I had a whole series of pix with this and it was a landing, not a takeoff that did this bunch in. They got sideways in a wave flipped, and the rest is history. Notice you dont see any swimmers in this pic. That surf just swallowed them up.
David

yeah, re-entry happens right before you land. for the space shuttle it's plowing thru the atmosphere at 11,000 knots, for us it's that narly surf.

i did not mean that anyone can just go out and sail in the worrell. i have a pilot's license, and am completely competent to fly gliders in vfr conditions. i know what to do in the event of a tow rope breaking on tow (happened once at 200 feet). i know how to land the airplane (even in 30 knot crosswinds). i have had the training and am prepared (as best as possible) for what might occur. i do not try to fly in instrument conditions or even take off in cross wind conditions over 12 knots (the wind picked up while i was in the air). when i fly, i bring a radio (to talk to the ground station), cell phone, compass, gps... i do not depend on these items and have indeed had failures of various equipment at different times, but i have them in case something goes wrong. this is what i meant when i stated "if i fall over and never see the boat again, i have an epirb and someone from the coast guard will come and get me". i should have said might or should come and get me. again, we take risks every day. just how big a risk we are willing to take should be based on our training, skill, and preparedness. if you are not prepared and do not have the skill, you shouldn't enter the race. you don't see me entering the race. i'm sure there are things that you (all of you) will do now that you would not attempt at some earlier time in your life because you are prepared for what might occur, but were not prepared before.

Hi Dave

THANKS -again --

-reading thru some of the comments by others ,-
funny how some resent others and provide their negative commentary and adjectives towards those in the race -
thought that was what the old forum was for and those types .--oh well -
there are numerous people like you that have covered all aspects of the race they can ask .
plus 36 teams -72 participants signed up plus gr crews -race staff media etc this year in 03 ,-

Any that have questions can contact us as well ,-always happy to answer any questions about the race or help other teams or future teams in distance races -

oh well ,-it is interesting to read others perspective on it -
Carl

Dave,

[color:"green"]> i'm sure there are things that you (all of you) will do now that you would not attempt at some earlier time in your life because you are prepared for what might occur, but were not prepared before[/color]

Funny thing is, for me anyhow, it's been just the opposite. There were a lot of things I did earlier in life out of ignorant bliss, yet somehow managed to survive. I watch my kids pull some hairy stunts on occasion. After trying not to freak out, I'll occasionally sit them down and ask, "Did you ever think of what would happen if "?" happened?" They'll look back and say, "Wow, could that really happen?" Then, you wonder how much sinks in because before you know it you're seeing the same stunt again.

kevin,

just like you sit down with your kids when they do something dangerous, and i assume that if you actually saw them preparing for a trip to the hospital, you would stop them, doesn't the race committee take resumes and approve or disapprove sailors that they deem are not prepared for the trip? please do not construe this as me saying that it is the job of the committee to determine each sailor's competence. it is still up to the skipper of the boat.

i sailed in a race from clearwater to key west last year. we sailed through a pretty nasty storm. at the end of the storm, we were all on the boat and had sustained no injuries. we were prepared for the situation and took all precautions we could. there was another boat that didn't fare so well. their mast dropped into their deck about 4 inches. they had switched all of their battery banks on, and had emptied all of the charge in both banks. the radio would not work without batteries (the antenna wire had broken in the semi-dismasting). they could not start their engine, and were 40 miles off of the coast of florida. my point is, if we had known about the weather before we started, we would not have gone on the trip, but we were prepared for bad weather, etc and faired very well. the other boat that had not prepared was not so lucky. they wound up floating for a few hours until a shrimper came by and offered assistance.

people will always do stupid things. we used to have a helmet law in florida. it is no longer in existence. there is something interesting about passing a law to protect a brain that is too stupid to protect itself.

Dave,

Hopefully I'm not being misinterpreted in all of this. The point I was getting at was that we need to accept full responsibility for the things we take on and weigh the risks without the expectation that someone is standing by to bail us out. We own both the decision to go, and the outcome.

Of course, there are many things that can happen that may be out of our control. That's the nature of life. For that reason we have the Coast Guard and other SAR units whose mission it is to come to the aid of those in trouble, often at great risk to themselves. They do a great job. My opinion, however, is that the existance of such folks should in no way influence the decision of go vs. no go.

i couldn't agree more.

I take issue with your use of the term "prepared".
You stated that "if we had known about the weather before we started, we would not have gone on the trip".
How can you call yourself "prepared", if you hadn't checked the weather?
Checking the weather is the MOST important item when sailing off-shore, because if conditions exceed the maximum capabilities of you or your boat, you die. Then we have to put up with another "shark-bite" lawsuit.
You CANNOT pack enough stuff or "be prepared" to survive everything.

The is a great deal of evidence that helmets contribute to accidents and the severity of the injuries, specifically spinal cord damage.
Allowing riders the choice of being able to see and hear better, thus avoiding accidents is simply freedom of choice.

Don't think I'm being mean - Will and Jim are both friends of mine... This pic just really captures for me that "Oh crap..." feeling that you can get, even when everything has gone well for the whole leg. Until...

John

I'd say If you really have a burning desire to do the race for the right reasons then go for it.It is not an elitist group(or wasn't in the past).It's a group of some of the best people your gonna meet anywhere. That was a big reason I did it 4 times. Finishing is the number one goal for everyone, the farther up the better. If your wondering if Mike would accept your resume, call him and ask him,the sooner the better. He's very approachable and helpful. As far as owning a boat or not, it is certainly a huge benefit.You obviously can figure out a lot more ahead of time, and every second DOES count.Look at going into the last leg this year. Safety is just an issue of using your head and not going over your limits. The worst scenarios I've personally been through were Jensen and the 97? Steeplechase. Yeah they were hairy and few others came close but if your real worried about doing anything dangerous you'd pretty much lead a real boring life.Those are the things you remember.
If you've got any questions shoot me an E-mail at Todd@teamcatfever.com
Todd A. Hart
p.s. Oh yeah, it's expensive ,no way around it.

we checked the weather before we started the race and the front was supposed to move through before we hit it. unfortunately, it took a day and a half to reach where the front was at the time of the weather report and it had stalled. i was not concerned that we would have problems in the storm. it was more of an issue of comfort. the boat was completely seaworthy and we were never concerned about losing the boat. we were prepared for what we ran into. we had even replaced the rigging prior to the race.

by the way, good point on the helmets, but what good is avoiding a spinal injury if you crush your skull in the process? the statistics are with me on this one. helmets save lives, just as seatbelts and life jackets do.

I think you used the right word - "campaign". An event of this nature is not to be taken too lightly. If your idea of race preparation is to take along a map and a crate of beer, then yes, stick to cruising protected waterways (unless you`re from Australia or New Zealand !).
In terms of being an "elitist" event, I think that the fact that they change boats frequently, as well as the fact that it does cost a lot to do, probably excludes the average sailor, which is just as well - I`d hate to see the rescue
reports if you threw a whole bunch of weekend sailors at the Worrell. The race also attracts interest from some of the best ocean-racers, which also makes the possibility of the average guy qualifying a bit smaller.
Looking at the last Worrell from the South African team`s perspective, it was sailed on a tiny budget, since you can take the cost and multiply it by 10, so a $5000 entry fee is about 7 months income for an average guy.
If the desire is strong enough, you will make it happen.
It all depends on how big your dream is, and how much you are prepared to put into it.