Again this year Catamaran Sailor Magazine and www.catsailor.com will be following the Tybee 500 and reporting on it, with stories, pictures, interviews, rumors, or whatever throughout the day.

Mary Wells and Barb Short will operate the Hot Line right here on the Forum for the latest info that I call in on my cell phone.

However, I should be able to post stories two to four times per day until the finish.
The RV is again set up with a movable satellite dish for high speed up and down loading. That and my new hot Nikon D100 should be able to get you some pretty fun action next week.

Stand by and be sure to check our Main Welcome Page for Headline Stories at www.catsailor.com

And be sure to help the sponsors that help pay for the coverage of the event.

Thanks,
Rick

thanks rick you da man! maybe i can see the finish at tybee. be safe

Rick

Where will they be launching from? Is it the same place they stopped last year or did they secure a part of the main public beach in Hollywood.

Please let me know so I can go check them out on Sunday (or maybe even before)

Thanks,

I don't know if Rick knows about this but I thought I'd mention it in time enough for folks to make plans to come on over: There's a "meet and greet" with the sailors scheduled for tomorrow between 4 and 7pm. The boats are on the beach pretty much right behind the Ramada Hollywood Beach Resort at 101 N.Ocean Drive, here in Hollywood. Everyone I spoke with said they'd probably be sailing on and off during the day, conditions permitting. Earlier in the day there wasn't much of a breeze, but then it went ballistic; although it's laid down a bit now. I gotta go play booze wench and mix some rum drinks for the guys as they're still setting up on the beach. It's after five o'clock, right?

Good, I'm glad it is in the public beach area. This way there'll be lots of spectators. I'll be there tomorrow.
We'll stop and say hello.

What teams are registered? The Tybee Web site only lists the 2004 entrants.

Steve,
looks like 8 teams

Mike Krantz/Dave Lennard
Carl Roberts/Jake Kohl
Frank Moore/Mike Ferrara
Trey Brown/Tad Pecorak
Rod Waterhouse/Rob Remmers
John JC Casy/Kenny Pierce
Mike Hill/John Macdonald
Harry Newkirk/Charlie Trinque

Just a note, this will be a good race for the "youngsters", Trey and Tad and Haryy and Charlie. You got to give these guys some credit for pulling together a campaign at such a young age. However they will probably feel better at the end than us old timers did. Advantage?

Team Space Coast (Mark Herendeen) was spotted in the hotel late last night during SailMax.biz's impromptu sail graphics application party. Then this morning, someone said a Marstrom 20 had just showed up. I'm still in the hotel working on an update on the SailMax site so I haven't yet been down to the beach to investigate further. Until Rick gets here, I hope to have some photos of today's test runs of as many teams as I can shoot for those of you who can't make it out here in person. As of now, I believe they're all still tinkering. Then again, Jim Stone's wife, Roxy - with Pirates of the Tybeean - is a professional photographer and I'm certain she'll have some killer shots to share with all of us soon. Between everyone here, I can practically guarantee there will be no shortage of eye candy during this event.

Hi Bonnie,
Still packing and getting the sat dish on the RV working. I plan on being there around 8AM tomorrow (Sunday) to set up and get to the start.
Looking forward to working with you to get some great coverage of the race.
Rick

Some photos of the teams still setting up on Hollywood Beach just moments ago.

And another one, this time looking North. Jake Kohl's boat in foreground. I happened to be there when they discovered that the jibs they had were not self tackers, so they are busy making modifications.

Rick,

We're waiting for ya! Meanwhile, you're missing some great photo-opps! This one was taken by Bonnie and is on the http://www.sailmax.biz site...

This is what happens when I leave the room for a minute. Jake, I cannot believe you did that. Strickland is going to thrash you, man.

In David's defense, he had been working for hours and was very hot, tired, and hungry at this point. There was no rum involved.

I think rum involvement would have been better! Great job Bonnie!

hey girl! we miss you!