The Tybee 500 Race Coverage

Tybee Again Finds a Way

Team Tybee Island followed behind Team Pirates most of the way today, but finally took the lead and never let go and hit the beach just 3 minutes ahead of them.

Today's race was really a great jockeying of positions. Rod Waterhouse and Rob Remmer of Team Pirates finally started making his usual strong showing by grabbing the lead early in the race. Tybee was close on their heels, but Sailmax I, Key Sailing, Morada and Coconut Grove Sailing were all right there. At times the first six boats were never more than a minute apart.

The race started off very painful and slow. After three hours the fleet had only gone about 15 miles. Followers of the race were beginning to predict a 9 PM finish time. But, luckily the winds began to fill in and by mid afternoon the winds were around 12 mph. The boats began to fly at speeds close to 20 mph, rocketed along by their spinnakers.

Tybee Island was first to finish, followed by Team Pirates. Sailmax I was in the mix big time and did hold the lead for a short time, but hit the beach in 3rd spot.

Team Morada had another fine showing, coming in only 9 minutes behind Tybee Island. Coconut Grove Sails was the fifth boat in. The youth sailors, Charlie Trinque and Harry Newkirk of Key Sailing, had been as far up as 3rd spot, but slipped to 6th for the finish.

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After a long day, Team Tybee Island blasted around the corner from a nearby pier to the south with a small lead

Despite drifting for most of the day, they almost got the boat to fly

Pushing Tybee hard, Team Pirates finished only three minutes behind the leaders

This is the best finish for the veteran Rob Waterhouse from Australia.

The third boat across the line was Sailmax I with Mike Krantz and Dave Lennard

Team Morada really has their Nacra 6.0 cooking. The lost 9 more minutes to Tybee Island for the overall lead, but still should be holding at 2nd spot for overall time.

Morada almost got crossed up in the surf, but pulled it out.

Key Sailing has the youngsters sailing, Charlie Trinque and Harry Newkirk. After a poor showing on the first leg, they have hung in tight ever since. In today's leg they held on to 3rd spot for quite a while, but finally hit the beach in 6th.

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They are Off and Meandering

With practically no wind the fleet got off the beach here in Jupiter successfully. Earlier there was some pretty nasty surf to go along with the lack of air, but the seas layed down before the start.

The wind is from the Northeast at around 2 mph, if that. The fleet generally started on port tack and once through the surf tacked over to starboard. At this moment they are drifting along just outside the surf line.., very slowly

Paddles were the big item at the start. Most of the ground crew were making mad dashes back to their vehicles to grab a last minute paddle. And they needed the paddles.

Kirk Newkirk of Key Sailing will be traveling up Rte A1A and sending us reports along the way. So, be sure to keep checking our Hotline Forum for the latest information.

Also, for more reports from Bonnie Kohl, you can see her website by clicking here!

After an early morning check I see that the official results are now being posted on the events home page at www.tybee500.com

Below are some pictures of the start. Sorry they are not very exciting:

Please Patronize our sponsors for the coverage of this event. It is costly to make this journey and to give you the coverage we do.

Please Patronize our sponsors for the coverage of this event. It is costly to make this journey and to give you the coverage we do.

Wind is Still the Same Old Same Old

The weather forecast is for southeast winds at 5-10 mph which is almost the same as yesterday, except the direction is a bit more to the south.

However, the forecast and reality look nothing alike. At this point the water is glassy and there is not a breath of air. And out of the glassy water come some pretty good sized swells that crash against the beach. That ought to make for some pretty crazy stuff at the start

This leg is from Jupiter Beach to Cocoa Beach