The 2002 Worrell 1000
(Note: The latest leg is displayed on this page, starting with the the most recent information on top. Click a hot link directing you to other past pages or pages of interest)

Lexis Nexis Takes a Victory by 1/2 Boat Length
Castrol nosed out -- lost the battle, winning the war

The first two boats came around the Wilmington Jetty and streaked toward the finish line almost side by side. Castrol had a slight two boatlength lead over Lexis Nexis. They were both sailing closed hauled and going right at the finish line. But the winds at the finish line were extremely shifty.

The wind headed both teams and Castrol tacked first for the line, but had understood by a hair. With boards up and sailing close to the wind they could not get the boat to get going again out of the tack.

Lexis went a bit past the layline, tacked, caught a wave and narrowly knocked off Castrol by a half boat length. Both skippers hugged each other once on the beach. Both boats broke the leg record this year.

Click on the image to see video of the finish. If you have dial-up connections click on ME!

The fluky finish line winds caused most of the teams to really struggle to get across the line.

Tybee Island, who had been winning the race overall, came in 6th and over 13 minutes behind Castrol. That dropped Tybee to 2nd place overall and over 9 minuites behind the Castrol, the new leaders.

And again we have some video submitted by Baywind and Tommy Bahama. Click on the images below to view the video:

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Five Boats in Sight at Wrightsville Beach, NC
The Fleet rounded Cape Fear around 1PM

San Antonio reporeted that they had rounded Cape Fear around one this afternoon and had an ETA of around 3:30 PM. However, as of 2:45 PM we have spotted five boats on the horizon.

We will keep you posted!

Meanwhile, after the flip shortly after the start at Myrtle Beach Team Baywind I damaged their boom but also Reigh North suffered an injury and the team has withdrawn from the race.

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And They're Off to Wrightsville Beach, NC
There is Strong Winds and Really Puffy

No mishaps at the start while going through the surf, however the puffs knocked down at least three boats once they got out around 100 yards. The first boat over was Howard's Pub.

There are many tall hotels along the beach front of Myrtle. The strong winds are blocked by these obstructive buildings, yet find holes between the building to funnel strong blasts that funnel far out into the water

Strong puffs were hitting the boats when they least suspected (Click on image to see video of the start) If you have dial-up connection click on ME!

It would appear they will have beam reach to Frying Pan Shoals and then after rounding Cape Fear they will have a long beat to Wrightsville Beach. Race Director, Michael Worrell predicted a finish time of around 5PM.

Stand by for videos of the start and more at the finish line

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Preps Made for Heavy Air Leg
Heavy air of 25 Knots out of the northwest for Wrightsville Beach Leg

The winds is already kicking strongly here on the shore. The start should be a pretty awesome spinnaker spectacular. The surf will barely be noticable due to the strong off shore breeze, but those big chutes flying ought to be pretty exciting.

With heavy air out of the northwest the boats will be faced with some tough sailing off the wind to Cape Fear and then they will have to sail a closer reach or possibly even a sail close-hauled to Wrightsville Beach.

And Cape Fear is aptly named. The cape is dangerously laden with reefs and bars and has taken its toll over the years. Sailors beware! And to make things worse Frying Pan Shoals has been recording winds over 35 mph all morning. This may be the leg that determines the race -- another Jensen Beach perhaps.

Last night the forcasted storm hit late. There was not much wind but the torrential downpour knocked out our satellite dish temporarily. But we recovered.

And so did the team recover from their storm preparation. The boats are digging out from their bunkers, raising masts and getting ready for the expect sleigh ride to Cape Fear.

Stand by for pictures and vidceos of the start!

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