Monday May 8th, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
By Zack Leonard
The racers have just left the beach at the 18th running of the Worrell 1000. The breeze is southeast at 10 knots and the fleet reached easily through the short chop by the shore. Surf was not an issue at the start. Small manageable waves made for a fast start as shore crews pushed their teams off the beach and watched the 20 foot beach cats reach away doing twelve knots with skippers and crews fully powered on the trapeze. The breeze appeared to be far enough south that spinnakers would be an option once the fleet had reached out clear of the shore.
The start at the Worrell 1000 is like no other sailboat race. The beach is sectioned off into 20 foot gates. Each boat is assigned a gate based on a drawing at the skippers meeting. The gates to the North are advantaged as they are closer to the eventual finish. In the subsequent days of racing the gates will be reassigned based on the finishing positions from the previous day. The winners will be assigned the advantaged northernmost gates as a bonus for their performance. The start is a cross between a horse race, a stock car race, and a bob-sled race. The gates are reminiscent of horse races where the gates fly open at the start and the horses rush out looking to establish a lead by the first turn. The advantage seeded to the northern gates is like pole position in a stock car race. The fastest qualifier gets the cat-bird seat and the other competitors have to knock off the leader to gain the advantage. As the start sounds, Worrell teams employ pushers to help launch the boat through the surf and gain an edge at the start. Large, thick-muscled pushers dig into the sand pushing the rear beam of the cat out into the surf like bob sled teams sprinting down the ice at the start. Steve Hast and Chris Sawyer of Team Cathouse have arranged for Gold's Gym to send hulking representatives to the beach each morning to help push. Their team manager laughed as the Gold's representatives arrived this morning "I'm not too big, but I'm not dumb".
Susan Korzeniewski of Liverpool, NY is bidding to become the first woman to skipper a complete Worrell 1000 this year. Susan is racing with Davis Murray of St. Thomas, USVI. She has wanted to do the race for 4 or 5 years, "I'm surprised no woman have skippered the race before. I was excited by the one-design aspect of the race this year. The minimum weight requirement has been lowered from 340 to 325 lbs. and that made it easier for me to find the right person to sail with. I've been preparing for about a year, I really want to finish. I'd be very happy with mid-fleet, but I want to finish." Last year Susan and her crew, Karen Walker, became the first woman to finish in the top 10 at the Hobie 16 continentals, earning a 4th place finish in the huge event.
The first leg will finish at Jensen Beach, Florida sometime this afternoon or evening. The course is 80.7 miles reaching past the long barrier beach of South Florida. Look for a report at the finish later this afternoon or evening.
