The following is news coverage of the leg from Isle of Palms to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

    Big Announcment About The 2000 Worrell 1000

    In a special announcement meeting, A Michael Worrell named the Inter-20 as the only boat allowed in the 2000 Worrell 1000 (shall we call this the 2KW1K). In an agreement with Performance Marine's President, Jack Young, their company will supply 15-20 boats for the competitors to use.



    A. Michael Worrell, inventor and the only one that has made it work, made a major announcement today about the plans for the Worrell 1000 Race in thte year 2000.

    Worrell also announced that preference in the case of not enough boats would go to international teams. Although, he said that teams this year are "Grandfathered" in and will be included. New U.S. teams that are on the cusp will not get a boat.
    Questions from the floor included:

    Q: So, international teams will be preferred over U.S. Teams?
    A: In a case of two teams and only one boat, perhaps, but nothing is written in stone.

    Q: What about sponsorship? If all the boats are the same out of the box, can we put advertising on the sails, boat, or wherever?
    A: We'll have decisions on those rules a few weeks after this race is over. Certainly no later than early June. But we know we need team sponsors.

    Q: Since the Inter-20 is being used and if you run out of charter boats, can other Inter-20s that are individually owned be used?
    A: That's possible in order to have a good field of boats.

    Q: Then we are right back to the same problem we have with the Nacra 6.0NA. Aren't we?
    A: The Class will run the rulings on the boat. We are trying to overcome class decisions by Worrell 1000 officials.

    The meeting was closed after that and no more questions were being fielded, i.e., a good question could have been: will there actually be one million dollars in prize money and where will it come from?

    During Worrell's presentation, he congratulated all the teams that have made it this far – about half way through the course. And he particularly thanked the excellent crew headed up by Lee Queensbury.

    Funny thing – half way through his discourse, Worrell's phone rang. Sure enough for this busy man, it was a TV station checking for timing. Such is the problems of organizing and putting on an event that is media oriented.

    And here are the Overall Standings after the arrival in Isle of Palms:

    Pos Team Sailors Overall Time TimeBehind Leader
    1 Chick's Beach Randy Smyth, Keith Notary 48.20.19 00.00.00
    2 Rudee's Restaurant Brett Dryland, Rod Waterhouse 48.22.33 00.02.14
      Tybee Island Steve Lohmayer, Kennjy Pierce 51.03,57 02.43.38
    3 Pomodoro Hans Meijer, Brian Lambert 51.12.37 02.52.18
    4 Worrell Bros. Restaurant Clive Mayo, Jamie Livingston 54.09.44 05.49.25
    5 Turtle Alex Korakis, Scott MacDonald 58.50.16 10.29.57
    7 Big Brothers, Big Sisters Guy Selsmeyer, Tom Powers 59.41.43 11.21.24
    8 Outer Banks John McLaughlin, Peanut Johnson 63.35.04 15.14.45
    9 Lions Intl Carl Roberts, Todd Hart 63.40.16 15.19.57
    10 Extreme Dave White, Chris Webster 64.28.04 16.07.45
      Ireland Peter Cogan, Steve Dodgson Withdrawn ----------


    Getting ready for the start from Isle of Palms to Myrtle Beach, the sailors are faced with a forcast calling for winlds out of the north by northeast at 15 to 25 mph and seas up to 8 feet at 9 second intervals. Visibility may be reduced to 2 miles in rain and drizzle. Not to mention the biting cold.

    The fleet has been badly battered the last two legs and today doesn't appear to be a picnic either -- an 83-mile beat upwind.


    Team Outer Banks had capsized a number of times. They heard water in the mast just before the start, so drilled holes and drained a couple of gallons of water from the spar. Perhaps they could be challenged for using water ballasts.

    They're Off Again After a Long Lay Day

    Today's start had an offshore wind and most were on port tack. However, a couple of boats got crossed up in the surf and some port and starboard boats unwittingly met.



    In the surf the boats started to a big to close.



    And they ended up in this mess that looked more like a tangle of coat hangers.

    UPDATE (as of 7 PM )

    Are you tired of waiting? Well, so are we. BUt these guys have been beating into 35 mph winds all day, short tacking toward the beach to stay in calmer waters. All day folks have been staring at the horizon. But you must remember the old adage, "A watched horizon never produces sails."

    At this time 7PM, the fleet was spotted at Garden City Pier, about 15 miles south of Myrtle Beach. This means they are averaging about 7 mph and should be here between 8:30 and 9 tonight.

    The best we can figure out is that Smyth/Notary are in the lead by a short distance over Pomodoro who is dukiing it out with Rudee's Restaurant. Tybee Island is a couple mile behind this particular group of boats.

    They Are Finally In


    It was a grueling beat for nearly 11 hours – what a weather mark!

    Randy Smyth and Keith Notary were the first boat to the finish line, increasing their lead over Rudee's Aussie team by another 6 minutes. This erases the loss of lead they suffered in the last leg.
    Pomodoro again had a great finish, followed by the Worrell Bros. Team. All four teams finished within 15 minutes of each other. The next boat is still not in sight, but it is believed to be Tybee Island.

    The first part of the race was a very close reach until they rounded Cape Romaine and then the upwind tactics began. Clive Mayo saw the rest of fleet getting headed to the beach and saw that you had to tack to go around a sunken and submerged pier. He and Pomodoro tacked and consequently had a mile lead on the rest of the fleet.
    But the air started to slacken as evening set in. This left Chick's Beach and Rudee's to overtake the two lead boats.
    Rudee Restaurant was 2nd to the finish, followed by Pomodoro and Worrell Bros. Restaurant.
    When Smyth and Notary landed, they could not get their starboard (windward) board to come up for the landing, so Notary trapped off the leeward side of the boat to fly a hull up onto the beach. Then after crossing the line the managed to get it up.


    Here are the Isle of Palms to Myrtle Beach, SC Leg Finishes:

    Pos Team Sailors Arrival Time Distance Behind
    1 Chick's Beach Randy Smyth, Keith Notary 20.22.53 00.00.00
    2 Rudee's Restaurant Brett Dryland, Rod Waterhouse 20.29.03 00.06.10
    3 Pomodoro Hans Meijer, Brian Lambert 20.30.31 00.07.38
    4 Worrell Bros Rest. Clive Mayo, Jamie Livingston 20.35.58 00.13.05
    5 Tybee Island Steve Lohmayer, Kenny Pierce 21.11.23 00.48.30
    6 Lions Intl Carl Roberts, Todd Hart 21.38.08 01.15.15
    7 Big Brothers, Big Sisters Guy Selsmeyer, Tom Powers 21.50.31 01.22.38
    8 Outer Banks John McLaughlin, Peanut Johnson 22.23.54 02.01.01
    Turtle Alex Korakis, Scott MacDonald 22.33.38 02.10.45
    Extreme Dave White, Chris Webster 24.30.00* 04.07.07*

    At this time (10:30 PM) there are still two boats unaccounted for -- Turtle and Extreme. We may lose our broadcast ability soon, so, as Paul Harvey would, "Stay tuned for the REST OF THE STORY!"

    Turtle hit the beach around 10:30 PM tired and exhausted. Extreme finally came in after midnight due to more rudder problems with their Mystere. Dave White exclaimed in disgust, "The name of the boat should be Mis-Steer." Despite getting so late, White was seen working on the rudder system just after the sun came up. This particular team, known for their party habits earlier in the race were referred to by their ground crew, Mel, as "Iron Men, Plastic Cups!"