TUESDAY, MAY 10
Earlier this morning it looked like it might be a problem for the start because of very light air and pretty big surf. But the surf died down a little by the time they started.

Wind is very light out of the northeast. Most of the boats paddled out through the surf and now are sailing close-hauled along the beach.

We will be getting some reports along the way from Kirk Newkirk, who is also hugging the shore, driving close-hauled up U.S. 1.

By the way, results are now posted on the Tybee 500 website, www.tybee500.com.

Report just in from Kirk Newkirk:
The boats have just passed Hobe Sound. Wind has picked up and is from the ESE, and all the boats are flying spinnakers -- somewhere between a beam reach and a broad reach.

Here is the order at this point: Pirates, Tybee, Key Sailing, Coconut Grove, Sailmax I, Sailmax II, Windy Hil, Morada, St. Louis, Spacecoast, Velocity.

Hobe Sound is only about 15 miles north of the start, but the boats are moving along really well now, which is good, because this is a very long leg -- about 111 miles to Cocoa Beach.

I just spoke to Kirk, they are at Hobe Sound

Waterhouse
Tybee 20sec behind
Key Sailing 110sec
M20 130sec
Krantz 130 sec
Carl and Jake
Windy Hill
Morada
St Louis
Space Coast
Velocity

Still very light, seabreeze hasn't started kicking yet.

(sorry Mary, looks like you just spoke with him too!)

Glad the wind picked up, it would be a long paddle to Cocoa Beach.

New report from Kirk Newkirk:
The first five boats are all within a minute.
Pirates is still in 1st place by about 15 seconds over Tybee. Sailmax I has moved into third place and Coconut Grove Sails is now in 4th and Key Sailing in 5th.
Sailmax II and Windy Hill are the next two boats after the lead pack.

The wind is ESE at about 8-10 but all the shifts are going more to the south. All the boats have been reaching along the beach, but as the wind gets more southerly, they will probably start having to tack downwind, taking them more offshore.

This call just in from Dave Lennard on SailMax I. The wind is blowing 10k, they have 74 miles to go and are sailing just along the coast. The top five boats in the lead pack are: Team Tybee, Pirates, Coconut Grove, SailMax I, and Key Sailing. We're hoping that SailMax II are holding their 6th place position in the front of the second group of boats.

The boat are north of Vero Beach -- about 35-40 miles from the finish line. Wind is up to about 12 mph out of the SE, and the boats are still going straight up the shoreline. They could be finishing in two-three hours.

First six boats are in:
Tybee
Pirates
Sailmax I
Morada
Coconut Grove Sails
Key Sailing

All with spinnakers, within minutes of each other. Wind is still about 12 and shifting a little more to the south.

Two more boats on the horizon.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005
10:00 a.m.
All the boats started with spinnakers up in about a 5 mph southwest wind. The surf was pretty good size, but nobody had any problems getting out.

The fleet is heading to Ormond Beach, north of Daytona. Along the way they have to get around Cape Canaveral, and they have to stay at least three miles offshore while rounding it. It is supposed to be a five-mile perimeter, but it was negotiated down to three miles.

I don't know how far it is from Cocoa to Ormond, because I can't find that information anywhere. My road atlas is in my car, which has been in the service department at the dealership for three days now.

Anybody know what the distance is? I know it is 69 miles from Cocoa to Daytona, but I don't know how much farther it is to Ormond Beach.

Here is a chart.
Cocoa Beach is about 10-12 miles North of Melbourne.

I found an atlas. It looks like Ormond is 6 miles past Daytona, so about 75 miles for this leg.

Exciting news! The four lead boats have been spotted drifting past New Smyrna Beach, about 15 miles south of the finish line.

There is little to no wind -- apparently, it has all been sucked up by a storm inland.

Looks like a long evening for the race committee and ground crews.

The first boat finished at approx. 7:41 p.m. and the 8th boat finished at 7:55.

Here is the finish order:
Pirates
Coconut Grove Sails
Tybee
Sailmax I
Sailmax II
Spacecoast
Morada
St. Louis
Windy Hill is approaching the beach now.
Key Sailing is about 1/2 mile off the beach.
Velocity not yet in sight, but visibility is not good right now from the beach -- foggy.

JC can you show the camara how that desalinator works, must have been a long day !

Any word on the results of the protest hearing tonight? Its tough being on the end of watching this race instead of sailing this year! I think it is more stressful mentally to be checking the computer and cel phone for updates all day and night! Thanks Mary and Rick for all your hard work!
Chris Titcomb
www.acceleratedchaos.com

Anybody have info on Velocity? I haven't seen any reports on their web site, or any news aside from their position. They are in last place, but I still have a lot of respect for their effort. I hope they can at least enjoy some of the experience!

Although the chart indicated that anyone not rounding the series of marks would be DSQ'd, and it was reinforced verbally at the morning skippers' meeting, nobody was thrown out for skipping marks of the course. A 20-minute penalty was assessed instead.

As I posted this the boats had all started but were still fighting their way through the big curlers, trying to get beyond the surf, which extends a long way out in this area. They are close-hauled, with about a 2-3-mph east wind.

Once they turn to head north to Fernandina Beach, they will still be on a fairly close reach.

Rick will be posting pictures of the start pretty soon. He said the big surf made for some good shots -- better for photographers than for the sailors.

At 11:20, Rick caught up to the tail end of the fleet about 10 miles north of the start. All he could tell for sure was that Velocity appeared to be 3rd from last and Morada appeared to be last.

Wind has picked up to 5-6 mph out of the east and all the boats are beam-reaching with spinnakers.

Next report will be coming at lunchtime.