Worrell 1000 Leg Five Start
Jacksonville Beach, FL
5/12/2000, 10:00 AM

By Zack Leonard

The Worrell 1000 juggernaut rolled on this morning. Leg 5 started in a 6 knot Westerly, blowing straight off the beach. The lead pack of Holland, Brett Dryland and Rod Waterhouse of Rudee's Restaurant and Blockade Runner with Smyth and Struble all turned North immediately and reached up the beach a scant 50 feet from shore. The rest of the pack flew spinnakers to get away from the shore, but they doused as soon as they saw the lead pack racing along the shore. The boats fell into line, forming a 1/2 mile long string that looked more like a parade than a race.

Leg 5 begins here in Jacksonville Beach and covers 121 miles to finish at Tybee Island, Georgia. This is where the race gets tough. Stamina will be tested if the breeze stays light. Boats could finish after dark tonight, perhaps even after midnight if the wind stays light and the sea-breeze doesn't materialize. Dehydration, hunger and exhaustion will be factors in the upcoming legs. Today's leg also marks the beginning of the navigational challenges. The rum line is far off shore in today's leg, offering two different ways to gain leverage on the pack. A bounty of rivers empty out through a tangled gnarl of islands and wetlands to produce swirling currents close to shore. Sea-breezes may be unreliable far off shore on the outer path. This is the first leg that offers a real opportunity for one of the leaders to break away or fall back off the pace.

Paul van Dyke and Brad Cavanaugh know about deviating from the rum line. Van Dyke and Cavanaugh have been hurriedly trying to learn the new boat while competing in the race. Cavanaugh has never sailed a cat before, "it's just like skiing because you're always trying to dig an edge." Van Dyke sailed Tornadoes before helming Whitbread boats, but he's been having trouble acclimating to the small cats. "To navigate or eat takes so much away from sailing, we’re guessing on navigation," said van Dyke. In their struggle to learn optimum VMG angles and get the boat up to speed the two have found themselves off the edge of the course on several occasions. Cavanaugh noted that "we must have been 30 miles off shore on the Canaveral leg." The plan today calls for a more conservative approach, "we're going to try to race with the fleet a little more today, see how we go", offered van Dyke. Van Dyke has gained a healthy respect for the event and his fellow competitors, "you probably get a lot more rest on a trans-Atlantic race. In this race we probably won't have enough water, and if we get some rough weather, it's going to be really tough. In a big boat 25 knots is no biggie, in this boat it's serious."

Tune in this evening for Leg 5 results and look for some info on Cavanaugh's planned entry in the Race.