Getting Ready for the Wrightsville Beach to Atlantic City, North Carolina Leg

The Aussies are nipping at Chick's Beach Heels. The Fleet is Hanging Tough

Finally a clear sky, but very little wind and it is really cold – the temperatures were into the 50s during the night.
Of all the stops in this trek, Wrightsville Beach has been the most delightful – the hotel management threw a beer party last night for the fleet, along with very inexpensive hot dogs and hamburgers and a salad bar. Also a complimentary buffet breakfast was included with the rooms. And the food was excellent.

Robert Onsgard (top) and Jamie Livingston (bottom) of Worrell Bros. Restaurant are holding up well and still in the chase. Both sailors are from Miami, FL

This E-Mail Just Came in About Carlton Tucker For those of you who would like to make a donation in honor of Carlton Tucker, there are two places: 1) the family has asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to "The Alliance for the Blind and Visually Impaired" at 4700 Poplar Ave., Suite 100, Memphis TN 38117 in honor of Carlton's grandmother, Flora Tucker; 2) Jerry Melvin, a friend of the Tuckers, has setup the "Carlton Tucker Scholarship Fund." Donations should be sent to 1st Northwest Bank, 768 North Beal Parkway, Fort Walton Beach, FL 32547. Please notify anyone who might be interested in donating. Thanks and Fair Winds, >Stephen Arrowsmith.

A Cute Little Note of Interest Rick White has been driving a 34' RV from stop to stop and some people were questioning how he can be one of the last to leave a stop and then be one of the first to arrive at the next stop and then always get the best parking spots with the best views. Some team's clever ground crew came up with a good idea. On the side of Rick's motorhome is a decal saying "Rick White's Sailing Seminars." They creatively covered up the word "Sailing" with the word "Parking."

Here are Overall Results Going into This Leg to Atlantic Beach:

Position	Team	Time Behind Leader
1	Chicik's Beach	00
2	Australia I	7.40
3	Key Sailing II	1.42.13
4	Key Sailing I	3.01.49
5	Australia II	3.37.28
6	Worrell Bros Rest.	4.26.03
7	Florida Keys	4.46.05
8	New England	5.21.40
9	Rudee's Rest.	6.07.18
10	Int.Insurance	6.28.41
11	Pomodoro	6.34.00
12	Cat House	7.45.33
13	Chesapeake Bay	8.24.05
14	Nokia	8.29.49
15	2 Salty Dogs	11.02.49
16	Austin	12.11.38
17	Nuclear	13.01.16
18	Tackle Shack	13.ros19.22

Here are the finish positions from yesterdays leg to Wrightsville Beach,

Position	Team	Behind Leader (Approx)
1	Australia I	00
2	Key Sailing II	5 minutes
3	Key Sailing I	10.10
4	Rudee's	10.20
5	New England	17
6	Chick's Beach	18
7	Florida Keys	28
8	Nokia	35
9	Pomodoro	46
10	Worrell Bros. Rest.	48
11	Cat House	58
12	Australia I	59
13	Int. Insurance	59
14	Chesapeake Bay	1 hour
15	Tackle Shack	1.2
16	Austin	1.26
17	Nuclear	2.10
18	2 Salty Dogs	2.20

They're Off

In light offshore breezes the boat easily made it through the small surf on one of the easier legs of the journey. This is a straight shot to Atlantic City. The call is going to be whether or not to hug the shore line and hope for the early seabreeze, or take the rhumb line.

The Finish

(Key Sailing Teams Finish One and Two, Smyth Way Back, But Maintains the Lead.)

Michael Worrell recalled someone saying years ago about this race, "This is like a hundred-mile ski run, but you don't have to take the chair back up." And today epitomized that quote. It was reaching at is finest.
And the prime reachers, despite finishing 1st and 2nd today at Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, both Key Teams have cut very little into lead already established by Randy Smyth and Jason Sneed of Chick's Beach Team. Smyth and Sneed finished in 7th place, but only 12 minutes behind Key Sailing II piloted by Brian Lambert and Mark Murray.
Smyth only lost 38 seconds to the Aussies by finishing right behind them and is still maintaining the lead overall.
The winds were 12-17 mph most of the day and jib reach – too close on the nose and too much velocity to fly a chute. The leaders were the one's that stuck closest to the rhumb line (a straight line across Onslow Bay from the starting line at Wrightsville Beach to the finish line at Atlantic Beach.
When the Aussies chose the shoreline course, Smyth said, "That was where I had to go. I could see after a while that the rhumb line was the way to go, but I had to cover the Pigs."
"The Pigs" is the familiar nickname given to the Australian Teams, who both have big, pink pigs as a graphic on their mainsails.
Robert Onsgard and Jamie Diamond of Worrell Bros. Restaurant finished 3rd in what of their best outings of this tough trek. They said that most of the boats headed for the inside of the arcing shoreline, taking a circumferential route, while they decided to take a more diametric route straight for the finish line. After all, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Onsgard said, "We sailed at least a 5-miles shorter course."
Mark Murray of Key Sailing II added, "We weren't sure. We were afraid the shore boats would have the breeze bend them back down in front of us." Apparently that did not happen.

It was a close race, with Rudee's (left) and Cathouse (right) chuting it out. (pun intended)

After the earlier arrivals, the wind took a big shift and the last half of the fleet had to fly kites (spinnakers) to the finish line. In a tough battle to the finish, Rudee's (Bliss/Tartaglino) and Cathouse piloted by Matt Struble and Eric Douglas were very close. Both were flying chutes and pushing hard. Cathouse pushed a little too hard and capsized. Rudee's happily raced across the line.

Cathouse was pushing too hard and capsized just before the finish.

The boats close in had to sail past a military base, Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base. Kevin Smith of Key Sailing I said, "Man, we saw this hovercraft coming right at us, and just said, "Uh OH!'" Last year Smyth also sailed through the area and they were flashing lights at him and hailing, but he never slowed down and just kept hauling along.

Chris Webster is hurting badly, but is bent on finishing this race

In one of his best finishes so far Chris Webster of Nuclear finished 9th with partner Robert Hill. Webster has really had to brave it out. In January he broke an ankle and severely damaged the other ankle in a work-related fall from a building. Only a week before the World 1000 he had his cast removed and has been sailing in a great deal of pain. Webster resides in Tampa, Florida, but was originally from New Zealand. He sailed in this race last year and was forced to retire about half way.
His pain has not stopped him from dancing in the bars at night, however. His ground crew laughed and added, "Yeah! He's a dancing fool!"

The next leg is from Atlantic Beach, NC to Hatteras, NC, where they must skirt the dangerous waters of Cape Lookout and then sail along the desolate Cape Lookout National Seashore