TYBEE 500 HOTLINE

If anyone has posts related to the Tybee 500, please post them here, so they will all be in one place. Thanks.

Rick was down at the beach at the Islander in Islamorada for the start. The start was uneventful, but it looks like it will be a long beat up to Hollywood. Wind was at least 15-20 out of the northeast at the start.

Uneventful? The TVS video seems to indicate there was some boat on boat action. What happened?

Just got a report that Todd Hart broke his spinnaker pole and returned to the beach for repairs.

Question in my mind is why return? It is very doubtful that anyone would need a spinnaker for this leg.., and he could have repaired at Hollywood.
Rick

maybe he forgot the water-balloon launcher as well?

UPDATE: according to Tad's video i just saw, Todd came back to remove the spin system and not going to use one today. I guess his bag was dangling or something similar that required the system to be removed.

Rick, when I broke my pole at a distance race last year I could not go to weather at all without removing everything. Then I had the problem with sharp broken parts on the boat to contend with. I can see why he would come back.

I have to agree with that. If any of the spin gets in the water it can be a mees to deal with. Best to remove it all together once the pole is broken. Tad stated something about Todd making contact with a port start boat but that was all I could make out.
I'm tired of the lysol ad already!!!!!!!

Check the Headline Page for stories. Have a brief story up now at www.catsailor.com

Rick

From the Tybee tracker page it looks like the C2 is in the back of the pack, maybe on the beach with Todd.

To track the boats live, go to
http://www.tybee500.com/TybeeTracker

Rick

The tracker is tough to follow. Boats are all being updated at different times. Some are within a few minutes, some are an hour old.

I see that now. The AHPC boats spot is over 30 mins old. No telling where they really are then.

That tracker is useless, even the race committees location is 40 mins old

That is a relief! I was wondering what happened to JC, now I won't be concerned.

From what the tracker shows Todd Hart is on the water and Cat in the hat is out front. It did update on the race committee. I think JC must have thrown the spot in the water at the start, it hasn't moved so far

This looks like one tiring day to start off with.

This event never fails to move me. I am rooting for the Seacats teams, Orange is Jake, and Jake is, well Jake(maybe it is the cape?); and then we have Todd on Adrenaline ("Local boy"), but I can't help rooting for Velocity too...

tracker showing Bugaboo in front. I hope they are further along than it looks, long night if not!

They are very spread out as well

Mica from Royal Yellow sent this message:
Todd Hart came to beach on royal blue with spinacker repair. Back
underway at 10:45.

Anybody know the details of the incident? I hear Todd is looking for redress following a port/starboard incident. Who else was involved? Was the damaged pole the extent of the damage?

No redress or protest filed right now. Committee is aware that there was an incident, but nothing formal has come of it.

Looks like they still have LLLLLOOOOOONNNNNNNGGGG way to go. Late arrival, so it would seem.

Bugaboo
Seacats Orange
Royal YELLOW
AHPC
PEPOD
SEACATS ADRENALINE
ROYAL ORANGE
VELOSITY 3
SEACATS WHITE
ROYAL BLUE
ROYAL WHITE
VELOCITY 2
VELOCITY 1
VELOCITY 5 /CAT IN THE HAT
VELOCITY 4

Here is what I heard when Todd came back to the beach. He said that a boat tacked in front of him and didn't give him room to keep clear. How exactly the pole broke - I'm not sure. I don't think he hit anyone but he might have beared off a lot resulting in some kind of flipping action - again pure speculation.

He said that he didn't want anything to happen to the other boat but he'd like redress for the time. Thats all I overheard. I don't think he can be redressed the time without filing a protest. I offered the ground crew my complete rigged and ready pole/hoop since they had an extrusion that they'd have to remount the hoop on - but Todd just started taking it off the boat when it hit shore.

Also, can anyone see TVS1 on the tracking page? Trey was being obstinate in his placement of the spot beacon. He put it on the port bow bridle wire. He likely killed it or lost it already.

I show 15 boats as listed above.

Ok I found TVS 1. I think my original theory is correct - he killed the unit.

I didn't even know he was supposed to be broadcasting. WOW, that ought to be great.

By the way, you sailing enthusiasts, check this out from Tad (Undecided) The following is in our story on the Headline Page of this site, www.catsailor.com or click on the Catsailor icon on the top left of every page:
And Tad Pecorak of Velocity Sailing will be bringing you LIVE STREAMING VIDEO. No, it is not professional quality, but no other videography is taking place for the race and this event requires that someone capture the drama on the beach as it happens.

When you go to his website at http://www.velocitysailing.com/?page_id=866 you need to just scroll down and select the video you want to see. You will have to put up with some advertising introductions (loud and raucous to some of us), and then it will finally get into Tad's recordings. He will be there getting video of the finishes, so stay on top of it. And he will be there for what promises to be a very exciting start tomorrow morning in winds of 20-25 mph and big surf.

any idea what's going on with the tracking for Velocity 4.. the last update is almost 5 hours old.. either it's not working or Sam and Kirk stopped off for a beer before they get to the remote part of the keys

I just noticed that Trey and V5 is also about 4 hours old... Maybe Team Velocity is in stealth mode

Not many good bars on that side of the islands. Maybe they went up the backside and stopped at the Caribbean Club.
Rick

Just looked and Bugaboo is just short of the Miami Harbor Entrance, and I would guess is reaching by now. Shold be landing within 30 to 45 minutes.

"He said that he didn't want anything to happen to the other boat but he'd like redress for the time. Thats all I overheard. I don't think he can be redressed the time without filing a protest."

They can file a request for redress. However, to actually get redress, they'd have to prove it wasn't their own fault, which basically means that they have to prove it's someone else's fault, and that boat would in all likeihood be penalized.

Again, pure speculation without seeing the SIs, but this is roughly how it works under the RRS as-is. Depending if/how the SIs change penalties, etc. almost anything can be worked out differently.

Mike

starting to seem more like a "moon landing" that never happened.

maybe they never even sailed and this is all a conspiracy..

Mischa, Trey and JC on the beach.

Mischa, scratch boat... Trey +2 minutes, JC +7 minutes or so.

Nice show by Mischa with one dagger.

He had a spare on the boat, didn't he? Do you know why it folded?

no sir i don't tell me please mr williams.

He hit a shallow and lost the board around Key Biscane

Pesky sandbars. Did he have a spare aboard?

On the Velocity live feed, which is awesome to have THANKS TAD, he said he hit a coral head with it. Around Biscane Bay I believe. Don't think the spare was on board. Must have switched the one board back and forth,

Someone just called in and said it looked like he had two in the trunks when he came ashore... carrying a spare isn't at all unusual. Just curious.

RC video of the start is up - can anyone tell what happened to Todd?

Sure. I ended up on a place I shoudnt have been. I was on port and just able to cross cat in the hat. Once I could see around his jib suddenly Todd was there. I tried to crash tack but instead I basically tacked in front of Todd and he could not avoid my sterns. My mainsheet folded his pole bridle. We did our turns and followed him to see if we could help but Todd waved us on. Maybe it was karma but near Miami we lost out rudder arm and Todd finished right behind us. I spoke with him on the beach and no matter what anyone says he's a class act. I believe he did have to protest for redress but I would expect nothing less. Just glad there was not more damage or any injury (except my pride).

Craig thinks he knows what is up with the trackers. The ones that didn't broadcast were the ones with the neoprene covers on. Once they got wet, they stopped transmitting. He's going to pull the covers off tomorrow so they should be A-ok although Trey says he likes stealth mode.

Lots of work for the ground crews in the morning.

By the way, I don't know how many of you guys are watching the live feed, but I know the video of the start was crappy. It turns out that I only had 1x network on Islamorada but the 3g here in hollywood is fast. The start tomorrow should be good watchin'.

Tad, Thanks! I'm just checking back in after work. Great to find the comments, and coverage here, at Tybee 500, and Velocity!

Day One Replay >>>

That was cool, thanks!

Funny that some of the dots looked as if they were on land.., perhaps loaded on a trailer and heading up the interstate.

Looks like the start could have some challenges today, with the wind right on the nose and surf pretty high.
Be sure to turn on the Streaming Live Video of Tad's for the start at 10AM or just before
Here is the link

http://www.velocitysailing.com/?page_id=866

We had a little bit of a rough start for our TVS sailors. TVS 1 (trey and bailey) TVS 4 (sam and kirk) made it off the beach just fine. TVS 3 (Brett and Alan) flipped in the surf and came back in to flip back over and head back out. During this time, TVS 2 (Don and Ryan) flipped just past the surf line. One was separated from the boat (I think it was Don) while the other flipped the boat and attempted to retrieve the bobber. The first attempt was unsuccessful, and the second attempt ended in another capsize. At this point, TVS 3 had made it back past the surf. They picked up the bobber and dropped him back off at the capsized TVS 2 boat. Then TVS 3 headed on. TVS 2 remained capsized as pieces and parts floated back to shore... They came in with some broken parts incluing a rip in the main and some broken battens. Of course they are also exhausted. They are packing up and rolling to the next stop. Will give more news as it comes to me.

Not too long after, we received a call from Kirk and Sam (TVS 4) called to report the need for rudder gudgeons and pintles... These are on their way to them, 2 miles N of the start.

Jen

wow~! excitement
I watched the video of the start.. THANK YOU for your work and reporting

Ahh....the rudder gudgeons. Been there, fixed that. I had broken enough of them to learn to carry an extra set on board. It payed off for us last year when we broke them just after the Jupiter start. Sailed into the beach, pulled the tools and parts out of the tramp bag and were back on our way only loosing a few minutes. Word the wise for the teams, with all this reaching, keep an extra set of rudder gudgeons on board!

Looks like a good run for the F-18's today.

According to the tracker there are 2 boats on the beach- AHPC and Peapod w/ Bugaboo just offshore... Any reports??

fantastic speeds.

First to arrive at the beach was Team AHPC on their brand new C2 at 1:31:43 pm

Next was Team Bugaboo on the Hobie Wildcat at 1:34:03 pm

Then Team Pepod came roaring in on a Nacra Infusion at 1:35:34 pm

First three boats just 5 minutes apart on three different manufactures boats.

Next to the beach in order

Royal Yellow - 13:41:58

Velocity One - 13:47:18

Seacats Adrenaline - 13:47:20

Royal White - 2:01:09 pm

Royal Blue - 2:02:36 pm

While I was typing, Seacats Orange blasted onto the beach at 2:03:17 pm .

Nine boats in and lined up on the beach, five still racing, one retired from leg

I see six boats on the beach
AHPC, Bugaboo, Peepod, TVS1, Adrenelin, and Royal yellow

Royal Orange hits the beach at 2:14:45 pm, four boats still out.

Man, I miss all the fun. Meanwhile my infamous RV has broken down in Palm Beach. I almost made it
Rick

Any word on TV3 and TV4? From the tracker, they appear to be there. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but it looks like TV4 and Royal Yellow are in the parking lot????

What a day. We pulled onto A1A to see JC and Mischa just about beating the ground crew to the beach.

All boats are in. TVS 2 is setting up their boat right now. TVS 4 was in last after relaunching following their rudder trouble. TVS 3 has a hearing tomorrow at 8AM regarding redress for assistance with TVS 2 at the Hollywood start and accepting outside assistance after Brett activated his PLB.

Are there records for each leg?

The check points have changed over the years, but some of them must be close to the same.

Glad everyone is all right! What became of Todds request for redress? Looks like TVS1 is on a mission!

And again thanks to Tad for the video coverage!

Any report to the damage to Misha's boat. I heard the spin bridles snapped.

Another broken daggerboard... he hit a submerged object apparently. And the shackle holding on his spin pole bridge came unscrewed and popped off, he still sailed with his spinnaker in on starboard tack, just deep and slow.

I drove 45 miles to watch the start. It was quite exciting. Heavy wind, rough surf. I have some video, but can't find my DV cable to download it. I'll try get one tomorrow. Wish I could be in Jupiter tomorrow.

You can watch Kate's video of the start at the velocity video viewer. Its called hollywood start. I was really busy yesterday so thats why there weren't many videos of the finishes. I'll try to make up for it today.

Oh and please excuse my wife's language on the videos. She gets really worked up on the beach and she is a sailor. Its why I married her.

haha, its all good

thanks again for your time and energy with this.

Word!

Looks like a good sleigh ride for them today. What is the surf conditions this morning?

Yeah, She has quite the potty mouth.

After a while I was thinking... "Yeah, talk dirty to me baby".

Tracking Note:
Seacats Orange & Velocity 4 tracking units were changed and the Trackleader boys on the West Coast have not had a chance to update page yet.

+1

Seacats White is on the beach still with a beam bolt problem. Should be back out shortly.

They are punching through the surf right now.
11:15am

It's a shame they couldn't take care of it last night. Those guys are snake bit with boat problems.

I was at the Jupiter start, real nice breeze and seas not as bad as they have been in years past. They blasted off at 10 am.

One white hull boat flipped after passing the breakers about a mile down the beach, but they righted quickly...
Man those starts are exciting...

Seacats orange and Velocity 4 units have been updated on the tracking page.

Really sorry about my absence. I am presently sitting at the Atlantic Truck Center awaiting a transmission repair. No word on how long.

Here is my story:
Last year, if you recall, Catsailor coverage did not start until Jupiter because the transmission refused to work on the RV. Mechanics swore it would be ready each day.., and each day it was not.
Finally, I gave up and took the van to cover the races.
During the winter, with no mechanics even so much as looking at the transmission it started working.
This morning I happily motored north with the Cummins diesel purring along nicely – the transmission was doing fine. And then I neared the dreaded Palm Beach.
Now there must be some gravitation influence at Palm Beach. I have managed to have a vehicle of some kind break down there at least 6 times and one time, while driving at night a lady jumped off an overpass right in front of me. I managed to miss her, but pretty sure the guy behind me didn’t
Well just before getting into the Palm Beach area, the Allison Transmission monitor on my dash start flickering it lights. This was not going to be good, I could tell. Next it jumped down into 5th gear and a big red light read “Do Not Shift.” Then is shifted down to 4th gear and the lights went totally out on the monitor. Then I knew I was in Palm Beach.
I was still moving, but in 4th gear and pretty slow. With the lights out I assumed it was locked into 4th gear and therefore if I stopped, I would not get going again.
I was Right

Wow. Yes, we do remember all your RV issues. When are you going to trade that thing?

Mike

Boy, talking about having "women throwing themselves at you"

perhaps you should look into something more "reliable" like a schwinn

Agreed! I am pretty sure this is the last trip I am going to attempt with it. Already committed this week, however.

But, the moral of the story: Beware the Ides of Palm Beach!

News from Seacats White... Their temporary repair has failed or is in the process of failing (apparently they are hearing fiberglass cracking noises from the beam which had been pulling out.) They are pulling out and trailering to the next stop to re-evaluate the beam/boat situation. They are still heading to shore, however, have been in contact with Jamie Livingston for a good "pull-out" area.

Well, hopefully you will not be there on the 15th (the Ides) of this month.

I've seen the aluminum plates in the hull at rear beam sockets pull out of the glass before. It is repairable at the beach with epoxy and glass.

Bugaboo off flying again today. Hope he has enough daggers to finish.

Wow the boats are eating up the miles looks like they will be in sight soon.

Any visual of the leader? Trey's tracker location is not too far behind, but his last track time is 9 minutes later than Bugaboo.

Nevermind... Trey's spot refreshed and he's behind and appears to be running in 2nd

they're going so fast the satelite tracking can't keep up.

Just got the bad news I am out of the game this year. Don't expect to have the Dastardly RV on the road unitl possibly Friday. By then, What's the use?

Really sorry.
Rick

4 boats in site

First Boat to Finish Leg 3 at Cocoa Beach is Bugaboo
Contributed by Damon on May 12, 2010 - 03:00 PM
With there second first-to-finish of the race Team Bugaboo finished with at 3:55:31 pm

4 boats on beach

bugaboo
royal orange
tvs1
royal yellow

I'll check back in in a bit i'm getting ready to go sailing need to set the mast up.

Two Boats Finish Within 12 Seconds, Royal Orange then Velocity One
Contributed by Damon on May 12, 2010 - 03:12 PM
Running nearly side by side through the surf, Royal Orange finished at 4:02:01 pm and Velocity One at 4:02:13 pm just behind.

Normally I would agree; however, it's a little different.

First you have to take into account that the boat is a 99 and has gone through Worrells and Tybees.

Next I repaired the torn plates after one failed last year, at fernendina by through bolting the plates with fender washers on the inside and re-fiberglassing the area. I actually did both sides for preventative measures.

Last night we through bolted the beam bolts as well passing them through a 1/4 inch stainless plate that was 10" x 2" to catch both bolts. Esentially making it so that the whole plate would have to tear through the entire hull lay-up. I assume that the hulls have fatigued to a point where the structure is basically coming apart. In fact after stopping today we found an area of the starboard hull in front of the forward cross bar that is breaking as well. It has made a little peak in the center of the deck las if you somehow pulled it straight up. If this was repairable on shore we would be doing it.

I feel crushed for Seacats White. Zander is one of the best boat maintenance guys I know. You don't deserve this, Chris.

Sorry to hear that you guys are out Zander. Sounds like you need a new boat not just a replacement hull. Better luck next year, you guys deserve it1

Well I've always said I have Charlie Brown karma. But thanks for the sentiment.

Leg Three Wrap-up

Leg Three continued the great winds from the East as the boats averaged speeds in the high teens and low twenties for this extremely long leg.

Preliminary finish times as reported live from the beach.
(all times local US Eastern Time.

3:55:31 Bugaboo (F18)
4:02:01 Royal Orange (N20)
4:02:13 Velocity One (N20)
4:05:18 Royal Yellow (N20)
4:18:17 Pepod Sailing (F18)
4:20:42 Seacats Adrenaline (F18)
4:24:00 AHPC (F18)
4:24:22 Secats Orange (N20)
4:39:34 Velocity Five (N20)
4:44:34 Royal Blue (N20)
5:01:30 Velocity Two (N20)
5:03:08 Royal White (N20)
5:07:33 Velocity Four (N20)
5:31:08 Velocity Three (N20)

Seacats White started leg, then retired due to repairs needed.

Sorry to hear about the boat Zander. So another N-20 or going to the F-18, or F-20?

2010 Tybee 500
Unofficial Results as of 18:53 on May 12, 2010
Formula 18 Class
Sailed: 4, Discards: 0, To count: 4, Ratings: SCHRS, Entries: 4, Scoring system: Tybee 500
Rank Team Name Class Islamorada to Hollywood 10:00 AM Hollywood to Jupiter 10:00 AM Jupiter to Cocoa 10.00.00 Overall Notes
1st Team Bugaboo Formula 18 8.01.07 3.34.03 5.55.31 17.30.41
2nd Team AHPC Formula 18 8.08.03 3.31.43 6.24.00 18.03.46
3rd Peppod Sailing Formula 18 8.33.35 3.35.34 6.18.17 18.27.26
4th Seacats Adrenaline Formula 18 8.52.28 3.47.20 6.20.42 19.00.30


Nacra 20 One Design Class
Sailed: 4, Discards: 0, To count: 4, Ratings: SCHRS, Entries: 11, Scoring system: Tybee 500
Rank Team Name Class Islamorada to Hollywood 10:00 AM Hollywood to Jupiter 10:00 AM Jupiter to Cocoa 10.00.00 Overall Notes
1st Velocity 1 Nacra 20 One Design 8.06.31 3.47.18 6.02.13 17.56.02
2nd Royal Yellow Nacra 20 One Design 8.21.15 3.41.58 6.05.18 18.08.31
3rd Royal Orange Nacra 20 One Design 8.30.16 4.14.45 6.02.01 18.47.02
4th Seacats Orange Nacra 20 One Design 8.20.18 4.03.17 6.24.22 18.47.57
5th Royal Blue Nacra 20 One Design 9.19.21 4.02.36 6.44.34 20.06.31
6th Royal White Nacra 20 One Design 10.28.33 4.01.09 7.03.08 21.32.50
7th Velocity 5 Nacra 20 One Design 10.44.32 5.00.41 6.39.34 22.24.47
8th Velocity 4 Nacra 20 One Design 9.49.17 5.40.19 7.07.33 22.37.09
9th Seacats White Nacra 20 One Design 10.17.02 4.38.17 15.31.08 1.6.26.27
10th Velocity 3 Nacra 20 One Design 11.22.32 5.30.54 7.31.08 1.0.24.34
11th Velocity 2 Nacra 20 One Design 12.36.09 13.40.19 7.01.30 1.9.17.58

I don't think so. The 20 fits my sailing quite well. I'd never say never but a change is unlikely.

I heard there is a C2 for sale soon at a reduced price...

does look like a sweet boat. I wonder whether cats will ever have true "bulbs" on the lower aspect of the bows.

Sorry you can't make it Rick. Let us know what you need for your stories. Our team has plenty of pictures to share.

Bump

That's disappointing - I saw a new post and thought there was going to be actual news!

It's dissapointing being stranded with vehicle trouble outside of your home town. I've been there and it's not a good feeling. I hope everything works out as smooth as possible Rick.

Tvs 3's main came down in the surf but they got it sorted once they were clear the breakers...

We're packing cars atm... getting ready for the drive to daytona...

Any place to find who is on what boat?

http://www.tybee500.com/page/2010-Team-List/

They are arround the cape and heading to Daytona. All boats look to be together. Anyones game today.

Trackers are starting to miss a little - sure sign that they are hauling butt. Great day for sailing!

Seacats White Interview "Straight from the Hip"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8UU28FaGVM

Sorry a bit dark but since Mr. Williams was not able to make the trip, we are just getting some of the content put together.

Day 3 Replay:
http://sailseries.com/tybee/day3.html

It's looking like a drag race! I'd bet there are some big grins and white knuckles about now.

I wonder how reliable those trackers are though, just a while ago I saw Mischa and JC up front and now in the middle of the pack.

You have to click on each team to see when they last pinged and do a little math based on the scale at the bottom of the screen - they are starting to spread out a little now, but after making the Cape, the fleet was really tight.

The cape rounding has kept the fleet offshore a bit. Most of the fleet is keeping their line pretty far out. However, It looks like Trey, Royal Yellow and Jake have made a hitch in. It will be interesting if that pays off for them.

It's a shame that the tracker can't have wind direction arrows overlaid on it...
Next maybe we could have virtual boats that we could compete against them...

I think the fact that the two lead F18s took a hitch in and then gybed back indicates there is good pressure on the outside. But they are quite a ways out - the 20s might have some nice shore compression to work with.

Looked at the track and they are both still headed for shore. The Icon seems to point north no mater which way the boat is going.

Things have gotten worse. The computer part of the tranny needs replaced at $3400 -- Ouch!
Worse, there is a crack in the transmission casing and it squirts out fluid while operating.
Trying to find someone to temp weld it. If not, maybe another $10,000.
Now I am weighing this against its value. Hmmm! How do you start a flood?

Trey, Jay, or anyone else in the race, sailors or ground crew, I would sure appreciate some sort of recap of the event and any pics.
Email is rick@catsailor.com
For pix you might want to put them on a CD and mail to
Rick White
PO Box 537
Put in Bay, OH 43456
Full credit for each
I need it for the next issue of the magazine.
Thanks a million and good luck all of you.
Rick

Looks like those that took the hitch inshore first are really paying off.

Hard to tell who has the lead.. since Team Yellows track time is 9 minutes later than Trey's.

Agree - the top two 20s are looking golden along the shore.

Wow - top two F18s are really duking it out. Both have reached the shoreline and are really tight. Epic!

Yep! the tracking is great! May not be perfect, but it sure beats the old dead-reckoning estimations we used to do.
ANd thanks to all of you posting here to keep everyone up to date. Very much appreciated.
Rick

+1

and sorry for all your problems rick.

The live video is pretty cool: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/velocitytad
If you would put it on a tripod or something the quality would be even better, audio is great though.

no way to put it on a tripod. Its my cellphone...

Doing my best with what I gots...

Did I hear your wife say u guys got a ticket on the beach?

almost. Different states have different laws regarding the license plates on trailers. The state where the trailer I'm towing (not my trailer mind you) doesn't give plates for trailers. Florida does. The beach patrol officer came up to me and derek on the beach not once, but twice... and told us that he could write us citations on the spot for not having license plates. He didn't like the fact that I told him that in the state where the trailer is owned, they don't plate trailers, and he told me that I needed to change my attitude or else I was going to basically be arrested. My wife thanked the not so nice officer before I could take him up on his threat (Frank would have got me out of jail, I'm confident) and we went along.

Needless to say that I will never willingly bring my tourist dollars to Daytona Beach after being threatened like that for doing nothing wrong.

Tad I wish you had your phone on for that conservation. That would have been a good video.

I just got in from a serious trailer problem. We could put my trailer with Ricks motorhome. Neither are going anywhere anytime soon.

race results for those interested today.
Another extremely fast leg with all teams completing the aprox. 90 miles in under 8 hours.

4:21:21 pm Royal Yellow (N20)
4:21:24 pm Velocity One (N20)
4:30:31 pm Royal Orange (N20)
4:39:03 pm Bugaboo (F18)
4:40:41 pm AHPC (F18)
4:44:12 pm Seacats Orange (N20)
5:00:12 pm Royal Blue (N20)
5:04:03 pm Velocity Five (Cat in the Hat) (N20)
5:07:09 pm Royal White (N20)
5:15:46 pm Velocity Three (N20)
5:17:13 pm Velocity Four (N20)
5:29:57 pm Seacats Adrenaline (F18)
5:35:14 pm Velocity Two (N20)
5:39:56 pm PepPod Sailing (F18)

Watching Royal Yellow and TVS1 duke it out from 20 minutes away was exciting. There was a palpable excitement on the beach (yes I stole your buzz word JW...) as we would watch yellow chute in front, then white chute in front as they'd cross and zigzag each other. As they were approaching the mark for the gybe into the finish line, TVS1 rolled Royal Yellow and caused them to lose their breeze. TVS1 should have gybed there but Bailey told me that he was so focused on trimming the kite that he lost situational awareness - its the kind of thing that happens when you've been on the water for 7 hours. Exciting stuff to watch.

Tad,
Was it a police officer or a life guard with a badge? Most of the guys on our beach are pretty understanding but there are a few that let the badge go to the head.

Anybody wants to speculate on why 3 N20s came in ahead of the leading F18s this time? That didn't happen on any of the previous 3 legs. And it's clear that the F18s, as someone said, were still "dooking it out".

Early morning light winds allow the N20's to build a lead. Once the sea breeze kicks in, the F18's are powered up and able to recoup some of the initial distance lost in the light air.

The Seacats White video I uploaded earlier was cut short in the upload. I could not swap it so I had to add it again:

Seacats White Final Report >>>

Repositioned Royal Yellow and Royal Orange SPOT units. Hopefully all will track correctly today.

Kinda quiet here. We got to stop at High Tide for Lunch and watched the boats pass. Then got to see the space shuttle launch while waiting for the St. John's River Ferry.

Most of the boats are staying close to shore while Cat in the Hat is WAAAAAY offshore about 10 miles.

This could pay off for Larry and Bryan as the breeze starts to clock around from the East.

Man royal yellow and velocity one are only 12 minutes apart overall on time. Looks like RY out front trying to get that 12 minutes back!

Ahpc and bugaboo are 35 minutes apart overall with both boats very close to each other on this leg.

This may come down to the last leg in lighter winds if their prediction is right...WOW. What a close race!

AHPC seems to have really turned it on in the last hour or so - moved up through the fleet to get back in striking distance.

I was told that F18s have the edge when reaching to pointing. The N20 has it from broad reach to downwind due to the sail area and large bows.

Race Replay Day 5 is up:
http://sailseries.com/tybee/day5.html

8am start as per skipper vote yesterday. All boats off ok and all tracking fine.

Mighty quiet today...
Finally got a good internet connection and was able to post some videos. I am posting HD which requires a lot of bandwidth to post. Videos posted on Tybee 500 Playlist:

Tybee 500 Video Playlist >>>

going to be an interesting battle between royal yellow and velocity1

AHPC going for broke on the outside - risky move. Bugaboo seems to be letting them get some separation, which is dangerous for this leg. Only nine minutes between first and second place in the 20s and 36 minutes between the top two F18s... this may turn out to be one of those finishes where everyone on the beach is counting seconds!

The way things oughta be.

My guess is that this year the N20 are not as overpowered as last year
Bugaboo seems to be the closest to the rumbline, Seacats Orange is the furthest away from the line right now.
Judging from the GPS plots wind direction is less favorable near the shore.

Why do we still not know who the winner is? I checked the Tybee 500 site and nothing, nothing here since noon yesterday, Velocity hasn't updated yet either.
I would think Mischa won the F18 race and maybe overall on corrected but who won the I-20 battle V1 or RY?

At least we have the Savannah Morning Herald.

Mischa 1.14.09.51
Trey 1.14.15.53

Those are from the Tybee site under results for overall time.

Thanks! Congrats to Mischa and the entire Velocity team, especially to Trey Brown. Its been a long time coming!

I've been away from my computer for days. My congrats to all the competitors, and race organizers. I have to agree about Trey, makes me really happy to hear he won the 20 class!

X10!! Congrats to the winners, especially Trey Brown! A very well earned and long climb to the podium.

Hey everyone. I'm uploadeding the video of the Royal Yellow, TVS1, and Mischa finish right now to youtube.

Once you see the video there you'll understand why it wasn't immediately uploaded.

Oh and by the way - all the videos that I took from the week are at my personal youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/tjpeco

Some of them were too long to uploaded to youtube - such as the hollywood start - so I'll work on cutting those up this week and uploading them in parts.

It was awesome ,It's over, I'm sad. Can't wait 'til next year.
Thank you to all the great competitors/friends that make this the pinnacle of my sailing year.
A huge thanks to Laurel Sonnenklar and her support crew and family for taking me in as one of their own. They truly made, what was a really tough year for me ,enjoyable.
Todd Hart
Team Royal Blue

Congratulations Trey... Great consistency in all legs. Congratulations to everyone else just for finishing... Special props for Sam and Kirk... You guys made a great showing for your first time out. Were you guys first among the rookies?

yup - great race this year for sure. The weather was incredible. The first couple of days were very trying but, more importantly, still fast. This was the first year that we were pretty much in sight of the lead boat at the finish on all but one leg - which normally would almost guarantee a top three finish if you could keep your minor boat failures to a minimum. However, the 20's were all very very fast and extremely reliable this year. Every boat length gained was precious and the one capsize we suffered just shy of the finish line in Daytona cost us large!

Our starts this year were huge. We gained a great deal by punching out of the surf as fast as anyone. We've always had a great pusher with Daryl (who couldn't make the race this year) and Chris Titcomb stepped in without missing a beat. Frank and I seemed to be much more coordinated on the starts this year as our experienced together in getting through the surf has matured significantly. We're now confident in hoisting the kite just after the start gun but before the pusher has relinquished control of the back of the boat and have it driving us through the surf immediately. What a rush that is to see that you instantly picked up three to six positions in the first three minutes of the race.

In years past, I've felt cursed on the leg to Tybee but Frank and I talked in great detail and made some very calculated moves that got us on the beach where we wanted to be right when the sea breeze kicked in. As we skimmed the belly of our boat over sandbar after sandbar with Todd Hart in hot pursuit, we basked in the sun powered seabreeze and flat water found right on the shore line until we met back up within a couple of minutes of the leaders just before the finish. I can't wait to see the SPOT replay of that leg.

We had some new stuff on our boat this year - namely a Novasail tactical GPS (http://www.nova-sail.com/html/product_ns360RC.html) that has a dual line display. It was a real boost to help us maintain focus and speed as we had both a compass heading and speed display. I would watch our speed to make sure we stayed in the groove and it was a real advantage to be able to see that constantly and identify early that the conditions changed slightly or that I had not been focusing on speed 100%. I can't wait to try it out on my a-cat around the cans. At this point, I can promise you won't see me in a distance race without one.

I can say now, that without a doubt I think that ground crew is more tiring than sailing!!!



Mr. Pete Heemskerk, Me, Allison Jones (All star team manager), Bastian (Mischa's crew and groovy dude), Pete Spicer (TVS4's ground crew) and Derek (dbncsu) at High Tides.

Fun time had by all.

Speaking of Allison, she's a real slave driver that one.... she's strong too so it hurts when she gets angry!!!

LOOK!

I found a wet Chihuahua!!

My buddy Kirk Jockell from http://www.strictlysailing.com came down to Tybee from ATL and took some pictures of the top finishing boats. JC's pic is hawt.

Any report on Chuck's plans for next years event?

Finally had a good internet connection once I got home and was able to post the interviews. I think the internet connections were timing out trying to upload the HD vids. Next year might be better to just do standard def unless better connections. HD files are huge. I had to get a new computer just to process them. I am working on the onboard stuff now.

Tybee 500 Playlist >>>

Great Stuff, Craig! Thanks for posting.

Does anyone have Bastian's e-mail address? He has one of my SD cards and I need to send him my mailing info.

Please PM me if you do, thanks.

what camera was used to shoot the day 5 "head cam shots"?

Hey, you were not supposed to see that one yet. I need to get approval from Larry. He was worried about language.

I used a GoPro HD Hero. Anyone have his e-mail address? I was going to call him but it is hard to send a link via vm.

ok, i wont look at it (again)

PS I just purchased that camera and was hoping that it was the same one used in that video... i cant wait to get it and make some videos

Check your PMs

Thanks!

hes really not kidding i still have bruises

Now that's good High Def.

Jake-
Looks like a great product- but according to their website it is not "class legal" on an "A" class cat (or most of the other cats in their table actually- the Model 350 is but not the 360RC).

Kirt

I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure there is no restriction on electronics in the A-class rules. The F18 and Hobie classes do not allow GPS units, however fluxgate compasses are legal. The NS360 unit has a "class" mode that disables the GPS, but still leaves the countdown timer and compass functioning.

I was just going by what the manufacturer's own table indicates- and it would seem they would want to get it right.
What's the big difference between the 360 and 360 RC??

Kirt

Well, when translating from Chinese to French to English there's bound to be some hiccups.

The NS360RC has the ability to use a PC interface to download tracks and upload waypoiint data. At this point, the NS360RC is not being imported into the US, only the NS100 and NS360.