BEACH CATS MARATHONS
The Tybee Island Sailing Association, organizers of the successful Tybee
500 that debuted last May, has teamed up with the Outer Banks Catamaran
Club to produce two back-to-back five-hundred-mile races starting next
year. The contests will form a new 1000-mile annual challenge called the
Atlantic 1000. According to race organizers, these two events the Tybee 500
and the Outer Banks 500 will culminate in a third award honoring the
sailors with the best combined time for both.
Race registration will begin on January 1, 2004, with surf sailors given
the choice of entering either or both events. The Tybee 500 will run the
same course as last year from Islamorada, Florida, to Tybee Island,
Georgia, May 10-15. The Outer Banks 500 will start on May 17th where the
Tybee leaves off, ending at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, on May 22nd.
Each race will have five mandatory checkpoints between start and finish
Classes will consist of 18- and 20-foot production catamarans, factory
spinnaker-rigged with beams of no more than 8.5 feet, including Inter 20,
Nacra 6.0, Hobie 20, and the NAF 18. Website addresses are:
www.tybee500.com,
www.obx500.com,
www.atlantic1000.com. - Diana Prentice
