Monday, May 17, 1999
By Thatcher Drew
The Race to Wrightsville Beach
There were five boats at the front of the pack on the way to Wrightsville. They finished within ten minutes of each other. It was a dog fight all the way.
Chick's Beach won the race to Wrightsville Beach. Pomodoro beat Rudee’s Rest. for second. Tybee Island and Worrell Bros. were right behind.
The boats chose the rhumb line from Myrtle Beach to Cape Fear. Rather than follow the concave curve of the coast they took the tangent straight across. When they reached Cape Fear, they encountered a complex set of bars and mini-channels. Choose the right channel and the boat encounters fewer breakers. Chick's Beach did particularly well (experience pays).
Hans Meijer said, "Randy sort of sailed his own game just ahead of us. We played with Tybee Island and Rudee’s Rest. Worrell Bros. wanted to play, but we wouldn’t let him."
Worrell Bros. played pretty well near the end, coming in 14 seconds behind Tybee Island and only about two minutes behind Rudee’s.
A look at the standings shows a curious battle shaping up between Big Bros./Big Sisters and Turtle for sixth and seventh places. Turtle fell behind yesterday with a last place finish and fell behind Big Bros./Big Sisters in the overall standings.
Team Extreme dropped out of the race coming ashore at Carolina Beach with a variety of equipment and organizational problems. To add to the problems, Extreme’s ground crew couldn’t start the car and spent all day replacing the alternator way back in Myrtle Beach. They had help from Lions International ground crew, which made the Lions ground team late as well. The Lions sailors were seen on the beach at Wrightsville, forlornly waiting for support. Oops.
Peanut Johnson Replaced Due To Swollen Hand - Myrtle Beach
10:15 AM
Peanut Johnson woke up with a swollen and painful right hand this morning. The worry is that he broke something on the long upwind leg yesterday. "You keep that main sheet wrapped around your hand all day and make all those tacks and you can do some damage. We hope he’s OK," said Mike Worrell this morning. Keith Notary estimated that they made 150 tacks during the day. Peanut will be replaced by his back-up crew, Charles Thurman.
Peanut said this morning that if the hand’s not broken he would like to rejoin the race. Mike Worrell says that under the rules Peanut may rejoin at the next checkpoint, Wrightsville Beach, NC.
Ten Boats Get Away at the Start - Myrtle Beach
10:30 AM
All ten boats got away successfully at Myrtle Beach. Pomodoro’s patch applied by Chick's Beach pusher, Tyler Smith, looked successful (see yesterday’s story). No word yet on Peanut’s hand.
The wind was from the northeast this morning at about 12 knots under a high, light overcast. Unless the wind shifts, it looks like another slog to windward. "People say the Worrell 1000 is a downwind race" said Mike Worrell this morning. "That is not always the case, especially when we get north of Florida."
Today looks like a replay of yesterday and the strain of the past few days is starting to show.
Rounding Cape Fear - Myrtle Beach
11:00 AM
A look at any map will show you how Cape Fear got its name. It is the first of three daunting capes (Cape Fear, Cape Lookout, and Cape Hatteras) that jut out into the Atlantic, creating a difficult lee shore in a southerly and a bumpy upwind rounding in a northerly.
The leg from Myrtle Beach to Cape Fear curves to the east. The boats will have to make a decision whether to hug the shore or take a rhumb line that is shorter, but bumpier. Rounding Cape Fear is almost a right angle turn.
As they approach the cape, the water will become lumpy like crossing power boat wakes. It will be difficult to stay out on the trapeze. The boats will round the point close, sometimes scraping bottom as they go past. Then they will hit the breakers. Last year they were about eight to ten feet high. "You get slammed by a wave, get up, breath, get slammed, get up, breath, and so on until you get through" said Eric Douglas, a crew member on team Cat House last year.
Once around, the boats will be heading north north east again into Wrightsville Beach. They will encounter the bigger waves of the north for the first time. This promises to be another tiring day for crews that are already being pushed hard.
