Big Surf and Light Northeasterly Winds Create Slow Start and New
Difficulties. Bay Wind Out
The start of Leg 5 went off with no major problems, but 5 boats had to
return to shore after encountering large waves and breaking rudder
castings. Lexis Nexis, sailed by Brendan Busch and James Korkosz,
predicted the problem and prepared by stowing a spare casting onboard.
But the foresight didn't keep them from making a short trip back to the
beach to make a repair. Team Guidant helmsman Rod Waterhouse was bucked
over the stern of his boat and into the water by a 6 foot curl, but he
was able to drag himself back aboard and get the boat moving forward
before the boat was driven back to the beach.
The surf at the start was approaching 6 feet in the big sets and the
Northeasterly breeze was under 6 knots making progress slow and
difficult. The boats would inch forward, then hit a big wave and move
backwards. The proverbial two steps forward and one step back was
definitely the word of the day today.
The two yellow boats, campaigned by Nigel Pitt and Alex Shafer of Tommy
Bahama and Kirk Newkirk and Glenn Holmes of Key Sailing jumped off the
line with Alexander's on the Bay to a quick lead. Guidant righted their
early problems to break through the surf in 4th and everyone in the
fleet of 18 starters eventually beat the surf-line to begin the slow
trek north towards Jacksonville Beach. The forecast calls for
Northeast/East at 10 knots, so the going could be slower today. Most of
the fleet sailed perpendicular away from the beach on port tack and then
tacked 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile off-shore to parallel the beach on starboard tack.
In case you haven't been paying attention, it has not been easy to get
these Inter 20 class beach cats off, and then back onto the beach
safely. The surf has been unusually large for the Florida coast. A
week of strong Easterly winds has built the wind-driven swell and it
should linger until tonight and then start to ease up. The waves were
as high as the spreaders at Jensen Beach, and they are still over 6 feet
here in Daytona. The trick to getting off and on the beach can be
simplified to 3 major elements, but there is a lot of nuance in between
that separates the best teams from those that continually struggle on
the beaches. 1) Keep the boat moving forward - backwards is very
dangerous, especially in the shallow water where the rudders are in
jeopardy. 2) Keep the bows and sterns perpendicular to the biggest
waves - getting sideways or angled to the surf seems to lead to tragedy
every time. 3) Keep the crew-weight forward going into the waves -
boats can flip bow over stern, and if you don't believe it take a look
at the photos on the website.
Experienced sailors with no cat-sailing experience and non-sailors must
be wondering just how difficult these boats are to sail. The stories of
wreckage and bodily harm must be causing some to wonder whether the
sailors aren't up to the task or the boat is just too hard to handle.
While it's always difficult to make comparisons, these boats probably
fall somewhere between a 505 and 49er in level of difficulty. The boat
is very sensitive at high speeds and can pitchpole easily if not sailed
properly downwind. Despite the extra righting moment generated by the
catamaran's width, the boat is extremely overpowered. Huge waves cause
the boat to stab under the water, load up and slow down, then accelerate
in a hurry throwing the crews off-balance.
Last night we reported that Team Bay Wind had capsized in the surf and
lost their mast approaching the finish. The damage to the boat and crew
was extensive. The boat buried it's bows into the sand surfing down a
huge wave and pitchpoled into extremely shallow water, flipping forward
and instantly decapitating the mast. The bows of both hulls were split
open and all the forward, structural bulkheads were blown out of the
hulls. Both Glenn Ross and Richard Pleasants were badly bruised in
several places and were moving gingerly this morning. They were not
able to start the leg. "I'm really disappointed," said three time
Worrell veteran Pleasants, "we got two fifths on the first two legs and
we were just learning the boat." Pleasants had praise for his first
time partner Ross who has been acting as the tuning partner for Olympic
Tornado contender Robbie Daniels for the past several years. "Glenn is
very capable, but he may have burned out a little quickly in the early
legs, he didn't pace himself too much."
This leg should provide some more rest for strained muscles, but a
longer leg means more time in the sun and more dehydration problems.
Many of the sailors are wearing breathable drysuits all the way up the
Florida coast despite what spectators would call beautiful weather. The
windchill at high speeds is part of the reason for choosing a drysuit,
but protecting against sun and abrasion is even more important. Several
sailors have scabs around their necks from drysuit seal abrasion and
advice is being doled out to newcomers by veterans like Jamie
Livingston. Jamie wears a fleece turtleneck under the seal to protect
his neck and cuts his neck seals loose to prevent the problem.
The 80-mile sail to Jacksonville could be the longest one yet. We'll
have a report at the finish later this afternoon.
