Great start - no casualties!

Jamie Livingston is now crewing for Howard's Pub - that'll mean a penalty, but at least they're still in the race. Andy is scheduled for surgery next week for his seperated shoulder.

Neither Brevard Challenge or Team Loewen started this morning and are now officially retired for the event. They both had the option to start this morning with a penalty.

Some excitement in the 6.0 fleet during the second flight off the beach - Mezzo Speed nearly collided with another boat in the surf. In the confusion, one of their boards dropped and they were aground for a moment. They got moving again and are on their way. Semp Toshiba seemed to get through the surf the best and appeared to have the lead within a few minutes of the start.

More to come - short, fast leg today! Look for the first boat by 14:00 or so!

Spectator at Ft. Pierce at 11:00 put Castrol about 2 miles offshore with the rest of the leaders much closer in - Tybee or Bliss in 1st or 2nd, Semp Toshiba in third about a quarter mile back, Key Sailing in 4th about 20 yards back. She couldn't guess where Castrol fits in that pack.

'chutes are all up - moving fast!

Again today, your network of "informers" has me astounded...but it's much appreciated!

Wind's laid down to 12-14 as forecast from around 114 degrees... they may not be able to carry the 'chutes to the finish.

It'll all happen there very soon - it's 13:23 now... maybe another 30-45 minutes??

At 14:30 - Castrol about a half-mile out, Tybee about a half-mile behind them. NOBODY else in sight. What a horizon job!

Hey John,

I'd like to take this opportunity to tell you that you da man!

3rd - Semp Toshiba
4th - Key Sailing
5th - Howards Pub
6th - OZ
7th - Morada

more to come

Man, where's jake? Cmon boys git er dun

After 7PM, still no SeaCats!!! Bonnie???

I am da man sitting at his desk, wishing he could be on the beach with da real men... Jake and Dave had a loooooong day - finished about 19:35 - over 9 hours! Not sure why the ground crew didn't take them a new pole and 'chute at 1:00 PM when they knew it had broken.

wow that stinks

thats quite an unsurmountable deficit to overcome.

I hope they stay in it though.

I'll see all the teams on saturday though. Anyone know the ETA on Tybee Islandon Saturday? Is it going to be night or around 2pm like all the rest of the legs? I need to figure out when I leave

Jake phoned me from the beach at 7:07pm. They are taaaard boys tonight...that's deep Southern talk for tired, of course. I'm gonna post the whole gory story to the best of my ability over on the Breaking News section of Team Seacats here soon, but the short version is that they weighed the options at the time and opted not to make a stop for the new chute and pole. He may or may not have a sailor's report to post tonight. He's got a red neck (no jokes, please) from his dry suit and has now gone to take a shower. Too much information? Anyway, check the site later. I don't know about photos for today. I'm guessing there will be some available, though.

Saturday, 10-15 from the SE, 101 nautical miles... 7 hours, so first boat around 5 pm local. Get there around 3 pm to hang with the ground crews.

Wish *I* could! Smack a few backs for me, will ya? They will have toughed it out on a particularly difficult year.

Well I'm planning on getting there late friday and hanging out on the beach all day. Got a friend who lives next to Mrs. Bullock on the island (haven't you heard the stories?) so staying a little longer isn't a problem :P

Isn't it still MISS Bullock??? Let an old married guy keep his illusions!

yes it is, and believe me you don't want to be the guy that changes that title.

Thanks for the great info and updates John and all the update posters on the thread-
really am missing hearing your countdowns this go round ,
Sounds like they had some good shakedown weather legs to begin ,-hope the weather gods are kind to them throughout , but it is actually better to have some moderately rough early easier florida legs to let the attrition work on some that may not be fully prepaired ,-its much better than them getting up in the more severe big sea contitions in the Carolinas that have no outer reefs to break the big seas as Fla does and get into offshore or night conditions in severe weather .


Really surprised at JC and J and Steve and Kenny walking away from the several other excellent teams there ,-particularly to windward or reaching ,--both teams use more mast rake than most and are usually best downwind in medium winds ,or that is where they excelled in past years in comparison to the fleet . It may be the more extreme rake that has helped depower them in these conditions ,but hurts a little to windward as it gets more moderate and not overpowring .

What happened to David and Mike --any news on the injury ,-and why didn,t another person jump on the boat? or have they --
Hope others are o k -seems like a number of injuries already in proportion to boats entered .

- Best wishes to all teams for a great race ,adventure ,and safe journey to all .

Let me know if your ready for the 05 race John!!
all the best
Carl

check out the third story and photo down on the home page for the whole story at Sailing Anarchy

thanks Bonnie --appreciate the link and your taking time to post it ,
happy to see its not too bad an injury ,though knees take a while to heal up all the way .

May have some good insights on the race and about particular legs that I,ll try to check in and share together with all the interesting updates and info already being reported ,-
thanks again
Carl

A setback, to be sure, and it was a disappointing day; but that's all. They're in it for the experience and to finish. Jake was feeling more chipper by the time he went to bed. Ain't no quitters here! Maybe they'll have duct tape on board tomorrow.