Fleet Makes Half Way Point With Scars To Prove It
Today the Worrell 1000 fleet got a much-needed break in preparation for
the first night leg to Isle of Palms, South Carolina. The beach was
packed with sun worshippers who gawked at the catamarans while racers
and shore crew caught up on maintenance. Some of the boats sat on their
sides allowing the teams to work on the bottom of the hulls or the
centerboard slot. Curious onlookers asked questions self-consciously
and listened to the racers tell stories. Team Tybee Island and their
supporters hosted a low country boil for the teams under the shade of
the Tybee Pier. As the afternoon wore on thunderheads loomed on the
western horizon and showers moved out over the island.
Some of the sailors drove into Savannah to visit the giant Team
Adventure Catamaran that recently competed in "The Race". Tommy Gonzales
of Team Adventure fixed a spare rudder for Brian Lambert with a nice
carbon fiber patch. Many of the crewmen on the boat came out to the
beach for the start.
Local sand castle artist Leonard braved the showers to forge ahead on
his avant-garde architectural masterpiece. "This is perfect sand,"
lectured Leonard, "The moisture content of the sand is optimal and the
weather is ideal for making sand castles." Leonard trowelled the sand
with machine like precision, laboring for hours on his creation.
Most years, the early legs of this race are pleasant reaches up the coast
in mild conditions. The fleet is merely warming up for the long leg to
Tybee Island, the two night legs through South Carolina and the ultimate
challenge of the outer banks of North Carolina. The Outer Banks are the
Everest of this race. What was extreme for the Florida coast is
commonplace off Hatteras. This fleet is approaching the tough part of
the race with more scars than usual. Just 3 boats have been lost to
attrition, but bodies are strained and the equipment patched together by
some suspect repairs.
The shore crews and race officials are tired too. Most years, the early
part of the race is the bonding period, where lazy hours waiting for the
fleet to finish lead to a mellow camaraderie. The hectic repairs and
frantic starts and finishes have led to a fractured race without the
cohesive group that has usually developed by this point.
The leg to Isle of Palms covers 72 miles. The water is full of jellyfish
and there are numerous navigational hazards to negotiate in the
darkness. Last year Paul Van Dyke and Brad Cavanaugh misread the chart
and crashed into the Charleston Breakwater in the darkness. They spent
several hours smashing against the rocks trying to right their capsized
boat and pull down the sails.
The start went off in an 8-10 knot Southerly breeze. A front is hanging
just to the North of Savannah on the weather map. The wind may swing
North tonight but the radar picture shows some nasty thunderstorms
between Tybee Island and the front. It could be a rough one.
This was the first downwind start of the race and some of the teams had
the spinnakers flying before the gun went off. The trick seemed to be
to hoist while the boat was still sitting on the sand but pointed almost
head to wind. When the gun sounds, simply push the bows down to a reach
and the boat takes off into the water with no pushing. The start today
was the first easy launch. The waves were less than a foot and the
fleet raced effortlessly away at 12 knots with one person on the
trapeze. Guidant and Alexander's jumped out of the top two spots with
great starts. Further down the line the Texas team, Spitfire Racing, of Tomko and Gaines,
had a fantastic start. They were the first team with the chute flying
and skipper on the trapeze.
We'll have a report from the finish in the early hours of the morning.
