Friday, May 14, 1999
By Thatcher Drew
NBC Covers Start
The start of the Worrell 1000 was delayed by 26 minutes to accommodate an NBC television crew out of Savannah. The focus was on the Tybee Island Team. Chuck Bargeron and Mike Worrell were both interviewed. Mike was answering a question when the gun went off and 11 boats were thrown into the water with spinnakers flying. The sun came out. The crowd cheered. The TV guy beamed. What a start!
A local marketing effort called "Pack The Beach" paid off. The strand was awash in boats, people, and a rising tide for several hundred yards. When the race started, the kids (and a few adults) ran with the boats along the surf line.
All the Tybee sponsors and contributors were there. Bonnie of Prudential was there, sporting a great big grin, as were representatives from the software giant, Oracle whose logo graces the most photographed part of the sail.
Pomodoro obliged the crowd by capsizing close to shore about 200 yards down the beach. It took them five minutes to get the spinnaker under control and haul it upright in about two feet of water. Everyone cheered again.
Chuck Bargeron, Team Tybee captain and organizer had a very good day.
Chuck Bargeron
Michigan Looses Boat - Withdraws
Team Michigan went looking for their boat today, but couldn’t find it. Last night Aldrin and Hall were plucked off the boat by a Coast Guard vessel. They had struggled for hours to right the vessel which had turned turtle with the mast filled with water.
This morning a fishing vessel spotted the boat and called in a Mayday with the exact position. The Michigan crew hired a power boat to pick it up, but they were turned back by foul weather and heavy seas.
By the time a larger boat could get to the scene, the boat had drifted away. An airplane is reportedly searching the area.
The crew was hit by storms and flipped a number of times in powerful gusts. They took shelter between the turtled hulls from hail driven horizontal by 45-knot winds. The last time they turtled the mast became waterlogged. Despite all their efforts they could only raise it a few inches above the water. Their cell phone shorted out in a defective waterproof bag. The hand held VHF radio worked well. By the time the Coast Guard arrived they had been driven even farther off shore and were exhausted.
The team said they were not planning to continue the race.
Team Michigan Rescued
Team Michigan was turtled (upside down) for hours last night eleven miles off shore. Their mast had filled with water, making it impossible to right the boat. The Coast Guard located the sailors, Barton Hall and Adam Aldrin and brought them to shore at about 4:30AM, leaving the boat behind.
There is speculation this morning that the team will try to rescue the boat, right it, and finish the leg. Each boat is allowed one exception to the "Eight Hour Rule" which eliminates a competitor if they finish more than eight hours after the leader. If Team Michigan finishes, they could make the start this afternoon at 6:00 for the run to Isle of Palms, South Carolina. That would mean another night leg with the threat of thunderstorms.
So far, the team’s troubles on the course have been caused by equipment failure. Small details have made a big difference. On the first day, a cotter pin pulled loose and the mast came down far off shore. It was only through excellent seamanship that the crew was able to continue. On Wednesday, Michigan was well up with the leaders with excellent boat speed when an incorrect GPS setting lured them to go too far off shore.
Last night the offending part may have been a leaky rivet or a loose fitting. One can imagine the mast growing heavier and heavier until no ingenuity or leverage could turn that weight upright. One can also imagine the frustration and exhaustion the two sailors felt as they floated amidst the thunderstorms and finally called for help on their 5-watt hand held VHF radio.
Lions Intl. Arrives Tybee Island
Lions Intl. came drifting up to the checkpoint at about 1:00 AM. With spectacular thunderstorms all around her, the boat had been becalmed for hours. When she did have wind she was violently pitchpoled, tore her trampoline, and damaged the hardware on the end of the spinnaker pole.
Skipper Carl Roberts was exhausted. He left the beach. A restaurant frequented by local catamaran sailors opened up to feed the late-arriving crews and sent hot tea down to the race officials on the beach.
Team Michigan still can not right their capsized boat. They are in touch with a 41-foot Coast Guard cutter sent to rescue them. At last word, the cutter had asked them to send up flares.
