Atlantic Beach, NC
5/17/2000, 4 PM
By Zack Leonard
The Dutch team of Gerard Loos and Mischa Heemskerk showed nerves of steel as the split from the
entire fleet and won Leg 9 of the Worrell 1000 by 1 and 1/2 minutes over Randy Smyth and Matt
Struble of Blockade Runner. Team Rudee's Restaurant sailed by Brett Dryland and Rod Waterhouse
were third, followed by Brian Lambert and Jamie Livingston of Alexander's on the Bay, Kevin Smith
and Glenn Holmes of First Response, and William Sunnucks and Mark Self of Great Britain.
The fleet was extremely tight today, despite that fact that the Dutch separated from the main pack
by as much as 8 miles at one point. Loos and Heemskerk sailed the Rhumb line from
Wrightsville Beach to Atlantic Beach, while the rest of the fleet gybed several times to stay close
to the beach. In the main pack the boats that stayed closest to the beach always gained, leading
Smyth and Dryland to believe that Loos and Heemskerk would be buried out at sea. But the wind
shifted to the Southeast with 5 knots more velocity 17 miles from the finish and the tables turned.
What once looked ugly for the Dutch started to look a little better. Some of the boats by the beach
had gybed in too far and were struggling to lay the finish in the new wind.
Loos and Heemskerk rode the new wind down to the finish, sailing 3 or 4 degrees below optimum VMG
angle. Smyth, leading the inshore pack reached up to the line, double trapezing and spilling power
with the traveller. It was too close to call until the very end when the Dutch converged 1/3 of a
mile in front of Smyth. "If the wind didn't fill in those guys would have been 10th," said Brian
Lambert of the Dutch Team. Heemskerk agreed, "We knew we had to finish at this time for our strategy
to work, if we got here 1 hour earlier the wind would not have been strong enough for us to win."
The boats that gybed too close to shore had major problems laying the finish. Some had to douse
the spinnaker and jib reach along the shore, losing significant distance. In the Inter 20 it is
very difficult to dump power with the mainsail to carry the chute high. If the mainsheet is eased
too far the mast doesn't have enough support and can snap instantly if the bow buries or a puff
hits the boat. Quite a few boats were in that dangerous predicament reaching to the finish in 15
knots.
As the sailors roll onto the beach each day there is one constant. A goateed man with a baseball
hat and a long ponytail will be there to greet them with a video camera. Robert Feldman has been
chronicling this race since 1980. Feldman sailed the race from it's inception in 1976 until 1979,
then moved behind the lens. He and his wife Jeanine produce a video tape of the race each year and
sell them to competitors, TV stations and race fans. "I'm in a unique position to do it," said Feldman,
"not many people have seen it from the beach and from the water." Feldman is on the scene as the boats
push off and finish each day, asking all the right questions. Many of the local newspaper reporters
sit back and listen to him question the competitors from behind the camera rather than pushing their
own questions.
Blockade Runner holds a 1/2 hour lead over Rudee's. The Dutch and Alexander's on the Bay remain 1 and
1/2 hours behind. The forecast calls for stronger breezes from the South tomorrow. This may turn into
a gearbuster yet. The course from Atlantic Beach to Hatteras spans 81 miles and some potentially
rugged seas. Look for a very short report in the morning before the shore squadron races to the
ferry.
