2001 Worrell 1000
Leg 3 from Jensen Beach to Cocoa Beach, FL
This is the latest report on Tues, the leg from Jensen Beach to Cocoa Beach, Florida:
Devastation and Ruins is All that Remains
Hatteras moved south this year
After the start and after many of the photos below were taken, I walked among the ruins -- it looked like a bomb area: broken masts, snapped daggerboards, bend tiller bars, broken rudders, snarled sails, frowns and tears.
During the night the wind continued to howl as the wind clocked more to directly onshore. As it did it built the surf to an amazing size. There were three sandbars that needed to be crossed and each had its own agenda -- to destroy any boats that tried. And it succeeded -- only 5 boats made it through the surf and began the journey north to Cocoa Beach,
Michael Worrell called a halt to anymore launching and instructed the other 75% of the fleet to trail their boats to Cocoa Beach. There will be a time penalty assessed that will be determined later. This was a very prudent call -- first, because it could save lives or injury; second, because there wouldn't be much of a race, if only five boats remained at Cocoa Beach and with the distinct possibility that many of those might be gone before the Outer Banks.
This is the first time in the history of the race that the Florida section has been no more than a warmup for the tougher sailing in the Carolinas. But Florida really stuck it to the race and the sailors.
These Pictures Tell a Much Better Story
 Dave Lennard of Sail for Sight was knocked down by the boat and it rolled all the over him while it was capsizing. Onlookers rushed to save the downed sailor. He suffered only aching ribs and a headache. |
A Walk Through the Ruins
 Two of the top teams, Tommy Bahama (Nigel Pitt/Alex Shafer) and Tybee Island (Steve Lohmayer/Kenny Peirce) were knocked out by the third sand bar. Alex Shafer said, "It looked like we were clear and all of sudden there was this wall of water." Tybee also made it to the third set of monster waves when they capsized, turtled and lost their mast. |
The Finish At Cocoa Beach, or
The Survivor Show
All five boats that made it through the surf at Jensen Beach made it to the finish at Cocoa, although it was not as if it was exactly a walk in the park. The leader, Alexanders, capsized a number of times, but still managed to take line honors and maintain a sizable overall lead for the race.
Fully Involved had crashed, got mended and tried again at Jensen Beach and finished close behind Alexanders -- this moves them into 2nd place overall. Lezs Baughman said, "One wave hit us and knocked me between the rear beam and the tiller bar. Somehow we stayed upright."
Outer Banks had a photo-finish with Team Canada. Outer Banks actually sailed across, while Canada was dragging what remained of their boat across the line. It would appear that Outer Banks has made the 3rd place spot.
 Team Outer Banks made it to the finish line in 3rd spot and moving into 3rd place overall. |
 John McLaughlin shows relief and happiness about their best finish in this race. |
The heroic story of the day was the episode of Rod Waterhouse, guiding Guidance to the finish line. Shortly after the start they broke their windward rudder, but continued on with only the one in the water. But about 10 miles from the finish the other rudder broke as well. Waterhouse and Dave Wallace somehow managed to drop their mainsail in those washing-machine waters, then sail in with their jib -- no rudders, however. The team stayed near the back of the boat and steered with their body weight and by dragging and steering with their feet. Quite a feat.
But all did not go well. The boat pitchpoled in the surf, throwing Wallace clear and swimming. Waterhouse quickly went to the top of the mast and held on, making the boat drift safely into shallow water. He then let go and the boat righted itself.
Rudders were on their way -- Team Tommy Bahama lended Guidance a set so they could finish the race. They replaced them and were underway again. Jim Stone from Georgia who witnessed the incedent said, "If you think the surf was bad at Jensen Beach, you should have seen it where they went back out -- it was terrible. And yet he just took it right out -- the guy is awesome."
Team Canada had made it to within 100 yards of the finish but were too close to shore and were right along the surf line. They needed to stay out farther and when straight upwind, square up with the surf and go in. Instead they tried to sail across the troughs. This proved to be disastrous.
The boat capsized and barrel-rolled, snapping the mast in a number of places. After a while the remains of the boat drifted in. Reigh North, Scott MacDonald and crew waded the boat along the shoreline surf and pulled it across the line.
 Canada had to pulln the remains of their boat the last 200 yards to cross the finish line |
 The Canadians have a real mess to clean up before tomorrow's race |
Here is a Full Report on the Manager's Meeting about Today's Penalties
| Team Manager's Meeting- Tuesday at Cocoa Beach- Dave Carlson Mike Worrell called a meeting of team managers to obtain their input about what to do about a penalty or bonus assigned to racers versus non-racers for today's event. Mike started the meeting describing a 1984 race in Hobie 16s in which parts of a boat were carried across the finish line and counted. This was eventually ruled as unfair to others. But today, Team Canada did finish under control of its crew and could finish under the rules, on wheels. Mike said he could not and would not try to extrapolate for all conditions and eventualities, but had to deal with today's problem. He then described his feelings this morning when sending boats off the beach and seeing them being broken one after the other. He said, "Being a Southern Gentleman, this morning I felt like Robert E. Lee at Gettysburg, sending his boys across the fields. How many times can I send them out? I can't run a perfect race." Mike also made the point again that this is not a democratic process but wanted team input, particularly those who sailed today. Here were several points made by finishing teams after talking to their sailors: The late to arrive crews: these were the worst conditions I have ever sailed in in my entire life. Getting off the beach and through the surf was the easy part. This should not be a lay day for those who didn't sail, which is what they are getting. My racers are totally used up. Maybe even worn out today, with only 2 full days completed. Then the questions began? How about the next tough day? How about the people in the second start who wanted to sail and were told they could not go? Do you want two fleets from here on, with one group penalized? Another suggested 2 hours past the last boat's finish was too long. One manager suggested 9 hours were too many, yet one crew never attempted to sail at all. So if there was a consensus among the managers, it was that a large penalty was not fair, but no penalty was not fair either, even if the fleet was split. The discussion was intense but all points of view were expressed with genuine feeling. Mike then concluded the meeting with his statement that a 2 hour penalty added to the time of the last boat was his choice. |
This Report was on Tuesday Morning at 9 AM:
Late last evening the ladies team of Pyacht finally made the finish line. Everyone was very worried on there whereabouts and Miachael Worrell had the race helicoptor go on a search mission just before dark. They found nothing.
Time passed and still no word. The Coast Guard was notified and were on alert. Meanwhile, rumors spread about the CG hearing a radio transmission from the sailors, but that was as far as it went.
Then 9:37 at night they arrived cheerfully on the beach. They had apparently sailed by the destination, missing the finish line entirely and had to sail back.
But that still left Team Australia unaccounted for. Reports came in that they had beached south of Jensen Beach with two broken daggerboards. They made repairs and continued on. To the relief of all they finally arrived around midnight last night.
Here is a report from our on-the-beach Reporter, Chrisi Schimmoller:
It seems Team Australia has had all kinds of challenges already in this year's Worrell 1000. We hear that Sunday, during Leg 1 they dumped the boat, spent time trying to right it, then lost a man. After circling several times trying to find the crew member, they finally brought the boat ashore. The lifeguard approached the boat asking, "Are you looking for your mate?" and pointed upshore as the crew member was walking towards the boat. They got back on the boat, and back into the race. As of 6:00 p.m. Monday, as Leg 2 was drawing to a close there was still no sight of the team on Jensen Beach. One of the Tommy Bahama team's road crew said he heard they were still in Deerfield Beach getting work done on the boat. Deerfield Beach is still a long way from Jensen Beach. They may be the first ones to finish a night leg of the race…
Team Guidant had quite a setback when they lost team member Sandra Tartaglino with injuries sustained during the finish of Leg 1 of the race on Sunday. This was Sandra's 3rd Worrell race and she was sailing with seasoned Worrell veteran Rod Waterhouse (this is his 11th race) but the wind was up and landing with the surf up can be full of surprises. Team Sail for Sight had a backup crew member, Dave Wallace, that they volunteered to Team Guidant to finish the race with Rod. (Dave is from Jekyll Island, GA and this is his first Worrell 1000 race.) With many of the favorites from prior years' Worrells not competing this year, there was talk of Sandra and Rod taking the lead in this year's race. Maybe next year.
As Team Guidant was suiting up an alternate sailor, Sandra Tartaglino was preparing for surgery to repair the two broken bones she suffered (not to mention a dislocated ankle) during their finish of Leg 1 of the race on Sunday. I had an opportunity to talk with Team Manager Trish Walcott this morning shortly before the start of Leg 2 about how Sandra is getting through this unexpected turn of events. Sandra is really disappointed but is being a ‘real trooper' and plans on joining the team land side as soon as she can. Sandra is a Worrell race veteran, so no one anticipated that she would be out of the race at all, let alone this soon. She has been training both physically and mentally for the race for several months, so being out this early in the game can't be easy. Part of her training had to be ‘bulking up' because there is a weight minimum for each team; weight training for bulking up and aerobics to condition for endurance were both part of her program. Her training also included yoga which contributed to both the mental and the physical conditioning. We all wish her well and hope to see her on the beach soon.The Start is coming soon, so stay tuned!
