Worrell 1000 Leg 11 Start
Thursday, May 17th, 2001
Atlantic Beach, NC, 9:15 AM

By Zack Leonard

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Due to the complex logistics of the drive from Atlantic Beach to Hatteras, this report will be brief. The shore crews must drive an hour to Cedar Island, hop on a 2 hour 15 minute ferry to Okracoke Island, then drive 1/2 hour across Okracoke to another 40 minute ferry into Hatteras. To ensure that we can witness the finish, we have to cheat out of the start a little early. Race director Mike Worrell held a travel logistics meeting before the start this morning. Assuming there are no problems with the reserved ferry things, it should work smoothly.

The wind is North/Northeast at 7-8 knots. The breeze is blowing at an angle off the beach and the surf is small, so the start should be uneventful. The first part of the leg should be a skewed beat with a port tack bias, but as the boats round Cape Lookout they will harden onto a square beat to the finish. The leg clocks in at 81 miles and will cause problems for any boats that suffer breakdowns. Much of the coastline here is inaccessible by road. Vast spits of sculpted sand shift ceaselessly creating a complex of devilish shoals.

It was cold and rainy as the boats shoved off the beach. Alexander's stuffed Guidant, reaching over them and then hardening up and pinching on Guidant's air. Tommy Bahama and Castrol reached out away from the shore into better wind and flew a hull without the crew on the wire. The wind was stronger farther from the shore, but boats that head off shore will sail more distance. It's possible to sail parallel to the beach on Port tack, but with the wind coming off the shore it is lighter in close. The boats that have reached off shore have moved into a "nose out" position, but it's unclear whether the extra distance sailed will hurt them when they re-converge with the leaders along the beach.

We'll have a report from the finish if we can get there before the fleet arrives!