Worrell 1000 --
Catsailor's Beach Hot Line by Mary
(Note: The most recent news postings are on the top, toggle down for previous posts)

MONDAY, MAY 13, 2002 -- LAY DAY

10:30 p.m.
Rick is working right now posting some reactions to the announcement of the boat for the 2003 Worrell.. Check our Main Worrell 1000 Page in a while if you are still up.

8:35 p.m.

The announcement has just been made. The boat for next year is the Formula 18HT Javelin 2. Here are the boat specs:

Currently, all the F-18HT's in North America are made by Bimare and are called Javelin 2, although I have now seen the information on the F-18HT website referring to Javelin B (may be a typo on their website.) Whatever or whichever it is, these are the specs for the Formula 18HT, as provided by the class rules: (later update -- website definitely says Javelin B 2003.)

The Formula 18 HT class rules, as relate to the boat specs, are as follows:
Length Overall (LOA) 5.5 meters (18 feet)
Max. Beam 2.5 meters (8'2")
Max. Mast Height 10.5 meters (34.4')
Min. Boat Weight 130 kilograms (286 lbs)
Max. Mainsail area 20 square meters (218 sq. ft.)
Max. Spinnaker area 20 square meters (218 sq. ft.)
No Jib

Rick says there were more boos than cheers in the room following the announcement.

If you want to see more about the boat, go to http://www.f18htclass.com.

What is next year's boat? Just want you to know the following stuff was posted before the announcement, just in case I get it right.
The sailors will be on their way soon to the big party tonight at Studebaker's. The Worrell group is going to be in a banquet room upstairs. Tonight is the moment we have all been waiting for -- the announcement of the boat that will be used in next year's race. It seems to be a very well kept secret, because there has not been so much as a rumor.
I suggested the Hobie Tiger, only because I know Hobie Cat company has been promoting that boat so heavily recently. But Doug Skidmore, president of Hobie Cat, told me Mike Worrell has not contacted him. I guess that rules out the Hobie Fox, too. Skidmore did tell me that he has heard a rumor that it is going to be a Formula 18 of some kind.
Rick White thinks it is going to be the Formula 18HT (probably the Jav 2). "HT" stands for high tech. It's very similar to the standard formula 18, but a lot lighter. The 18HT class is being promoted here in the United States by W.F. Oliver. The other day I was talking to W.F. about something else, and I asked him why he isn't racing in the Worrell 1000. He said he can't take off that much time from work and also that distance races like that are not really his cup of tea and he prefers buoys racing. And then he added that he might consider racing the Worrell next year because it might be a special circumstance. I would call that a clue on behalf of Rick's theory about next year's boat.

I just went to the Formula 18HT website, and it says, "Huge news coming in May about the Formula 18HT."
We will know the answer soon.

* * * * *

Big storm might be hitting Myrtle Beach area later today, associated with a cold front coming through. Weather forecasts say there could be wind up to 60 mph and hail and maybe even a tornado. Reportedly, all the boats have dropped their masts and battened down and tied down as well as possible.

Rick says the wind is in the 30's right now, blowing sand. John McLaughlin of Team Outer Banks found some boards at a construction site, tied lines around them, buried them in the sand, and then tied the boat to the lines attached to the buried boards. Some other teams have done similar things. Some are using the screw-in anchors. We will have some pictures and/or video on our main worrell page real soon.

The weather reports I have seen all sound like the worst weather is going to be farther north, like New England, New Jersey, Virginia....maybe even as far south as Hatteras.

Current marine report for Myrtle Beach area:
Tonight
SW wind 25 to 30 kt becoming NW late and diminishing to 20 to 25 kt. Seas 4 to 5 ft...increasing to 6 to 7 ft. Showers and tstms likely...mainly from late evening on. Winds and seas higher in tstms.
Tue
NW wind 20 kt diminishing to 15 kt. Seas 5 to 6 ft... subsiding to 3 to 4 ft.
Tue Night
NW wind 10 to 15 kt becoming N. Seas 2 to 3 ft.

* * * * * * * * * *

Lay days are dangerous. People have too much time on their hands -- too much time to fiddle and tinker and fix and perfect. Well, Rick was "perfecting" my beach hotline page here, and, in the process, he managed to eliminate all the work I had done since last Friday, many pages and thousands of words of brilliant prose.

Was it an accident? Or was it subliminal professional jealousy kicking in because I had more coverage on my page than he has had on his?

At any rate, it is all gone. But who cares about yesterday's legs anyway; right? So I will try to start anew and forgive and forget.

Legs 7 and 8 are erased, but everything from Leg 6 backward is still here, for anybody who wants to scroll down. Unfortunately, a lot of the most interesting items were posted this past weekend. Luckily, you can catch up on almost everything if you surf through all the team websites.

* * * * * * * * * *

Announcements from the Official Worrell 1000 page:

Myrtle Beach, SC. - Leg 8 - All teams to arrive before 12:17:03 A.M. EDT beat the existing time record for this leg! (That means the first 14 boats that finished last night.)

Monday, May 13th will be a transition day back to daytime racing. The night legs are over, and the boats will start for Wrightsville Beach, NC at 10:00 A.M. EDT on Tuesday morning.

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It's always something

It's amazing how simple things that happen to every novice sailor continue to keep happening to us throughout our sailing careers. Don't we ever learn? Or are there just too many details to keep track of on a sailboat?
The Worrell 1000, with its many highly experienced sailors, should give hope to novices who do silly things like forgetting to pull up their daggerboards when they come in to the beach. In the Worrell 1000 this particular mistake can perhaps be explained by what one sailor describes as the zen-like state that he gets into during these long-distance races. It's hard to get back into landing mode and remember those details about how to come ashore.
But there are other things that would seem to be preventable beforehand.
Like a trapeze system breaking and dropping the sailor in the water. Everybody knows that the trapeze system is very vulnerable. It can fail at numerous different points, causing the sailor to leave the boat - not good in a long-distance race. And yet it continues to happen, as it did with Chris Sawyer in the leg to Tybee Island.
Like a mainsheet system not being threaded properly, as happened with Tommy Bahama the other day. It was not put through the traveler, and the error was discovered while they were being pushed out through the surf. They corrected it while their pushers held them in position, and they did not lose much time. The team manager was pretty embarrassed about this mistake.
Like what happened with Baywind I when Richard Pleasants discovered, about 8 minutes before the start, that his trapeze harness was broken and ground crew had to make a mad dash to get a new spreader bar for it.
The sailors and the ground crews all work very, very hard to make sure they are prepared. But inevitably, some little detail will be overlooked - and those little details, added up over the course of this race, are what make the difference between winners and losers.

(A moment of silence here, please, in respect for the thousands of missing words between the above paragraph and the below paragraph.)

FRIDAY, MAY 10, 2002 -- LEG 6, JACKSONVILLE BEACH, FL TO TYBEE ISLAND, GA, 121.3 MILES

This is the longest leg of the race. If they sail the rhumb line, it will take the fleet at least 50 miles offshore. Sometimes it pays to take the straightest line, and sometimes it pays to play the shoreline -- longer, but faster if you get more wind or a better angle. For the ground crew, there is no tactical choice. Their driving distance is about 170 miles, as per the driving directions at the Lexis Nexis website.

Weather report: At Jacksonville Beach, report for today is for winds ESE at 10-15 mph. At Tybee Island, GA, forecast for today is: Partly cloudy in the morning with isolated thunderstorms developing later in the day. High near 87F. Winds SSE 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%. Wind near calm this evening.

7:18 p.m.
Now everybody has finished except for Baywind II and Dimension Data.

7:10 p.m.
Bay Wind II, still out, has had a bad day all around. They broke a rudder casting at the start, losing 15 minutes. And then they had to come ashore late this afternoon in the vicinity of Jekyll Island with a broken rudder gudgeon. According to the Bay Wind web site, this was a result of them being forced into the surf line and shallow water by another boat. Their ground crew was not able to get to them, of course, so they jury-rigged a repair. They are among the missing at this point.

6:50 p.m.
As of now, six boats are still not in, according to the official Worrell site -- Howard's Pub, Fully Involved/Space Coast, Dimension Data, Caliente, Bay Wind II and Outer Banks.

6:40 p.m.
Rick is having a problem getting the satellite dish working, so don't expect any videos tonight from the Tybee Island finish. He will be getting some still photos posted before too long. So far the Catsailor sat dish has been the only way to get videos out directly from the race site, which is why some of the other teams have been posting their videos here, as you may have already been enjoying on our main Worrell page. Rick hopes to get the problem resolved by tomorrow.

6:20 p.m.
Jim Zellmer of Athletes in Action reported a true story of athletes in action. He says they were leading all day until (unspecified time) when Chris Sawyer's trapeze hook broke, leaving Chris in the water. Jim then released the spinnaker but was unable to uncleat the main fast enough, and the boat capsized. Chris was unable (too tired) to swim to the boat, so Jim threw the righting line in the water and towed the boat to Chris. All ended well, since they apparently are at the beach to tell this story.

6:13 p.m.
Brian Lambert of Team Alexander's says were doing pretty good trying to cover Tybee, but were getting too far outside the rhumb line. When they jibed to come back in, they capsized. Jamie Livingston, when he fell from the high hull, landed on the lower hull and put a hole in it somehow and the boat started taking on a lot of water.

6:08 p.m.
Leaders sailed the rhumb line, but just inside it. The ones that went outside the rhumb line didn't do as well.Alexander's just about lost it in the surf and also lost a lot in the overall time by going outside the rhumb line.

6:03 p.m.
3rd looks like San Antonio, 4th Tybee Island, and then Nexis Lexis.

6:00 p.m.
Castrol is in first, followed by Tommy Bahama.

5:10 p.m.
The boats are expected to start arriving at about 6:00 p.m.

If our web site is as slow loading for you as it is for me right now, it is because of the tremendous amount of traffic and people lining up to watch the videos. Also, Rick forgot to file yesterday's leg with its very awesome videos in the Leg Files. He just got to Tybee and is setting up his satellite dish, so he will get that stuff from yesterday filed later this evening.It will be filed as Leg 5.

4:25 p.m.
The Tommy Bahama site is reporting the following items:

Baywind II was on the beach just north of Jeykll Island, GA with a broken rudder gudgeon. They rigged something up as the ground crew could not get to them. They are back off the beach, but no word on how long they were delayed. One report says they got forced in too shallow by another boat, so that means some are in fact, running along the coast.

The Castrol team motorhome and extra boat that was being trailered was hit from the rear by another car. No one was hurt. There is damage to their spare boat & they are looking to get it repaired now. The Tommy Bahama ground crew has been asked to take care of the Castrol boat as it comes in. No word on where this occurred at this time. Again, no one was hurt in the accident.

1:20 p.m.
Today's destination, Tybee Island, Georgia, is the "home port" of Team Tybee Island, so you know that Steve Lohmayer and Kenny Pierce really want to be the first through the finish gate there. This is the fourth year for Team Tybee, and the whole town turns out to support their team. Team Tybee has never yet arrived there first. Last year they were second to the beach, in 2000 they were 7th, and in 1999 they were 4th. This year is really special because at the start of today's leg Team Tybee was holding onto the overall race lead by 2 minutes 17 seconds over Athletes in Action. And Team Alexander's and Team Castrol are within spitting distance. In fact, as of this morning, less than four minutes separated the first four boats after more than 22 hours of racing.

Today could spread things out and mix things up a little. It's a long way and a long day to Tybee. In fact, the Catsailor motorhome might even beat them there.

Why Tybee Island as a checkpoint, and why such a long leg? According to the Tybee website, it is the first inhabited beach north of Jacksonville that can handle the race.

12:20 p.m.
According to the Tommy Bahama tracking site, the actual rhumb line distance from Jacksonville Beach to Tybee Island is a little over 105 nautical miles. The race was off to a slow start -- in the first hour Tommy Bahama had gone 5 miles. If the wind continues like this, the boats will be late getting in, and the Tybee Island forecast is now calling for winds near calm this evening.

12:00 noon
Mike Worrell has clarified that not only will two pushers be allowed for the duration of the event, but that two "catchers" also will be allowed at the finishes for the rest of the event.

4:30 a.m.
On our old open forum someone asked about whether someone is allowed to help the boat before it crosses the finish line when they are coming in to the beach, since in the videos you can usually see someone charging out into the water to help.

The rules allow one team member (either from their own team or another team) to assist the boat while it is still on the seaward side of the finish line. If more than one team member helps the boat, or if someone helps who is not an officially registered team member, the boat will be assessed a five minute penalty for that leg.

There is another rule, however, that says "A team that capsizes and/or experiences an emergency in the surf may accept assistance but shall be penalized 15 minutes for that leg." The penalty rules are probably why in one video a leg or two back you hear the team yelling, "Don't touch the boat, don't touch the boat!" to someone who was going to assist but apparently was not a team member. The rule about the 15-minute penalty, when it is implemented, supersedes another rule that says a boat in distress shall be disqualified from the race if it receives assistance from anyone other than another sailing team.

As Michael Worrell always explains, the rules for this race are constantly evolving. Just when you think you have every situation covered, something new and different happens. The race started out with a start point and a finish point and one rule, "Keep the continent on your left." Now the rules are 13 pages, single-spaced. That is part of the appeal of this race -- you never know what can happen that has never happened before.

4:00 a.m.
You may be wondering, as I have, why I have no beach reports on this page when the boats are arriving at the beach. Well, it's because I have not had a reporter at the beach. Our video guy is there, but Rick has only seen one finish so far -- just has not been able to beat the boats there. He says he is going to try to convince Mike Worrell to do the race with Hobie Waves next year so he can get to the finish before the boats. (Just kidding, folks.)

The reason it is hard to get to the beach on time is not because our motorhome is on its last legs. It's because this year Rick has a satellite dish for uploading the video and pictures for your viewing pleasure. It takes time to set it up and dismantle it each day. It also takes a lot of time to upload those video clips, not to mention editing time and encoding time. But personally I think the videos are far better than having someone try to describe these finishes in mere words.

I love the personal interviews with team members, too. Regarding the one yesterday (Leg 5) with Mark Stopforth, the South African sailing for Howard's Pub, I asked Rick for a point of clarification. The interview was about all the personal gear he was wearing, how they protect themselves from the sun, how they get liquids, etc. It was very informative, except I still did not understand what that yellow thing was on his shoulder, because the videographer did not zoom in on it. I knew it had something to do with food, because Mark said he carries that yellow thing instead of power bars. It turns out that yellow thing is a banana that is taped to his left shoulder.

3:30 a.m.
More turtle reports yesterday. This from Steve Piche's report, PI Sailing Team:

Along the Florida coast there are a lot of big sea turtles. These turtles are usually anywhere from 3 to 6 feet in diameter. We usually see one or two turtles a day. They often hang out near the surface and quickly dive under when they see us coming. Well, today I saw something I had never seen before. We drove past two turtles that were mating. Now I have seen everything -- turtle love on the high seas.

Please see my comprehensive turtle coverage a couple days back in the reports below, under Leg 4. I did not find anything anything on the Internet about the mating practices of turtles, so we are glad to have this eyewitness report that it is indeed possible. (Now, if we could only find out about porcupines.)

Piche also reported that a large ray jumped out of the water in front of the boat and did a back flip. He said it must have had a four-foot wingspan.

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THURSDAY, MAY 9, 2002 -- LEG 5, DAYTONA BEACH TO JACKSONVILLE, 79 MILES

6:45 p.m.

Our videos are up and running on our Worrell page, and they are absolutely awesome!

4:50 p.m.
In case you are wondering about the I-20 rule regarding trampolines, someone has sent me a copy of the class rules, and it says, "all boats must be equipped with an Inter licensed trampoline. Hiking straps, spinnaker and equipment bags may be added or altered. Up to 8 grommets or straps may be added as gear attachment points. No other modifications are allowed. The tramp size, shape, and method of attachment to the hulls or beams may not be altered."

4:00 p.m.

It must have been a wild scene at today's finish in Jacksonville beach, with the first seven boats finishing within two and a half minutes. Athletes in Action had the lead approaching the finish, but had a problem with their spinnaker. While dealing with that, they forgot to raise their starboard daggerboard. It got stuck in the sand -- very stuck -- and they finally were able to drag the boat through the finish gate by its bowsprit. In the meantime, Castrol beat them in to take the win for the day. Third was Tybee Island, which still has the overall lead. Lots of good video will be posted at our Worrell site very soon.

11:00 a.m.

Videos and photos from the start at Daytona Beach are at our main Worrell site.

10:10 a.m.

It was a spinnaker start for most of the boats, with the wind about 8-18 mph out of the southwest (slightly offshore). Everybody is off okay. Word is that two pushers will be allowed for the duration of the event, as they were the last two legs.

Regarding illegal trampolines (see below posts): Word is that only one team had a problem -- Team Rudee's, which had extra grommets in their trampoline, and they have removed them. (hmmm, I know how to put in a grommet, but how do you remove one?)

9:45 a.m.

Well, the problem with the supposedly "illegal" trampolines has apparently been resolved thanks to Chuck Bargeron, manager of Team Tybee. If you have been reading the posts on this site, you know that supposedly nine boats have trampolines that do not conform to the Inter 20 class rules. And supposedly they were going to have to correct the situation by this morning before the start from Daytona to Jacksonville. But at this morning's pre-race meeting, Mike Worrell said the problem is resolved. We do not know what Chuck Bargeron has to do with it, but maybe something will be available later. Meanwhile, all boats are apparently exonerated and free to launch.

Personally, I have been surfing the Internet and trying to find some site that has class rules for the Inter 20 and have not been able to find anything. Does anybody out there know what the class rules are? I'll call Performance Catamarans out in California after they get up and see what I can find out.

8:00 a.m.

After setting a new leg record for Cocoa to Daytona, Matt Struble is jumping ship from Athletes in Action, which he has been piloting to this point. He has to go back to work. Chris Sawyer will move over to the helm position and new crew will be Jim Zellmer, a very experienced sailor from Putney, VT, who will be participating in the race for the first time. (Correction: An alert viewer has told me that Jim has sailed in at least one prior Worrell 1000. Sure enough, he sailed with Garrett Norton on Team New England in 1998).

7:40 a.m.

Yesterday all the boats broke the existing speed record for the leg from Cocoa Beach to Daytona Beach. But what exactly was the prior record?

In 1997 Team Chick's Beach, with Randy Smyth and Jason Sneed on a Nacra 6.0 set a record of 6:39:45 for that leg, with the leg distance being given as 73.7 statute miles.

In 2001 Team Alexander's, with Brian Lambert and Jamie Livingston on an Inter 20 set a record of 6:26:27, but for a leg distance given as 68.9 statute miles.

Some mathematically inclined person can figure out which would have been the real record based upon distance of the leg.

However, regardless of what the prior record was, it was substantially broken yesterday by all of the boats. The leader, Athletes in Action, with Chris Sawyer and Matt Struble, finished 68.9 statute miles in 5:01:43, and the last boat finished in 5:27:11.

6:45 a.m.

WEATHER:
6:30 a.m. forecast for the Jacksonville Beach area today:
Partly cloudy. High around 91F. Winds SSE 10 to 15 mph.
UV Index is 10 (very high)

6:30 a.m.

A Worrell fan who was having trouble viewing the video because of some older software offered the solution below that worked for him. I hope you all manage to see our videos. What I love most about them is the audio -- being able to hear waves crashing, people yelling and sails flailing in the wind are what make me feel almost like I am there. As Rick has already told you on our main Worrell page, Netscape does not work well for viewing the videos, and you really need Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or later. In the situation below, the version of Internet Explorer was very current, but his MediaPlayer, for some reason, was not.

I have IE 5.5 but MediaPlayer is too old.
1) Go to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/en/download/default.asp
2) Download/install version 7.1

There is a 'bug' in the install. I was still not able to view directly from web site. So, to view:
1) Right mouse click on image
2) Select 'save as' - to store on local disk
3) Double-click from Windows Explorer to launch MediaPlayer

Instead of Pay-Per-View, these great Sponsors are helping foot the bill. Please Click on their ads and see what they have to offer! Thanks!

WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 2002 -- LEG 4, COCOA BEACH TO DAYTONA BEACH

9:00 p.m.

Finally, I found some resolution to the question about illegal trampolines (see "Early Items" down there somewhere below the turtles.) On the Tommy Bahama site was the following:

The committees announced this morning that they'd inspected the fleet for compliance with the I-20 class rules. They have made a list of nine teams that do not comply with the trampoline limitations, but mentioned no team specifically.According to Mike Worrell, the teams will be given a chance to meet the rule at the next checkpoint. Teams that choose to not comply will be subject to unspecified consequences. When specifically questioned, the race committee said the Tommy Bahama Team is in full compliance.

5:15 p.m.
I have heard a rumor that Sports Illustrated is working on an article about the Worrell 1000. Supposedly they had a reporter in Miami and will have someone at Hatteras.

1:15 p.m. and updated with new information as of 9:00 p.m.)

THE POLITICALLY CORRECT WAY TO TREAT TURTLES
Brendan Busch and Jim Korkosz of Lexis Nexis should get a "Politically Correct" award for their humanitarian action yesterday in capsizing their boat to avoid hitting a sea turtle. However, Gerard Loos and Piet Heemskerk of the Netherlands, sailing for Team Rudee's Restaurant were definitely not being politically correct, because they actually hit a turtle. They were punished for this aggressive behavior against an endangered species by having their port daggerboard broken off. (It is also slightly suspicious that a team sponsored by a restaurant would attack a turtle.)

According to a report on the Tommy Bahama web site, the turtle sighted by Lexis Nexis was "the size of a VW. The team was forced to ditch the boat or run aground on the small island." Their spinnaker pole did not survive the capsize, bending nearly double.

There is a question here as to whether humans on sailboats are more dangerous to turtles or whether the turtles are more dangerous to humans. Turtles are always major obstacles to the racers during the Worrell 1000. Randy Smyth told of approaching a turtle, just lying there on top of the water, that was wider than the distance between his hulls. He somehow managed to avoid being stuck on top of the turtle's back. Rick White, back in the 1980's, during his one venture into the Worrell 1000, had his boat damaged irreparably after hitting a turtle early in the race. Numerous daggerboards have been broken on the "armored behemoths," as John Williams describes them.

I diligently searched the Internet this morning to find some kind of scientific information regarding sea turtles, but it was very difficult. Most of the turtle sites are politically motivated sites devoted to saving the turtles, getting you to adopt a turtle, getting you to buy turtle-related merchandise for turtle charities, etc. But I finally found a site that has some scientific information about these critters.

Now, I realize that the sailors in the Worrell 1000, traveling at 20 mph and concentrating on the race, are not taking notes on exactly what the turtles look like that they encounter in the waters off the coasts of Florida and Georgia and the Carolinas. But here are descriptions of the species they are most likely to see:

The Loggerhead Turtle: Of all the sea turtles that nest in the United States, the loggerhead, which gets its name from the exceptionally large head, is the one seen most often. While all the other species found near the U.S. coastline are listed as endangered, the loggerhead is classified as threatened, which means they are numerous than the other species but are still in danger of extinction. Adult loggerheads weigh up to 350 pounds and have a reddish-brown upper shell that can be as long as 41 inches. Nesting season runs from May through September in the United States. Each turtle lays from 4-7 nests per season, approximately14 days apart. Loggerhead nesting is concentrated in two main areas of the world - at Masirah Island, Oman in the Middle East and on the coast of the southeastern United States. Up to 25,000 Loggerheads nest in the southeast U.S. each year, with the majority of the nesting taking place on Florida's Atlantic coast between the inlet at Cape Canaveral and the Sebastian Inlet.

The Green Turtle: This is an endangered species, but they still nest in significant numbers on the east coast of Florida. Female green turtles that nest in Florida average more than three feet in carapace length and average about 300 pounds. The largest green turtle ever found was 5 feet in length and weighed 871 lbs. It has a very dark-colored shell. The females lay an average of three to five egg clutches about 12 days between each nesting. Nesting season runs from June through October in the United States.

The Leatherback Turtle: These are also endangered, and a few nest on the east coast of Florida from March through July. This is the largest of the sea turtles. Mature leatherbacks typically reach about 4-8 feet in length and weigh from 650 to 1,300 lbs. The largest leatherback ever recorded was almost 10 feet from the tip of its beak to the tip of its tail and weighed in at 2,019 lbs.

Since this is the beginning of turtle nesting season, I would guess that most of those turtles lounging around offshore and getting in the way of the Worrell 1000 boats are females. Obviously, the only thing more politically incorrect than hitting a turtle is hitting a pregnant female turtle.