2001 Worrell 1000
Leg 6, from Jacksonville, Florida to Tybee Island, Georgia (the longest leg of the race -- 122 miles)
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Finally the weather has turned more toward a Florida feel. The wind is light and blowing offshore. This has always been typical of the area -- where a land breeze develops during the evening and night and then by mid-day, the wind pattern reverses and becomes a sea breeze.
This means the teams will at last be flying spinnakers off the beach at the start. They will be drifting for a bit while the land breeze and sea breeze fight it out as to which is the more pwerful, then the sea breeze will kick in and off they will go on their longest jouney of the race.
This could be considered the gate to hell. Florida has always been considered just a warmup for the tough going, with the typical land and sea breezes. This year has been a grand exception. Nonetheless, from here we enter the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" where you will be hearing of such things as Cape Fear, Cape of Good Hope, Hatteras, and Kill Devil, a place where uncharted reefs and sandbars can be found one hundred miles offshore.
One year a team was sailing along at night some fifteen miles off the coast when they were suddenly surrounded by crashing surf. They turned the boat around and headed back out, but the ebbing tide soon made their exit nothing but sand. There they sat -- high and dry. They took down their jib, rolled up in it for warmth and spend the night. In the morning the water was lapping at the hulls. They awoke, re-rigged and off they went to the finish line.
Basically there are two tactics for this leg of the course. You can either stick near the shore line and hopefully stay in the sea breeze. However, that would be a lot longer course. The rhumb line (direct route) to Tybee Island would be shorter in distance, but there may not be any breeze farther out. And you could be as much as 50 miles offshore when sailing the rhumb line.
That will be a big decision for many of the teams.
The Calm before the storm -- the boat line up for another perilous start!
 Alexanders and Guidant collided in mid air on top of a wave crest. Guidant broke free and got a good lead. Meanwhile Alexanders struggled in the surf for at least 20 minutes. |
To everyone's surprise the land breeze died very early and a light onshore breeze kicked in. It was obvious there would be a lot difficulty getting out through the surf with very little wind. While the surf was not particularly large, the lack of wind made it extremely tough. The start was postponed for 40 minutes in the hope that the breeze would pick up, but the breeze refused to comply. The races were started anyway.
The two top teams of Alexanders and Fully Involved both had disastrous starts. Alexanders and Tommy Bahama both collided with Guidant in the surf. Guidant slipped out into deep water quickly and was gone, but Alexanders struggled for what seemed an eternity before they finally broke through the surf line.
 Guidant and Tommy Bahama also collided on the top of a wave |
 Fully Involved was spun around by a breaker and had a head on collision with Earn Your Potential. In the process Fully Involved lbroke another rudder and lost valuable time in their efforts to hold on to 2nd place overall. |
We will keep you informed of any other situations as soon as we can
Here are some other action shots!
Here Is a Story File by our On-the-Beach Reporter, Cristy Schimmoller:
| The morning of the 6th Leg of the Worrell 1000 seemed calm in Jacksonville Beach. The surf was calm, the wind was
calm and the sailors were calm. Then as race time approached, the wind shifted back to the northeast. Oops, a start
delay of 10-15 minutes was called to reposition the boats. The starting positions were laid out when the wind was
coming from the west, now the boats needed more room to take off and all the positions had to be moved. When Team Alexander's Captain Brian Lambert heard the reason for the delay, he said there was no way they were going to get all these boats moved in 15 minutes. And he was right. The race was again delayed, partially because they were trying to wait out the head wind, and eventually started at 10:40 a.m. The last three legs of the race have been a two-tiered start, with a two minutes delay between starts. This keeps the teams from having to drag their boats long distances down the beach. However, this contributed to some difficulties during the start this morning. As the boats took off, the waves kept several of the boats from the first tier hung up in the surf. As the second tier took off, there were more boats getting stuck in the surf. Team Fully Involved had a collision with Team Earn Your Potential and broke yet another rudder casting. That seemed to be the only property damage this morning. But Team Fully Involved is riding in 2nd place overall in this race, so they lost precious time this morning. The 1st place team, Team Alexander's also got stuck in the surf and also lost time. So team one and two may have given some of the other boats an opening this morning. Nothing is taken for granted in this race. Michael Worrell was out early this morning gauging the wind, trying to predict what the day would bring. He feels the wind will shift back and come out of the southeast, giving these teams a terrific sailing day, spinnakers flying. Let's see what the day brings. |
Stay Tuned to this Station!
First Finisher is Guidant at 7:30 PM, Must Faster Than Anticipated
 Rod Waterhouse and Katie Pettibone of Guidant flew across the finish line in front of a crowded audience. The beach wa packed with locals and tourists. |
Around one o'clock the sea breeze filled in nicely and the boats really started to haul. The earlier light winds had hampered progress dramatically, but now with spinnaker drawing the boats flew through the waves.
Guidant had the lead pretty much all the way, but Tybee Island was desperate to have a good showing in front of their home crowd. Kenny Pierce said, "We were reeling them in, but we just needed a few more miles to catch them."
Tybee Island did well, finishing only a couple of minutes behind Guidant.
 The "Sports Guy" from the TV station did a very knowledgeable interview with Rod Waterhouse of Guidant. |
Tactically, all the top teams stayed close to the shore line and played with the seabreeze, rather than trying the rhumb line. Guidant and Tybee Island stayed the closest in and seemed to do the best.
The Dinghy Shop capsized just before the finish. They did manage to get it up and come across the line in 9th place. They now have captured 2nd spot and lead Guidant by only 3 minues.
 Nigel Pitt and Alex Shafer of Tommy Bahama have gotten it together lately and have sailed consistantly to two 3rds and a 4th in the last few days. |
Couldn't resist taking this shot of the sun setting behind the sails.
This report was filed by our on-the-beach correspondent, Cristy Schimmoller:
| The 6th and longest leg of the Worrell 1000 is almost completed. As of 10pm only 14 of the 18 boats had arrived
safely in Tybee Island, Georgia from Jacksonville Beach, Florida. The late start for the first and second place
teams, Team Alexander's and Team Guidant, fortunately did not affect them too much. Team Guidant arrived on the
beach in first place and Team Alexander's arrived in third place for this leg. The second place finishers for this
leg were none other than Team Tybee Island! They had plenty of incentive to get here in a hurry – this is home
base with many friends and family cheering them into shore. When I asked Team Tybee Island road crew member Mark
Levine if the sailors felt any pressure this morning because of the sail into Tybee, he didn't think so. If anything,
I think it may have taken the pressure off! What happened to Team Fully Involved, our overall second place team? It looks like the crash at the start this morning was only the beginning of their troubles, as they have not appeared on the horizon as of yet. We'll find out soon enough. Team Guidant has had a dry suit flown in for crew member Katie Pettibone today. I was surprised that a professional sailor from Michigan didn't have a dry suit. When I asked Katie why she didn't have one, she answered, "After the Whitbread, it was toast!" (The Whitbread Race is an around-the-world race through crummy conditions. That could toast even the best of dry suits! Oh, that explains it!) I assumed the suit was for the two upcoming night legs of the race, but she went on to explain that the water and air temperatures continue to decrease as the race moves north up the coast. Team Alexander's crew member Jamie Livingston added that it's the long-term exposure to the air, wind and water that creates the problem. As I said, today's leg is the longest of the race. During the previous legs, most of the teams have elected to only take minimal supplies on board with them, preferring to eat when they arrived at the next checkpoint. So I wondered how the teams were addressing the hunger that would come about during this long leg and keep their energy up. Today, Team Sail For Sight's road crew made a lunch for the sailors of foods that would be relatively easy to eat – peanut butter sandwiches (they won't fall apart), fruit and a few pieces of chocolate. While we were waiting out the delayed start this morning I had the opportunity to talk with several of the team members that are generally too busy to talk much during the morning preparations. I asked Captain Chris Sawyer of Team Earn Your Potential what made him take on the challenge of the Worrell 1000. He said he just loves sailing and has been sailing since he was 13 years old. Chris says this isn't really a challenge, not to him anyway. "Just wake up and sail." With his wife, Angela, looking on he grinned and quickly added, "Now marriage, that's a challenge." Team Alexander's crew member Jamie Livingston was clowning around while he was waiting out the delay and asked of no one in particular, "Do I get a day off soon? Can I switch with the road crew?" Some one sarcastically asked if he was tired. He answered, "No. I would just like a good day of sailing. It's a long leg today." It sure was. Now he can rest until 6:00 p.m. tomorrow when the first night leg begins. |
Today's Finish Positions:
All the boats hit the beach by 10:20PM
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