Jensen Beach, FL
5/9/00 10:00 AM, EDT
By Zack Leonard
Day two of the Worrell 1000 dawned as a light, building South breeze pushed a short, 2 foot chop onto the steep, short beach at Jensen Beach. By the 10 AM start the wind had built to a steady 10 knots with gusts to 12 knots. The sailors were faced with a difficult decision. With the wind blowing straight up the beach from the South the boats were oriented on a tight reach while waiting for the start. This meant that the pushers became pullers. As the boats idled on the beach with main and jibs full they reared forward like wild horses as ground crews dug in like tug-of-war champions trying to keep the boats from surging over the starting line. Some of the more aggressive teams tried to hoist the spinnaker about 10 seconds before the starting gun. Randy Smyth sat at the favored Northern end of the starting line as a reward for his victory on leg one. He hoisted at 5 seconds and the boat jumped forward so quickly that he was dragging in the water by the chicken line and holding on for dear life as his pusher and crew tried to hoist him aboard the boat.
The second leg of the 12 leg Worrell 1000 epic begins here in Jensen Beach and follows a course straight North to Cocoa Beach, FL. The gulfstream in this area is too far off shore to be a factor in the leg, so most of the boats plan to sail close to the beach and minimize the distance they sail. They feel that the sea-breeze will drag the wind around closer to the east, bringing the wind forward to a tight reach. Isolated thunder squalls, much like the one that hit the fleet yesterday, are forecast for today. Smyth thinks these storms are great opportunities, "when a cloud comes through that's what really mixes it up, if you're getting rained on the wind is lighter, if you are out in front of the cloud it's windier." Brian Lambert and Jamie Livingston will try to work off shore a bit near the Fort Pierce inlet to take advantage of the current flood into the inlet. Most of the other teams will play it conservative. The Australian Team of Brett Dryland and Rod Waterhouse summed up the mood "you don't want to take yourself out of the race early on, we're just going to play the fleet."
The first 4 legs of the race are fairly straightforward. The Florida coast is a fast track North without any serious navigational challenges and the teams stay close to shore for the most part. It's easy to keep in touch with the fleet and any major split from the pack is usually a mistake. The sailors race like bike racers fighting for position in small packs of boats that are evenly matched in speed. The teams usually find their level of speed and boat handling at this point in the race. But the more challenging legs of the Tidewater and Outer-Banks regions will offer opportunities for some of the less speedy teams to make big tactical gains.
The beach was quiet at 7:30 this morning. Some of the support teams worked on small repairs to the boats. Billy, the crew boss for Team Outer Banks, readied his boat as the sailors ate breakfast and drank their coffee inside. Taped to the mast on his boat was a small picture of a big man with a wide smile holding a trophy fish . The border bore an inscription of exhortation to the team. The man in the photo was Bob Crutchfield, beach cat sailor, husband, father of two daughters and pioneer of the Outer Banks Catamaran Scene. Bob died earlier this year of Pancreatic Cancer and Team Outer Banks is racing in his honor. Billy summed up Bob's influence, "Bob and Peanut got me and everybody else in the Outer Banks into cats. He was always there for you. When I put that picture up on the mast I starting balling, this guy had the greatest attitude. He was a great man." The outer banks group are surfers, windsurfers, catsailors and fishermen; they are water men. Their background is in the surf, not the buoy race, but when they show up at the Worrell, they are all about competition.
Look for a report this evening with stories from today's leg and an update on finish positions and overall standings.
