2001 Worrell 1000
Leg 7, from Tybee Island, Georgia to Isle of Palms, South Carolina -- the first night leg. The Start is at 6PM this Evening (map below)
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Since the race does not resume today until 6 PM, most of the teams are sleeping in and getting some much needed rest after getting pretty well beat up in the Florida waters. Ground crews are still busy fixing boats and taking care of things that have been neglected to to emergency operations required for the past week due to heavy winds and seas.
What a toll so far -- broken bones, blood, broken masts, inumerable broken rudders and castings, even some broken hearts of those that have already been forced out after a year of hard work, planning.and preparation.
Last night's heartbreaker was the extremely late arrival of Les Bauman and Craig Callahan of Fully Involved. As we have mentioned on our site a good many times, the straightest line between two points is not often the fasted way to get there. Fully Involved decided to take the rhumb line directly from Jacksonville Beach to Tybee Island, thus saving many miles. However the breezes along the shore were so much stronger and better that the longer distance definitely was the faster way to go.
Fully Involved dropped from 2nd place overall to 5th.
This report was file by our on-the-beach correspondent, Cristy Schimmoller:
| As we observers wait for this evening's start of the 7th Leg of this year's Worrell 1000 from beautiful Tybee Island
Beach, the sailors are resting up, relaxing and preparing for the first of the two night legs of the race. I'm
told that every year at this stage of the race the question comes up, "Should the night legs be eliminated?"
I will spend some time today asking that very question to this year's participants, both experienced and inexperienced
Worrell sailors, and let you know how they feel. One suggestion in the past has been to run the night legs in Florida
where the waters and shores are a little bit less of a challenge. (At least normally. This year's Florida legs
have certainly not been normal.) I asked Team Alexander's Manager and Co-Sponsor, Beetle Bailey, how it felt to be leading, not only the whole race, but just about every leg of the race. He very quickly answered, "About time. 5 years and $120,000 later!" and then took a moment to share with me tales of sailing and the Worrell Races. It's easy to understand why there might be some frustration after 5 years. The first year that he sponsored a boat, under the name Team Pomodora, they had to abandon the boat at sea. He had the Coast Guard "pluck the crew off" and went home with no boat. Ouch! In 1998, Beetle's second year as a sponsor, was the year that a mere handful of the starting boats actually finished the race. Their team broke the boat in half and went home with pieces of a boat. (Team Baywind knows how that feels after crashing at the finish line in Cocoa Beach this year. They broke their mast and both hulls.) 1999 seemed like Team Alexander's year. They finished third overall in the race and felt pretty good to have finally finished, let alone place in the top three. So hopes were high for the 2000 race. Unfortunately, they were a little disappointed with a fourth place finish. (He must be crazy! From my eyes, in a race like the Worrell, 4th place is fabulous!) So he's very pleased that they are in the lead spot in this year's race. He's quick to say that having the lead doesn't guarantee anything at this point in the race. It just gives them a little bit of breathing room for the remaining legs, that anything can happen. How true that has been so far! I asked him how he came to be an owner/sponsor of a boat in the first place. Beetle grew up in the Virginia Beach area and has been sailing most of his life. Sailing is one of those things that gets in your blood and is hard to shake! When he was a teenager, he "found a reason to be unemployed every summer" so he could spend his time on the beach sailing and spent more nights sleeping on the tramp than in his own bed! (How many of those people do we know?) Beetle also sponsored his own race for about 20 years and just gravitated towards a race like the Worrell. Good luck to all the teams this afternoon. |
We are about half way through this awesome race that is billed as Iron Sailors -- Plastic Boats. This would probably be good time to take a look at the overall standings. Things really were shaken up at the disastrous Jensen Beach start, where only 5 boats got through the surf unscathed and completed the leg. The rest of the fleet had a tremendous amount of time to make up -- they were penalized the time of the last boat, plus two hours for not sailing the race.
While that may seem like a controversial call, it would almost seem as if no call made by Michael Worrell would be the right one -- sort of damned if you do, damned if you don't! At any rate, for those that survived that leg, that put them in ideal position to be competitive for the win.
However, Brian Lambert and Jamie Livingston are making sure no one gets to close. At this point they are now over 2 hours and 42 minutes ahead of Reigh North and Scott MacDonald of Team Canada (nee The Dinghy Shop). But nipping close at the heels behind the Canadians are Rod Waterhouse and Katie Pettibone on Guidant -- a mere four minutes back.
Others in the elite group of five survivors are Outer Banks and Fully Involved. Fully Involved made the big mistake of sailing the rhumb line and was the last boat to finish last night. That dropped them from 2nd place to 5th. Tybee Island is coming on strong from the second tier or fleet and are now only 16 minutes behind Fully Involved,m the last boat of the Jensen Beach to Cocoa Beach group. Steve Lohmayer of Team Tybee Island said, "Yeah! were working our way of of the B Fleet." Kenny Pierce added, "Hey! It is a long race. No more breakdowns! We can do it!"
Here is the rundown so far:
| Pos | Team | Total Time | Behind |
| 1 | Alexander's | 40:38:37 | 00:00:00 |
| 2 | Dinghy Shop | 40:38:37 | 02:42:33 |
| 3 | Guidant | 40:42:27 | 02:46:23 |
| 4 | Outer Banks | 41:36:30 | 03:40:26 |
| 5 | Fully Involved | 42:24:55 | 04:28:51 |
| 6 | Tybee Island | 42:40:46 | 04:44:42 |
| 7 | Tommy Bahama | 42:57:32 | 05:01:28 |
| 8 | Sail For Sight | 43:34:11 | 05:38:07 |
| 9 | LexisNexis | 43:39:35 | 05:43:31 |
| 10 | Key Sailing | 43:57:5 | 06:01:54 |
| 11 | EarnYourPotential.com | 44:10:38 | 06:14:34 |
| 12 | Castrol | 44:28:59 | 06:32:55 |
| 13 | Spitfire Racing | 45:06:38 | 07:10:34 |
| 14 | Pyacht Men | 45:27:35 | 07:31:31 |
| 15 | PI Sailing | 46:14:54 | 08:18:50 |
| 16 | Cat Fever | 48:34:46 | 10:38:42 |
| 17 | Redhook Ale | 48:48:45 | 10:52:41 |
| 18 | Australia | 55:56:39 | 18:00:35 |
| 19 | Pyacht Women | DNS | DNS |
| 20 | Bay Wind | DNS | DNS |
| 21 | Dallas | DNS | DNS |
Carl Roberts of Sail for Sight posted a story on our website's Forum and we published it in our magazine. And since we coming up on our first night leg, it seems appropriate to let you see it. Emjoy!
| A Worrell 1000 Legend The story of the Charleston Deer BY CARL ROBERTS (written two months ago) Only two months to the Worrell 1000. Looking out my office window this evening at snow and ice, it's difficult to imagine that in that short time we will be out on the Atlantic again in the crazy stuff – lightning storms, hail, huge seas, microbursts to rip your rig off or send you flying 30 ft. through the air, and crack your hulls, or your ribs – and, of course, the night legs. Funny Worrell sailing story, from the ‘98 race. We had been beat up pretty bad in previous legs by hail storms and a microburst of 60 to 80 mph which imploded the Nacra 6.0 hulls as they were driven underwater within seconds, then flipping over the bows violently – took us much of the night to repair. During the following night leg to Isle of Palms past the glow of city lights, seen many miles out to sea, of the beautiful, historic city of Charleston is an 8-mile land jetty. Now, if you have not had much sleep in several nights and you take a quick look at the chart and enter the final checkpoint location and it's your first time sailing this night leg of the race, you may not realize that the dotted lines on the chart are not channel markers but actually a solid, 8-mile land mass rock jetty. In snow country I live on a small inland lake next to a golf course with a large deer herd population. It's not unusual in the fall to see deer be chased into the lake. You can spot them quite a ways away by their antlers towering above the water as they swim around looking for a safe area to get out. My kids always enjoy spotting them in the evening, yelling out, "IT'S A DEER! IT'S A DEER!" About now you're thinking, what does this have to do with sailing a night leg? Well, we're getting there. Pushing off the beach at Tybee Island at 6:00 p.m. and having some great racing then into the night with no moon or stars in the cloudy mist conditions and varying wind and sea states, mostly large Atlantic swells. Around 4:00 a.m., I was feeling a little light-headed, half asleep, exhausted, when I heard my crew Robert say loudly, "IT'S A DEER! IT'S A DEER!" I calmly began looking off to port to spot the antlers and deer I expected to see swimming alongside, and I'm thinking he's pretty far offshore, hope he's going to be okay. Robert again said even louder, "IT'S A DEER, IT'S A DEER." So I calmly looked over to starboard – no antlers or deer? A third yell from Robert, making eye contact and pointing straight ahead. As I looked under the chute and saw the nice big swell rolling up onto rocks about 50 feet ahead, I suddenly realized he was yelling, "IT'S A PIER, IT'S A PIER." Within a half second, we power-gybed, came up on the other hull, almost over, let the halyard go and saved it. After checking my drysuit, we gybed back over and sailed to weather a long distance around the end of the jetty and finished the leg not realizing what lay in store for us in the legs ahead – but that's another story. Every year since, I've always told the story of the Charleston deer. Hope you enjoyed it and find the information useful if you happen to be sailing there in your own first night leg this May. Take care. |
This report was filed just before the start by our Cristy Schimmoller:
| As the sun is getting ready to set here in Tybee Island the teams are preparing for the first night leg of this
year's Worrell 1000. So, should the night legs be eliminated? That was the question posed to the road crews and
sailors this afternoon. Redhook Ale crewmember Suzette Cruz wouldn't mind. This is her first Worrell 1000 but she is experienced with night sailing around Miami. She asked, "What is the point really?" Captain Chris Sawyer from Team Earn Your Potential thinks there is good and bad about these legs. This is Chris' second Worrell so he does have some experience with these particular night sails. "The night leg is great with ideal conditions." It's a part of the challenge. "But under less than ideal conditions it can be… dangerous. And I think any time you can eliminate danger, it's good." Team Sail For Sight Captain Carl Roberts wouldn't mind seeing it eliminated. This is his 5th Worrell race and he has no great love for the night legs. He feels most of the sailors would probably like to see it gone. On the other hand, Team Alexander's Captain, Brian Lambert, thinks it should stay, that it is definitely part of the challenge. "I could see alternating the legs. One year they did the second {night} leg during the day and it was so neat to be able to see this stuff." When I asked what he thought about changing the night legs to be in Florida, he disagreed. "No, I feel protected up here on this. It's almost like a bay, so this area is good. What about the Tybee leg?" Yea, sure Brian, the longest leg of the race, I said as I joined in the sarcasm. He continued the joke saying, "Well, some are finishing in the dark anyway!" He did think that alternating would be a great idea. That was the first time I had heard that and thought it sounded like a great idea, from a non-Worrell sailor's perspective. Many of the road crews have spoken with their teams about the nights legs before today. Pete from Team Alexander's says his guys love it. Love it? Yes, love it because they can sneak around and catch precious minutes. He also heard that they were thinking about changing it to one of the Florida legs – and that wouldn't have made a difference this year. Team Tybee Island's Mark Levine (also their back-up sailor) said his guys really like it for the same reason. No one can see the boats in front. It's pretty easy to sail when you copy the moves of the lead boats. Well, let's see how they all do tonight and what the morning will bring. |
And they are off and Running On the Leg from Tybee Island, Georgia to Isle Of Palms, South Carolina (Charleston area)
There was a huge turnout
for the start here on Tybee Island. The beach was packed. All the boats flew off the beach with spinnaker flowing
and flying whith the hooping and howling of the crowd as background music. It was sight to behold.
Guidant had the pole position and took full advantage of it -- they had their chute up and, at the gun, all they had to do was sheet and accelerate. But Tybee Island and Alexanders did not lose much as they also had great starts.
The wind was 10-15 out of the southwest, but a frontal passage is expected and the wind is supposed to go north and increase. There is also the possibility of storms.
 Guidant had a great start, but Tybee and Alexanders also did very good -- it is still anybody's leg. Three boats managed to flip shortly after the start, but all were fine. |
We will try to keep you posted.
Sorry for the Delay -- Had a Hard Time Finding a Phone Line
The first boat that arrived came in around 11:30 last night -- it was Team Alexander with still another bullet leg. This moves them into a lead of over three and a half hours over the second place team. And that is a story unto itself. It just seems no one can hold on to the evasive 2nd spot. Fully Involved had the position made until a distastrous leg from Jacksonville to Tybee Island -- they then dropped to 5th position.
Well, it seems the Dinghy Shop was in second place before the start last night. They also had a disastous finish, coming in 15th and nearly two hours behind the leaders. This dropped them to 3rd spot -- still ahead of Fully Involved.
But both of these teams are now looking over their shoulders at the hard-charging Tybee Island Team who has been steadily closing in on them.
While Guidant moved into a slim second place by default, they did not do well last night -- they were nearly an hour behind Alexanders.
Tactics?
Most felt that the wind would clock to the right from the southwest direction experienced at the start and either go northwest and perhaps even northerly. Teams that stay close toward the shore would feel the shifts head them. If you were flying a spinnaker, you would either have to go farther out from shore, or perhaps sheet in and sail faster and higher.
If you opted to offshore, the same windshift would have you either go way offshore, or drop the chute entirely and have to sail either close-hauled or maybe on a close reach.
So, if the wind were to do as expected, the best course would have been to stay on the inside and as close to shore as permitted by navigable waters. And that is exactly what the two lead teams did -- they steered a course inside that captured the best of the wind shifts.
Of course many of the late arrivals had nothing to do with tactics. Many were simply from capsizing when a storm associated with the frontal system slammed into them. Todd Hart of Cat Fever said, "We flipped three times. And then I lost my contacts." New tactic -- sail in the pitch-dark .., without your contacts.
| Stay Tuned for a Brand New, Constant Update System We are Attempting. We are calling it our "Hot Line Reports" by Mary which will bring you instant, brief reports of what is going on, or what is supposed to be going on, or what is rumored to be going on..
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Here are the finish positions for the leg from Tybee Island to Isle of Palms:
The new Overall Standings Are:
| Pos | Team | Total Time | Behind |
| 1 | Alexander's | 43:24:23 | 00:00:00 |
| 2 | Guidant | 47:00:02 | 03:35:39 |
| 3 | Dinghy Shop | 47:48:48 | 04:24:25 |
| 4 | Fully Involved | 48:25:51 | 05:01:28 |
| 5 | Tybee Island | 48:46:55 | 05:22:32 |
| 6 | Tommy Bahama | 48:53:54 | 05:29:31 |
| 7 | Sail For Sight | 49:21:52 | 05:57:29 |
| 8 | LexisNexis | 49:24:54 | 06:00:31 |
| 9 | Outer Banks | 49:58:01 | 06:33:38 |
| 10 | Castrol | 50:06:04 | 06:41:41 |
| 11 | Key Sailing | 50:39:25 | 07:15:02 |
| 11 | EarnYourPotential.com | 50:54:54 | 07:30:31 |
| 12 | Castrol | 44:28:59 | 06:32:55 |
| 13 | Spitfire Racing | 51:13:51 | 07:49:28 |
| 14 | Pyacht Men | 52:01:41 | 08:37:18 |
| 15 | PI Sailing | 52:44:31 | 09:20:08 |
| 16 | Cat Fever | 55:40:24 | 12:16:01 |
| 17 | Redhook Ale | 56:41:28 | 13:17:05 |
| 18 | Australia | 64:19:09 | 20:54:46 |
| Stay Tuned for a Brand New, Constant Update System We are Attempting. We are calling it our "Hot Line Reports" by Mary which will bring you instant, brief reports of what is going on, or what is supposed to be going on, or what is rumored to be going on..
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