Who is signed up or is planning to sign up to do the Tybee 500. I know of about 10 - 12 boats including those officially signed up.
I cannot skipper the boat this year, but Rod Waterhouse from Austrailia (The Man) is coming over to take the helm with Rob Remmers to lead our team.
I know some of you just heard that the OBX 500 portion of the Atlantic 1000 was cancelled due to not enough teams sailing the Northern half but Chuck is 100% behind the Tybee 500. Besides that the city of Hollywood, Tybee and a whole lot of other people have donated a lot of time and money to try to make this event a great event this year... so come on guys, we are becoming are own worst enemy. If you want to see events like the Tybee 500 go on then let's step up. I could not sail this year but I still put my boat in and am helping raise sponsorship and will ground crew also.
Let's keep these distance races going. I've heard some of the backgorund noise about the open boats being in the race, but if the I-20's show in number it will be the "featured" event. Maybe it needs to go to F-20 or back to one-design in years to come... that can all be argued later, but get over it for now and let's go sailing.
Anybody that has sailed the race, been ground crew, or sponsored a team knows how much fun and how special the Tybee 500 is...
Let's make this thing happen in a big way this year!
I'm sorry to hear you are not sailing this year! Team Seacats will be sitting it out this year but are planning for some sort of return next year.
With regards to the open class; I have a mixed bag of feelings about that in this race but I've had a lot of conversations with sailors about that. It seems like the competitors go through a series of phases in their draw to attend such an event. For us last year, our draw was "To Finish". We wanted to do it and that was enough for us. The next time around, we not only want to finish (now that we've done that) but we want to improve our finish position. I'm sure that as we continue to do a race like this, every time we run it, our goal is to perform a little better until ulimately being near the front line to the beach. The open class makes that goal much harder to reach. Another point of interest is that with every kind of racing, the back of the pack gets little coverage. If the leaders are running hours ahead instead of minutes, the coverage (and sponsorship opportunities) for the back of the pack teams (i.e. the entry level teams) could get worse as well.
On the other hand, I think it will be interesting to see the development come out of these boats but it could easily get boring (ref: Oryx Cup) if it turns into a blow out. When the charm of COMPLETING a race up the coast wears out on some of the newer teams, the lust might fade if a few teams completely anhialate the competition year after year. However, the addition of the open class has not detered us from wanting to compete currently.
That said, I think part of the attendence issue with this year's Tybee (I realize that I'm playing arm chair quarterback here) is not the open class but that the information for the race was (is still) so late in coming. The Tybee500 website still has no information on it and only says "under construction". This makes it very difficult to gain sponsorship and almost impossible for an international team to make plans for the event. It is notable on this point to realize that a lot of the delay is the hurricanes that rearranged and damaged many of the hotels from last year so much replanning had to be done. Chuck runs a hell of a race and does it on a cut-throat budget - I couldn't suggest anyone better suited to put a race like this together. But the formula is still a little incomplete - they've got the hard part, actually running the race, together and totally in control but there is currently a need for more publicity and planning to be made available to the sailors ahead of time. I think that last bit will help bring attendance up again.
Last edited by Jake; 04/04/0509:02 AM.
Jake Kohl
Re: Tybee 500
[Re: Jake]
#46747 04/04/0510:48 AM04/04/0510:48 AM
We are sorry to hear of the Atlantic 1000 shortened to the Tybee 500.
However, Catsailor Magazine will be fully behind Chuck and the Tybee 500 and will again be giving full reports with pix several times a day. So, be sure to stay tuned to this site. Headlines and story links will be on the Main or Welcome Page for each and every story as they happen. I will again be heading up the coast with the RV and be using the satellite upload capacity.
Someone else pointed out to me that there are a lot of "Worlds" events happening this year in the US - Tiger Worlds and the Nacra F18 worlds. Coupled with the fact that F18 is booming in this area and F18 Nationals in Chesapeak, VA is probably going to be a big attractor too...
I do also hear that there is a high confidence in a healthy turnout for the Tybee 500 in the neighborhood of 14 boats or so. I'll be watchin for sure!
Jake, I think you may be right on the other events. Also, the Miami to Key Largo and the Hogsbreath are on the two weekends immediately prior to the Tybee 500 may also be hurting it, and the Mug Race is on the same weekend as the start this year. The purists will say these are not the same level of races, but they have to have some effect on drawing away the average or not as well organized teams.
We are still registered, and still optimistic that this will be a great event this year. Chuck indeed runs a great race.
Jake, I think you may be right on the other events. Also, the Miami to Key Largo and the Hogsbreath are on the two weekends immediately prior to the Tybee 500 may also be hurting it, and the Mug Race is on the same weekend as the start this year. The purists will say these are not the same level of races, but they have to have some effect on drawing away the average or not as well organized teams.
We are still registered, and still optimistic that this will be a great event this year. Chuck indeed runs a great race.
Well, I guess I'm one of those purists... The MKL, Hogsbreath and Mug have absolutly no bearing on a teams decision to sail the T500 or not. If anything those three races would be impacted by the T500 (the other way around). I would imagine that several teams would begin to button everything up in the weeks leading up to the T500 so would opt out of those races. IMHO.
"Do or do not. There is no try." - Yoda "Excuses are the tools of the weak and incompetent" - Two sista's I overheard in the hall "You don't have to be a brain surgeon to be a complete idiot, but it helps"
"Do or do not. There is no try." - Yoda "Excuses are the tools of the weak and incompetent" - Two sista's I overheard in the hall "You don't have to be a brain surgeon to be a complete idiot, but it helps"
