The 2009 Tybee 500 Race Coverage

And Finally, A Boat Arrives

Dutch sailor Heemskerk grabbed an early lead off the start and finished walking away. The only picture I could take during the semi-dark is fuzzy, but you can see it is a boat. Naw! You cannot, so I am not putting it up.

Everyone kept saying there was another boat in sight, but I certainly could not see it.

While there was some good winds and good boat speeds, most of the time the boat were only going about 5- 7 mph most of the day.

The most interesting thing going on during the day was the gathering at the deck overlooking the beach. At last count there were at least 16 previous racers of the Tybee 500 and the Worrell 1000 in attendance.

John Williams started pointing and counting them out, "Raced it, raced it, raced it, etc." Rick White added, also pointing to each, "Smart, smart, smart, etc."

OK, here is a picture of the aticipatory RC, wishing they could go have a cocktail and a decent dinner. And you would be fuzzy, too, if you had been waiting so long

But, Check this out. The film crew had been ready since 3PM. Meanwhile, there was a bit of cocktailing going on. Check out the lower left of the three (count them -- 3 interviewers) and their 3 rum and cokes sitting on the sand.,

They are Off to Cocoa Beach

Without mishap the fleet blasted through some mild surf and were off without much ado. Seacats sat offshore working on something for several minutes and then finally got underway.

The fleet all started on port tack to get through the small surf because the wind was blowing on shore from the northeast. While Royal Yellow had the pole position, the Dutch Team, who was about half way down the line, tacked first to startboard, ducked sterns and got off to a nice lead. Yellow appeared to have blown the tack, but got it going and were about 50 yards behind in second spot.

Fifteen minutes before the start a huge black thunder boomer sat a few miles offshore and had some sailors feeling a bit antsy. One of the sailors asked me for advice on the leg and I said, "Head for the storms.., that is where the wind is."

Jake Kohl of Team Seacats jumped in on that one, Yeah, I rmember Rick telling me that at Put-in-Bay -- head for the storms. Heck, I thought you should do just thje opposite.

This leg to Cocoa is just over 100 miles and is one of the longer legs of the course. Arrival time will probably be late this afternoon. Although they could be making pretty good time if there are some good winds off the storms

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

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

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

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

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