touch the boat....
7:25 p.m.
The results are on our main Worrell 1000 page.
7:20 p.m.
San Antonio was second to the beach and Tybee Island was third. All but two of the boats are in.
7:10 p.m.
It's definite, Team Castrol (Jay Sonnenklar and John Casey) was first to the beach at Fort Lauderdale. It is home water for Jay, who lives in Davie, just south of Fort Lauderdale.
7:05 p.m.
Our intrepid reporter Rick White is sitting in a traffic jam, but he says he can see three or four boats in. Looks like first was Castrol and second San Antonio. This is just rumor mill at this point, because nothing official listed yet on the Worrell 1000 site.
5:45 p.m.
The boats are off the beach. Start was at 5:30 with two tiers of nine boats each, starting one minute apart. Wind is out of the east, slightly southeast, at 8-10 mph. None of the boats flew spinnakers at the start. It appears they are going to reach out until they get a better angle to fly chutes on their approach to Fort Lauderdale. It is less than 23 miles to Fort Lauderdale, and it is going to be tough for the ground crew and media to beat them there -- the boats have a lot less traffic to contend with, and there will be a LOT of traffic leaving Fort Lauderdale following the Air Show, which is just ending.
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see what they have to offer! Thanks!
SUNDAY, MAY 5, 2002, 4:40 p.m
This is the current list of the teams for the 18 boats on the beach as we approach starting time for the race, now set for 5:30 p.m. First name listed under the team name is the team manager. The number in parentheses following each team member's name is the number of times participating in the race, including this one. The number following that is the person's age as of May. The initial in parentheses at the end indicates married or single.
Alexander's on the Bay
Richard C. Senn
Brian J. Lambert (5th) 36 Ft Walton Beach, FL Architect (M)
Jamie B. Livingston (5th) 39 Miami, FL Programmer (M)
AntieauArt
David Strickland
Carl D. Roberts (6th) 48 Brighton, MI Residential Designer (M)
David A. Lennard (2nd) 40 Wilmington, NC Home Builder (M)
AthletesInAction.net
Will Rottering
Chris E. Sawyer (3rd) 31 Pensacola, FL Long Distance Communication (S)
Matt H. Struble (3rd) 29 Bay City, MI Foundry Mgr. (S)
Bay Wind I
Jason Rhodes
Richard H. Pleasants (4th) 41 Falls Church, VA Design & Construction
Mgr (S)
Reigh North (2nd) 40 Vancouver, CAN Aircraft Ramp Operations (S)
Bay Wind II
Jason Rhodes
Craig B. Callahan (2nd) 39 Fort Lauderdale, FL Commercial Diver (M)
Rob J. Lancaster (1st) 31 Arlington, VA Project Manager (M)
Caliente
John Wilson
T.F. "Tommy" Gonzalez (1st) 39 Miami, FL Professional Sailor
(S)
Mark G. Murray (3rd) 40 Gulf Breeze, FL Professional Sailor (S)
Caribbean/Cat Fever
Jodie E. Perkins
Todd A. Hart (4th) 35 Manteo, NC Carpenter (M)
Davis G. Murray (2nd) 45 St. Thomas, USVI Professional Sailor (M)
Castrol
Terry Greene
Joseph J. "Jay" Sonnenklar (3rd) 39 Davie, FL Owner Auto Svc
Franchise (M)
John H. Casey (2nd) 27 Longwood, FL Medical Transcriber (S)
Dimension Data
Gordon F. McGillivray
Allan A. Lawrence (1st) 37 Cape Town, SA Export Wine Merchant
John H. Van Der Vyer (1st) 31 Cape Town, SA Financial Director
Fully Involved/Space Coast
Linda Bauman
Mark B. Herendeen (1st) 33 Melbourne, FL Sales/Marketing (S)
Les A. Bauman (2nd) 38 Boca Raton, FL Firefighter (M)
Howard's Pub
(No team manager)
Mark Stopforth (1st) 25 Cape Town, SA Professional Sailor (S)
Doug Kirby (1st) 37 Annapolis, MD Project Manager (S)
LexisNexis
Christine J. Haas
Brendan G. Busch (3rd) 34 La Honda, CA, Software Design (M)
James T. Korkosz (2nd) 36 Los Angeles, CA Electrical Foreman (M)
Outer Banks
(No team manager)
John R. McLaughlin (6th) 54 Pasadena, MD Graphic Designer (S)
John R. "Rick" Parsley, Jr. (1st) 36 Mechanicsville, VA Owner
Sign Company (S)
PI Sailing
Christopher P. Holt
Steve W. Piche (3rd) 38 Austin, TX Software Research & Dev (M)
Ian M. Billings (2nd) 34 Dallas, TX Field Engineer / Seismic (S)
Rudee's Restaurant
(No team manager)
Gerard A. Loos (3rd) 49 Zandvoort, NED Professional Sailor (S)
Piet Heemskerk (2nd) 54 Lisse, NED Professional Sailor (M)
San Antonio
Ray Seta
John A. Tomko (2nd) 26 San Antonio, TX Cabinet Maker (S)
John S. Oliveira (1st) 36 San Antonio, TX Network Technician (S)
Tommy Bahama
John E. Williams
S. Alex Shafer (2nd) 31 Eustis, FL Utility Contractor (M)
Nigel A. Pitt (2nd) 42 Hartwell, GA Building Contractor (M)
Tybee Island
G. B."Chuck" Bargeron
Stephen G."Steve" Lohmayer (5th) 41 Tavernier, FL Builder (S)
Kenneth A."Kenny" Pierce (4th) 33 Hialeah, FL Warehouse Manager
(S)
May 5, 2002, 12:45 p.m.
The start was originally scheduled for 4 p.m. from Miami Beach, but it may be postponed until 5 p.m. The reason is that it is only a 22.7-mile run to Fort Lauderdale. The winds are right now out of the Southeast at 12-15 knots. It looks like a very fast spinnaker run, and these boats can easily average 20 knots. The problem is that there is a big air show going on in Fort Lauderdale and they don't want the boats to arrive until after 6 p.m. It would cause serious scoring problems if the Coast Guard prevented the boats from entering the area. It IS supposed to be a combined Sea and Air Show, but apparently they aren't very much into the sea part of it, which is why the start of the Worrell 1000 had to be moved to Miami last year, to avoid the conflicts with the air show in Fort Lauderdale.
According to the official Worrell 1000 website, 25 boats were registered as of May 1, but right now there are only 18 boats on the beach.
May 5, 2002, 11:40 a.m.
Word is that before the boats leave Fort Lauderdale tomorrow Mike Worrell will announce what boat will be used for the Worrell 1000 in 2003. I'm betting on the Hobie Tiger. I don't know why I think that. What do you think? You can place your "bets" on our new Worrell 1000 forum, which can be accessed from our main Worrell 1000 page, just "back" from here.
May 5, 2002, 10:40 a.m.
Excitement is starting to build here in Miami as sailors prepare for the 4:00 p.m. start on the first, very short hop up to Fort Lauderdale, with arrival there expected at 6-7 p.m. All the sails were measured early this morning. Right now the sailors are in the process of being weighed and are in a meeting with race organizer Michael Worrell.
The Catsailor.com team is still getting satellite dish adjusted and computer hooked up. Should be a story posted later today on the website.