The Wright Brother's Memorial looms over this small town at the gateway
to the Hatteras seashore. The deeds of the illustrious Wright Brothers
are etched in legend, a legend made possible by the consistent breezes
that rake the barrier beach nearly every day. Today the wind was nowhere in sight.
The fleet suffered through a third straight day of
demoralizing light wind. Finally the frustration that can accompany
these difficult conditions has taken it's toll. Key Sailing and Redhook
are on the beach. Details are sketchy at this point, but it
appears that both teams have withdrawn from the race.
Race Director Mike Worrell reported that Key Sailing was attempting to
land around Avon, just past Cape Hatteras, and their boat had sustained
damage as it was buffeted by the surprisingly large surf. After the
boats rounded the cape, they were exposed to a Northeast swell that they
had been sheltered from by Cape Hatteras. The swell is throwing up
beautiful 6 foot curlers and the surfers here in Kill Devil Hills are
having a field day. Shore crews are watching the surfers and suffering
some of the frustration the sailors are feeling. Mike Worrell is
worried about the surf for the finish. "These waves could break up some
boats when they land tonight," worried Worrell.
The shore crews have been working hard to keep morale up for the past
several days. "We were trying to keep the team up-beat this morning,
saying things like 'We're in the front row today'," explained Mike
O'Brien of Team Outer Banks. His team is back on their home turf and
they have a huge group of supporters on the beach waiting for the finish
this evening. Peanut Johnson, a two time Worrell 1000 veteran crew,
couldn't make the race this year because he is building a house.
Charles Thuman took Peanut's place in the front end of John
McLaughlin's Team Outer Banks boat. But Peanut calls in several times
a day for updates, even calling McLaughlin during the racing to get the
scoop and encourage his friends.
This morning I was surprised to hear the "Worrell 1000 report" on my
favorite Outer Banks FM station, 99.1 The Sound. O'Brien has been
doing daily radio reports as the race has progressed up the coast. The
whole community is involved. Tonight Team Outer Banks and friends have
planned a party for the racers and shore crews at a local pub, but it
looks like the sailors won't be on the beach until 10 or 11 PM.
The Finish
After a fantastic cookout at Quagmire the whole Worrell 1000 shore-side
gang headed back to the beach to set up camp for what has become the
regular evening vigil. The big spenders watched from the luxury boxes
(the balconies of the waterfront rooms in the hotel) and the plebes
stood around on the sandy beach making like bleacher bums as the
darkness came. The surf was still large, but the waves were breaking up
in whitewater farther off shore due to the lower tide.
The beach wasn't quite as dark tonight as it was last night at Hatteras.
The hotel was equipped with powerful sodium lights that partially
illuminated the beach and fog to create a "Scooby Doo" atmosphere. The
flags hung limp and information on the fleet's whereabouts was less than
accurate, but at 10:35 PM two white shapes appeared out of the foggy night
locked together like a quadra-maran. Team Guidant, with a spinnaker
flying in the 1 knot breeze, rolled over Fully Involved 100 yards from
the finish to take the leg in 12 hours 38 minutes and 4 seconds.
Overall leaders Brian Lambert and Jamie Livingston of Alexander's on the
Bay finished several minutes later, followed by Dinghy Shop, Team PI Sailing,
Spitfire Racing, Sail for Sight, Team Tybee Island, LexisNexis, Castrol and
Tommy Bahama.
The surf was so large at the finish that with proper timing a boat could
catch the wave and accelerate to more than 10 knots in just 1 knot of
wind. The beach here is extremely steep, so the boats that caught the
wave came to an abrupt halt accompanied by a short grinding noise as the
bows dug deep into the sand.
The wind was so unstable that the competitors themselves were completely
surprised by their finishing positions. Most of the day was spent
drifting in less than three knots, but for almost an hour some of the
boats sailed in 15 knots of wind and double-trapezed with the spinnakers
flying towards the finish. This strong breeze was several miles
offshore, and as the boats came back in towards the shore to finish,
they hit a vacuum, trading places and parking for a long time. The
sailors went inshore, then offshore, chasing zephyrs for most of the
67 mile leg. But despite the fickle winds, the fleet finished remarkably
close together. The racing was so close that David Lennard had to
apologize to another sailor for pushing it on a port-starboard situation
during the race!
For most of the race, Tommy Bahama led the front group which included
Guidant and Alexander's. "We were in the lead all day and we were
double trapping with the spinnaker up, going 15 knots, then boom, we
parked, we only sailed one minute farther than Guidant," complained an
amazed Alex Shafer. Indeed, the shore-side officials didn't even
believe that such high speeds had been attained during the day. But
Jamie Livingston corroborated the information, showing skeptical
onlookers the damage to his dagger board and trunk from hitting a sea
turtle while the GPS was reading 20 knots of boat speed.
The sailors who were able to finish stood for more than an hour in the
eerie lighting, exchanging stories and enjoying a beer. Shore crews
provided sandwiches and the finish line was crowded with sailors and
well-wishers. Tonight is the last night before the finish and the
awards ceremony. Many of the teams split off for team dinners after the
ceremony. So today was a chance for the whole group to hang out
together before the race moves on to the big city and it's divisive forces.
Hatteras was rough, but with almost no wind during the passage, it
wasn't the beast that it can be. The boats all rounded close to the
point where a large gallery of sailing fans and fisherman cheered on
each boat as it passed the point. LexisNexis sailed within feet of the
shoreline providing a thrill for the spectators, but the channel was
deep there and they could keep blades down all the way around for a
safe, smooth rounding.
Tomorrow is the final sprint to the finish. At 60 miles, it is the
shortest leg of the race aside from the prologue. Lambert and
Livingston have built an insurmountable lead. We'll have a report from
the start.
