TYBEE 500 HOTLINE

This thread is Catsailor's hotline for current news about the Tybee 500. It will fill in the gaps between Rick White's main reports and photos, which you can find each morning and evening on the catsailor.com home page.

Anyone wishing to comment on anything at all about the race, please use this thread instead of opening a new one. It's nice to keep it all in one place.

We're a little late getting started today, but check for a story on the home page later.

Thanks.

Well, things aren't so "hot" at this hotline. The motorhome is broken down in our yard -- won't start and transmission doesn't work. Haven't decided on Plan B yet.

I will keep you posted on these exciting developments.

I had it on a prior thread before you started this one. So I will help consolidate:

Tracking link:
http://topofusion.com/tracker-tybee.php

how many teams are using this system?

Seven. We can add more if other teams get the Spot units.

Craig,
Is there anyway to see the entire fleet, or just one boat at a time?
Rick

Hi Rick,

The link above shows the last reported position for each boat. Below are links to the individual tracks for each team with their average speed between the points.

Hope that helps

Shouldn't the lead boats be in sight? Per the tracking, Team Royal Yellow should be off South Beach. Anyone see the boats, yet?

No, they are still a long way from Hollywood and staying close to the shore.

Do the twitter for quick updates.

http://twitter.com/tybee500

Geeze that makes me feel gay just typing it.

Live finish times (uncorrected) here:

http://tybee500.com/posts/62-Live-Results-Hollywood

unofficial for sure but here goes

Yellow 1627
Whike 1634
Velocity 5 1634 (ocs)
TCDYC 1640
Cat Fever 1640
Microwind 1640 (ocs)
Zhik 1641 (ocs)
Velocity 1 1643
White 1644
SEACATS Orange 1645
Green 1645
Key Sailing 1647
Velocity 2 1648
Chaos 1652
Pirates 1654
Adrenalin 1654
Orange 1658
MooseBurd 1704
Velocity 3 1705
SEACATS White 1711
Chums 1712
Stray Cats 1714
Cat in the hat 1729
Velocity 4 1848

Whew, too many boats this year...

TopoFusion.com posted a replay of the race between the boats with Spot Satellite messengers:
http://topofusion.com/tracker-tybee.php

That replay is perfect. That should be on the front page of the site(s).

Any way to overlay local wind conditions (speed/direction) to really get an idea of the tactics?

Boy, Jay, you are getting pushy.

I HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO DO except armchair skipper....

Great shot of Todd impersonating Carl Edwards over on The Tybee site.

Hi Jay,

Glad you like it. Sounds like a good idea. All he would be able to do is do the prevailing winds for the day. He would have no idea of wind shifts or shore breeze.

Great spin launch off the beach today. The wind is a little lighter than most sailors were hoping, but the local weather is saying it will be building the rest of the week. One of the boats went over a few minutes after the start and was over for a while. We are still unsure who it is but it was a white spin, possibly F18? Time to get to Jupiter....

Still awaiting my van.., then have to load everything we are taking north with us.
And the A/C in the house is also inop.., As the saying goes, "if anything CAN go wrong, IT WILL go wrong."
With my luck this week, If I had been sailing in the race, I would have already been devoured by a shark.
Rick

That as great!

Anyway everytime someone watches this an small (or large) electrical shock will ZAP jay in his armchair?

http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/index

click sailing.

"...between two pontoons..."

Makes me crazy! They are hulls. Dave ought to know.....

From what I can tell from the tracker site, Royal Yellow should be in sight of the finish? Has anyone reported seeing boats, yet?

Yellow finished first, at 2:35:35. Bunch of others finished right after. They have been posting the finishes from the beach as they happen. Go to tybee500.com and click on the "comments" thing to get the blow-by-blow finishes.

RE my preceding post. You have to go to the tybee500 home page. www.tybee500.com/home

Latest in the Saga of my reports:
Van arrived, is now loaded and ready to rumble, but too late to get to the finish line today.
Good Lord willing and the creeks don't rise, I will be at the start line in the morning.
Rick

From the sounds of it Rick, you may want to bring an Epurb along with you in the van!...

Happy Trails!

Rick,

Is the broken motorhome the one that you used to follow the W1000 with. I remember the old days of waiting months before getting your report in Multihulls magazine.

Jack

I don't remember Rick having a report in Multihulls Magazine. He covered it for our own magazine, Catamaran Sailor, and it was always in the next month's issue -- and took up just about the ENTIRE issue.

No, this is not the same motorhome. That one died long ago.

If you haven't seen them all, todays Tybee videos start here. . Newer ones are above older ones in the channel bar to the right.

Rick is now on the scene at Jupiter Beach. It is about 15 minutes before the start, and there is a big old thunderstorm sitting just offshore. The sailors are looking at it anxiously. No word of postponement at this point.

Another note is that so far five spinnakers have ripped on the Nacra 20's in the first two days. All the failures have been at the same point on the same seam. All stock Nacra Skip Elliott sails. All have had their sails repaired/resewn, and others with those sails have tried to get theirs resewn/reinforced to prevent failure.

Wind currently is about 10-12 out of the east. Surf is minimal. The one storm is petering out, but there are other storms scattered around out there. The sailors are being warned about possible waterspouts.

More detail on where the spins are failing I just bought one at the end of last year and fisrt regetta is this weekend.

Start went well. Two tiers, 12 boats in each tier, with second tier started one minute after first tier.

Rick says they are close-hauled at this point, no spins.

SeaCats had an unknown problem and floundered awhile getting it fixed, but got it handled and on their way pretty quickly.

Rick, who is homeless at this point, is now looking for a picnic table so he can do a story to give you more complete information.

The motorhome had to stay at home in Key Largo, and he is now traveling with the Honda Odyssey, pulling a trailer with two Waves double-stacked, as we are also on our way to Ohio for the summer.

Mary, Thanks for the updates! I don't like them going out in weather that can be dangerous. I guess it is all part of the sport, but it makes me anxious. Glad Rick has triumphed over adversity, and made it to the race!

Sorry, can't help you on specifics. Let's see if any more info appears on that during the day.

I don't like it, either; but the potential of danger is what makes the race attractive to the media. I could almost hear the Extreme Anarchy team salivating at the possible prospect of heavy air and big surf. But Sailing Anarchy is doing a great job of covering the event.

Link direct to the twitter

http://twitter.com/tybee500

I don't know what you mean, but I am not interested in any intimate contact with a twitter.

Anyway, Rick has now posted a short start story and some photos. Go to catsailor.com home page and click through from the lead-in blurb.

He also is now searching for a better picnic table. Just kidding. I think he is probably going to head to the next checkpoint and try to find a motel room with better internet connection than just plain oxygen.

Dude, I'm going to buy you a foam cover for your microphone!!! It's only going to get worse when you want the best coverage on a windy day.

Good vids.

Clean has a real talent for interviewing sailors.

Some of his best work was in interviewing the top women sailors on the Melges 24's in Annapolis last year.. Great questions got the ladies to offer real insight in what they did to move up in the fleet and improve as racers. IMO must see's for any women in the sport.

He is used to doing this stuff on the dock after big boat races, so he is figuring out all of the environmental challenges of a beach as he goes ...

His casual style seems to really work well. At first I thought he was very much an amateur compared to the stuff from BK and Adventureonlinetv, but despite the technical problems he is great at getting people to talk in the interviews. I love that he interviews the families, girlfriends etc. Nice stuff!

Rick, Thanks for your typical great pics from today's start! Did I see Rick Bliss in the water as a pusher?

Pics from today's start in Jupiter, just as the gun went off a bunch of thunder started booming, perfect timing!

Did I say the start is exciting, it's dam exciting.

Pics

The middle seam is letting go, starting at the leech. All reported the same failures.

Yes, That was Rick Bliss. THen he and I raced each other up I-95. BLiss won as was grounded at a Steak and Shake.
Rick

After looking at the positions and speeds, it appears the fleet is slowing down. THey started out with some pretty good winds from the storms, but the storms have pretty much gone away.
Now there is only a light sea breeze of around 7-8. In looking at Lohmayer's speed he had been going about 17 mph and is now down to 7 mph.
And they are still about 50 miles out. Could be a late arrival, once again messing up Warren Green's annual rib dinner spread.

I am working on more pics. While working on the picnic table I could not see the stupid screen and couldn't tell what picture I even had. I will post them in about a half hour.
Rick

Not to sound like a worry wart...but isn't it a wee bit irresponsible/foolish launching into thunderstorms/ligthning? What if a boat gets hit?

Storms are part of the package. It's an adventure race not a class championship. It is also the attraction for this event.

If they didn't sail when there was a risk of storms... they wouldn't sail in florida durring spring

Mike Worrell said "he didnt look at the weather report because it didnt matter, they were sailing." His qoute was followed up by "If you want to trailer your boat to Tybee(when it was 1000miles and Tybee wasnt the finish) and resume sailing as an unofficial entry, then you can do so".
That would suck

See Jake's Interview video on the Tybee Page, he tells you a bit about the Spinnaker failure.
Go SEACATS!!
CARY

Speeds are back up to around 11 mph and we have at least 5 on the horizon. Maybe they will finish before dark. If so, I can get some pix. If not, see ya tomorrow.
Usually, when they get in so late, interviews are not welcome either. We shall see.
Rick

Mischa Heemskerk is coming in to the finish and just put his spinnaker up at the last minute. Rick doesn't see any other boats in sight, but the light is getting dim.

Wow 2 F-18's leading the pack today. What would have happened if they had their new boats?

My favorite photographer has some great pics up here.

Rick:

How is TCDYC doing. I am headed back home on the 29th. Got to root for the home team.

Doug

Some really nice pictures, this one cracked me up though!

Mischa hamming it up in front of the camera, notice who's driving, and notice the extra trap lines?

Thats not an extra trap line, its the bungee for the adjustable trapeze.
It prevents the line coming out of the cleat from dangling around.

Eduard is a pretty good sailor himself, although probably not very well known outside Holland.

The first F18 finished more that 2 hours before the first N20?

Yep.

I assume the winds were dieing from behind?

Mischa and Eduard are really doing great! When will someone start waving the Dutch flag? Wouter? Arie?

That is not really in line with the Dutch national character.

Wouter

Very light winds again this morning, with a boomer off to the south, but clear skies in the direction of the course. No surf to contend with.

Some of the teams were arriving in the middle of the night. THey must be exhausted.

Everyone pretty much agreed that in the winds yesterday you had to have more luck than skill -- you could be sitting in a hole for an hour and see boats sail right past you.
HOpe today is better -- where is that wind that was promised?
Rick

I think this may be the best!!! I wonder if they would be faster trapped out!?

Sorry for the delay. The start was sort of disorganized, because, although there was not much surf, the wind died to almost nothing right before the start, and the boats were having a very hard time getting out through the surf, even with spinnakers up. Five minutes after the start there were still six boats that had not broken through.

Carrie and JC were halfway to Cape Canaveral (exaggeration) before they got through the surf.

Rick says he didn't see anybody using paddles. Why wouldn't people have paddles on their boats? From past years' experiences, I would think all the boats would have at least one paddle.

Wind is about 3-4 mph or knots, take your pick -- still amounts to almost nothing.

We must be watching different soccer games!

Can some one give me the hotel name in Daytona where this leg finishes. Thanks, Dawn (TV1 Alan's Mom)

La Playa Resort & Suites, 2500 N. Atlantic Ave., Daytona Beach
904-261-5735

Phillip, Thanks for the link to the pics yesterday. I assume they are Walter Cooper's work. Great pics! Hoping they get decent wind for the rest of the race.

Did you all go to our home page and check out the story and the great pictures of the start?

Thanks Mary! I was busy jumping from site to site looking for current updates.I should know to start my day with Rick! Any word on conditions out there?

http://forecast.weather.gov/mwp/index.php?d=mlb&bg=basemap&pl=&fc=1&from=south

link to NWS marine pages. You can get a radar loop running. There are storms building right over the southernmost bit of the course and then it clears. Looks like seabreeze squalls building over land north of the Cape. I dunno bout Fla, but that would mean wind over sea here...

I looked at all 10 of the pictures Rick posted, and he's right -- I don't see a single paddle. There isn't any rule against it this year, is there?

Don't want to jinx them either, this thing is far from over!

Wouldn't there have to be a rule allowing it?

Mary, Good point. I try to always carry a paddle, and am surprised not to see them...?

I am not a racer, so i can't even begin to say i know the rules but i was told a few years ago it is illegal to use paddles / even reach down and scoop water for propulsion during a race...

This was after i mentioned i saw someone trying to "paddle with their hands" their boat under a bridge durring a race

I think there would have to be a rule DISallowing paddles. And I can't imagine that happening, because paddles are a safety feature. In fact, I think the boats should all be REQUIRED to carry at least one.

In many other years of this race and the Worrell and others, the teams that had paddles were always best able to get through surf in light air.

I do recall seeing one paddle strapped to a boom in one of the photos. Don't recall which boat though. I think it was one of the blue/green ones.
Haven't seen a photo with one deployed though. It doesn't take a whole lot of wind at all to be more effective than paddling.

I carry 2 - a full sized wood one that fits in my back tramp pocket (full lenght pocket) and a collapsible 1 in my front tramp for the rare event i have crew and lose wind. 1 time i had 3 crew (plus me) all passing a single paddle around... boy that was a slow ride home (wouldnt ya know it.. it cranked up to 15 just as i hit the beach.

Despite having paddles on board i was beat to shore 1 time by a guy using has cooler top as a paddle~! BLAST!

But unless premitted you are not ALLOWED to paddle when RACING

Here is what I was thinking, AND I agree with you that they should be allowed and incourage to carry paddles:

42 PROPULSION
42.1 Basic Rule
Except when permitted in rule 42.3 or 45, a boat shall compete by
using only the wind and water to increase, maintain or decrease her
speed. Her crew may adjust the trim of sails and hull, and perform
other acts of seamanship, but shall not otherwise move their bodies
to propel the boat.
42.2 Prohibited Actions
Without limiting the application of rule 42.1, these actions are
prohibited:
(a) pumping: repeated fanning of any sail either by pulling in and
releasing the sail or by vertical or athwartship body movement;
(b) rocking: repeated rolling of the boat, induced by
Part 4 OTHER REQUIREMENTS WHEN RACING
21
(1) body movement,
(2) repeated adjustment of the sails or centreboard, or
(3) steering;
(c) ooching: sudden forward body movement, stopped abruptly;
(d) sculling: repeated movement of the helm that is either forceful
or that propels the boat forward or prevents her from moving
astern;
(e) repeated tacks or gybes unrelated to changes in the wind or to
tactical considerations.
42.3 Exceptions
(a) A boat may be rolled to facilitate steering.
(b) A boat’s crew may move their bodies to exaggerate the rolling
that facilitates steering the boat through a tack or a gybe, provided
that, just after the tack or gybe is completed, the boat’s
speed is not greater than it would have been in the absence of
the tack or gybe.
(c) Except on a beat to windward, when surfing (rapidly accelerating
down the leeward side of a wave) or planing is possible, the
boat’s crew may pull the sheet and the guy controlling any sail
in order to initiate surfing or planing, but only once for each
wave or gust of wind.
(d) When a boat is above a close-hauled course and either stationary
or moving slowly, she may scull to turn to a close-hauled
course.
(e) A boat may reduce speed by repeatedly moving her helm.
(f) Any means of propulsion may be used to help a person or
another vessel in danger.
(g) To get clear after grounding or colliding with another boat or
object, a boat may use force applied by the crew of either boat
and any equipment other than a propulsion engine.
(h) Sailing instructions may, in stated circumstances, permit propulsion
using an engine or any other method, provided the boat
does not gain a significant advantage in the race.
Note: Interpretations of rule 42 are available at the ISAF website
(www.sailing.org) or by mail upon request.

Rule 10.5 of the TB500 SI allows paddles.

Cool. Rule allowing it.

Here is a paddle, just not paddling. I think that's Chums.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tybee500/3530967865/sizes/o/

If the waves get any bigger, they may be able to use that paddle where it is!

Speaking of big waves, how is this for underwater coverage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BOhDaJH0m4&fmt=22

Gotta Love the BBC. Best TV in the world.

GAWD almighty !

Wouter

OK, two things I found amusing...

"The sailors are being warned about possible waterspouts."

Good news is, you know they're coming. Bad news is, what the hell can you do about it??? Ruby slippers?

Speaking of appropriate gear, SI 10.5 allows "small paddles." What other kind can you fit on one of these boats?

Yes, it's been a long winter. Can't wait for Madcatter...

Mike

Having been stationed in Scotland for 2 years, with ONLY 4 channels of BBC... i can tell you... ITS NOT ALL THE BEST!

The wind was blowing out of the south at about 10-12 up until a couple hours ago (around 2:30) then died and switched more to the east. The tracking of the boats show them taking long tacks northeast, then northwest until about that time. Then they settled in close to the shore to get whatever light sea breezes they might catch.
Speeds have gone way down again. Good news is they are 70 miles into the race.
With a little luck we may get a glimps of them in the next hour or so.
Rick

I think you will find you only had 2 channels of BBC, plus ITV and C4........

Thanks for the update.

Eh, maybe instead of worrying with all the high-tech stuff and the motor-home probs, you could do what they used at old newspapers. Pick up the phone and yell --

Hello, sweetheart! Quick, get me the rewrite desk!

Speaking of rewrites, as of fifteen minutes ago they were right at Ponce Inlet and averaging about 11 mph. Should be in site pretty soon and probably on the beach by 6PM
Beats 0300 in the morning.

Here we go again. At 5:30 the wind went from light to just shut off completely. We know the Royal Yellow is within about 10 miles or so, but doubt they are moving at all now.
Rick

Six boats in sight, about a mile away and going about a mile an hour. Spinnakers are up.

Right now it appears that Team Royal Green is in first place, with Team Whike second, but it's hard to tell for sure which of the two is ahead.

Rick says some people could have problems getting in through the typical Daytona Beach surf -- especially those finishing after dark.

First boat in is Royal Green.
2nd is Key Sailing
3rd is Velocity 1

Two more boats will be arriving within 20 minutes -- Royal Yellow and Cat Fever.

The rest of the boats are not in sight. Light is getting too low for pictures, so Rick is headed to his room to post a story and pictures of the finish. He thinks they should be pretty good, because the surf does look kind of formidable.

Also, all of the Royal teams will be having a discussion tonight about why they didn't use their paddles this morning to get out through the surf.

Hot Link to TopoFusion.com Thursday recap with the others:
http://vimeo.com/4657815

What did Mischa do wrong? Get to close to a space shuttle?



Source: http://www.tybee500.com/results/1/original/09_tybee_results.pdf?1242361564

From our friends over at SA:


Mischa got a 40 minute penaly but is still very much in the lead!

Thanks tony, I guessed as much!

Yeah but we know that the NA A-cat fleet has got the real talent !

How about Carrie Howe erasing a 2 hour loss (due to repairs) in the very next day ?

Wouter

There are a lot of po'd sailors on the beach over Mischa's penalty (or lack thereof).

Team Zhik, Magic Marine, and Adrenaline got 15 minute penalty for being OCS (even though no "I" flag was flown).

Team Seacats White gets an 8 hour penalty for breaking a rudder casting and gets a choice of a DSQ for not being able to finish by 3:00am or an 8 hour penalty for trailering up to the next start (they took the 8 hr and are now in last place).

Mischa gets a 40 minute penalty for cutting a corner that the entire fleet was furnished the GPS co-ordinates, lectured at the skippers meeting on the severity of violating the zone, and threatened with DSQ as a penalty, however in reality he gets a 40 minute penalty. To make it worse, he was in a pack of 5 boats, and 4 of them realized it was the wrong mark, dropped their spins, and were the last 4 boats to round the mark. Meanwhile Mischa cuts the corner into into the lead.

The mood is ugly on the beach...

Here the combined fleet REAL elapsed time results after completing leg 4.

With REAL elapsed time I mean the elapsed time minus the penalties.

This should show how well the F18's are doing against the N20's boat for boat. Look pretty equal so far.

Also note how Carrie would be well into second place if she hadn't spend 2 hours during leg 2 repairing their rudders. She would still be over an hour in front of Lohmayer on the N20.

The nice even spread of the other F18's over the whole fleet suggests that racing the F18 straight up against the N20's in the event is pretty viable.

Wouter

At what point in the leg did this occur?

How much distance did Mischa make as a result. How much time did he save? (not the same thing).

Where did the other boats end up that did follow the correct course?

I'm sorry to hear that

Wouter

Why are ANY of your questions remotely relevant? The course was clear. The penalty was clear (but apparently not). So, if the RC ISN'T going to enforce their own rule why have it at all? I can certainly understand the feelings of those that are frustrated.

It will be interesting to see if the RC can enforce the exclusion zone next year.

The penalty doesnt seem very clear to me, it just says "at the discretion of the Race Committee".


From the Sailing instructions:


I guess a 40-minute penaly could be considered "severe"?
Maybe some though if they had missed a mark they would have to sail back to it and round it anyway?
But that would mean that they where also in the exclusion zone right? (in fact admitting so by sailing back?).

" cutting a corner " That's troublesome.

first, they fessed up to cutting the corner and that's why they got a penalty. So...that's a good start. In my opinion, the race committee leaves a huge open door in the rules by not clarifying the penalty in the SI's. Their penalty varies leaving you to wonder if the penalty would change based on who it was an in what position they were in. In contrast to previous years, it was not announced that cutting a corner would result in a DSQ. The phrase was this year; "MAY result in a DSQ".

I was in about 7th place around the first (correct) buoy and watched the boats that missed it. I was pretty close to the lead (of the boats that rounded the correct buoy) when we started back for the beach and Mischa was nearly out of sight on the horizon. 40 Minutes is probably not much more than the advantage he gained...They owned their mistake, but I don't think the RC applied enough penalty for not sailing around the right marks this time OR the last time (the last time this happened there ended up being NO penalty).

While we're on the subject of rules in this race - how would you feel about a drifter finish where one of the boats you're working hard to beat and are neck and neck with makes a left turn into the surf 100 yards shy of the finish line and has their ground crew run them north to the finish line and beats you by 5 to 8 minutes?

Thanks Jake. I'll leave this to those with more wisdom than I.

According to Mike's post the RC announced at the competitors meeting that a DSQ would be awarded for violators. So if it was said it needs to be enforced or anything said at the competitors meeting can be simply disregarded. There is something to be said for "Mean what you say and say what you mean!"

Now if they were all in the exclusion zone then yes all penalties need to be enforced. It's easy to present missing a mark it's somewhat harder to show that someone was on the wrong side of an imaginary line, not all boats have trackers.

This whole idea of assessing penalties on the fly after the fact is bullsh!t anyway, it never works out and things like these are VERY easy to make black and white.

Jake, As usual you are the voice of reason. Thank you. I am only a fan, but still hold it against the last competitor that did this. I found it hard to believe at the time. I can't imagine Mischa's reasoning, nor the RC's not making the penalty more severe. Mischa brings a lot of attention to the race, and adds money that way, but cheating is cheating. I hope next year the rules will state something like "1 hour penalty" or "disqualified". Go Seacats!

What are the rules on outside assitance? If they state that you must use the RRS, walking the boat along at all is not allowed. Perhaps the rules need tighting for next time. Perhaps GC's are only allowed to help within the bounds of the finish line? And you must SAIL when you are not within the bounds of the line (allowing you to pull the boat across if the wind is light, but not walk the boat a mile along the surf line instead of sailing).


Sounds like some tighening up may be required.

As for Mischa, sounds like he fesssed up and got a hit for it. I suppose tyhe question is was it enough or too much?

Hoping for wind, but at the moment it is "windless," and the surf is about the same as yesterday.
BREAK OUT THE PADDLES!
Rick

Meh...

The race is still on and most boats are looking competitive, the wind looks good today, and updates are hard enough to come by. Please don't crowd this kind of rules mess in here, please.

You got problems, go tell it to the judge.

edit: well, the wind did look good today...

There is no reason for saying "May result in DSQ", it's now clear it's an empty threat and serves absolutely no purpose. If the RC wants the option to change the weight of a rule violation I don't see an issue with that. They just need to make sure the penalty is made clear before the teams push off the beach and stick to it.

As for the ground crew running the boats through the surf the last 100 yards. If the rules allow it then so be it, and chock it up as a lesson learned. I don't see this any differently than Rick White's Steeplechase rule regarding the use of paddles where you can paddle the whole freaking way if you want to.

According to RRS and SI that is not allowed at all.

"11.1 The finish shall be between two orange flags on the beach forming a gate, approximately
parallel to the surf..."

"11.2 ... A maximum of two ground crew from each team may be on the course side (OCS) of
the gate to assist a boat with finishing. If a boat receives assistance by more than two
ground crew while OCS and not finished, it may be subject to penalty and/or disqualification
at the discretion of the Race Committee. Emergency assistance may be provided
in the surf as per SI (10.6)"

Jake, get out your red flag next time!

David: I am pretty sure the SI always overrules anything that is said at briefings etc.
Thats why it is called a "briefing" i guess.

Agreed, and it absolutely needs to be in the SI's and made crystal clear. They even could have put it on the official notice board the morning of (if there is one) and it would have simply been a matter of fact. No drama no nothin, heck I don't even think Misha would have had an issue with it based on Jake's post.

And Jake, like Tony said... you gotta pull the flag and take it to the room.

I would suspect that the gub'ment won't take kindly to repeated violations of its exclusion zone. Therefore it would be in the best interest of this adventure race to not repeatedly "test" the enforcement of this exclusion zone by those guys in black RIBs. I guess those that did violate the zone have clean backgrounds, or else they probably would have been nuked by some circling Predator drone...!

At some point they'll send a sternly worded letter to the T500 organizers which might make future races more logistically challenging. (larger exclusion zone, stiffer regulation, having Coast Guard sit there and do inspections while the boats wait...etc)

What penalty is "fair"? That would have to be decided by race organizers and/or competitors. Most definitely BEFORE the leg is sailed, too.

I have been to events where the penalty didn't fit the crime, and some less than scrupulus competitors just ate the penalty and still came out ahead.

Stuff like that kind of feels a lot like that situation where top teams near the end of the regatta don't sail the last race as more of a strategic move..

I applaud those who owned up to their mistake, and especially those who backtracked once they realized their error.

Rick just called. 10 boats still have not made it out through the surf. Cat in the Hat has returned to the beach with some sort of problem.

Everybody was paddling, but with little or no wind, it is very difficult to get through even the relatively low surf.

Story and pix are up. Go to Headline Page at www.catsailor.com
Rick

Wow, Rick wasn't exaggerating when he told me, "What a mess!"

Interesting video of them launching:
Video Link

I remember a day like that when I launched. Same leg I think. Very painful launch. I remember thinking I was out and throwing my paddle back to the ground crew. Only to be smashed by more breakers later and having to paddle like crazy with my hands.

The good news is when that breeze comes in they will be smoking up the beach. I remember a rediculous deep reach double trapped and travelled all the way to the beam. We had to work the mainsheet the entire 100 miles. That was a serious workout.

I also remember some rivers coming in and getting hit with funny waves and current. They call them pissups. Nothing serious but definitely weird if you haven't experienced it before.

This is a long leg but I'm betting on a nice reach for a finish in the 6pm range.

When the NASA Guy talked to us a couple years ago, He basically told us they would be no exception for us going off course. It was a matter of national security, and threats would be dealt with promptly without discussion.
Cary
SEACATS

As far as I personally am concerned, I think that not going around any of those required marks should mean disqualification from the race, regardless of whether the reason for shortcutting is ignorance or arrogance.

Until this year, there was only one required mark in the Key Largo Steeplechase, and that was at the Key Largo Sheraton. We always had spotters at the hotel to make sure all the boats rounded it. If a boat skipped it, that boat would be disqualified from the race. And that mark was just required for publicity purposes for one of the race sponsors.

A required mark is a required mark, no matter what the reason. It should not be something that can get off with a time penalty. There is no way to assess a penalty for something like that in advance in the rules, and anything assessed after the fact is going to be arbitrary, and unfair to others in the race.

Disqualification is the only proper verdict, and it should be in the rules. But that's just me, and I am old school, from the years that when you hit a mark, and nobody saw you, you dropped out of that race and requested a DSQ.

MIke, I agree with the 6PM call. Looks as if they are about 40 or miles out and averaging about 15. Hooray, maybe I can get some pix in the daylight.
When it becomes dark (as in Cocoa Beach) Walter Cooper and I (not that I am at the same level he is) just smile, have a **** and go to bed. Pix just don't work.

Camcorders do much better in low light, but SLR are horrible.
Rick

First finisher in at 5.30 ish
Whike of course!

Nine boats are in and three more close. Looks like all so far are Nacra 20's.

I told Mary I'd need some "Dutch courage" to stir this pot. So I got some.

There is no glory or respect to be gained by winning by cheating. Not sailing the proper course, no matter how you cut it, is cheating.

The only appropriate action any competitor failing to sail the proper course should take is to retire. We've all been there and hopefully have all taken the high road and done the right thing. I have.

I'll jump in here a little bit.

40 minutes in a race like this is a very large penalty. The fact that Micha can overcome that penalty is pretty amazing.

I did this race one of the first years they really enforced the exclusion zone. Rod Waterhouse cut the corner and I think was penalized 15 minutes. It ended up very close between him and the second place team in the end. Zhik was there that year and I'm sure remembers as he was in the hunt that year.

They give you 4 gps points to round. I believe two of them have bouys and 2 are "imaginary". However you are also supposed to stay out of the zone with an imaginary line around it. It's pretty hard to navigate this in reality. Especially with trying to go fast on top of it. It's easy for someone that might not have a crew that is a wiz with a gps to make a mistake.

The year I did it all the boats rounded the marks and cut back in after they rounded. More wind inside and more favored. So the year I did it we could have all been disqualified. I think Rod was the only one that actually skipped a physical mark which made him stand out a lot more.

I don't know what the answer is but rounding imaginary marks is a bit silly. I think most of the racers feel this way also. They want to follow the rules but the rules are very unclear to everyone on the water. Example " You are the first place boat and the second place boat jibes in and you are supposed to keep going out to sea?" It's just hard to do and enforce properly.

I guess the only way to enforce it would be to lay actual marks and have a rib out there running the exclusion zone with the leaders.

Mike,

I was going to suggest exactly that - but it would add costs!!!!

IIRC I did a race around the Solent and we were told we "should not" go near the shipping lanes in a certain area between the hours of X and Y as there may be submarine movements and they WILL NOT see us and we may not be able to get out of the way. Wolly sailing instructions are imposible.

I guess with someting like NASA thay can close you down if you do not play ball. However, adding simple GPS points as marks will not work when there are only 2 people on the boat and if ther is much wind they will be too busy to be watching the GPS all the time.

Well it looks like Mishca has done it again, another line honors! Doesn't everyone love a David and Goliath story.. maybe its just an Oz thing to root for the underdog.

Who would have thought an f18 would be out in front a this stage of the game? obviously the conditions are favoring the f18 design.

Given how well Carrie is going I would not be surprised if she has been trading nookie for sailing tips good for her!

professionals in any sport don't voluntarily retire as often as amateurs due to sponsorship commitments

fact of life

if he's winning day stages on the the other days being cut from the race for 1 infringement on 1 day would seem excessive

would it be better to add a further 20 minutes penalty?

would that change anything?

would it be legal?

would it open up a huge can of worms for future events if race penalties were subject to appeal and then argued for increase and/or decrease?

Yes.

"no boats cleared the surf in 10 minutes" ...

HEY! Team Seacats (it's about time) and Stray Cats put on a surf launching clinic yesterday! We were out with no problems and not one hitch. We punched through, Frank and I put our paddles down and lifted our heads to see Stray Cats right next to us and the entire fleet struggling while we set our kites together and turned left. I swear; Gaulden Reed whispered to us this morning and said "take two paddles today".

And for the guys wanting to compare the F18's to N20's on elapsed time MINUS penalties; here are the results after leg 5. Note that Carrie Howe's result still includes 2 hours lost on repairs on day 2 I believe so was really convering the distance alot faster and without the repairs she would be in 2nd place over on real elapsed time.

F18's are still nicely spread out evenly over the fleet.

Wouter

They are off to an early start -- 8AM
Full story and pictures go to www.catsailor.com or click on the logo top left.
Rick

GO JAKE GO!!!

Rick, Thanks! I went right for the home page with my coffee. I always love scrolling down your reports. This race is always a treat for fans, and your writing and pictures have been like the main course in a feast of coverage. Big kudos to Bonnie, and to Mr. Clean Too!

Mary, Seems like the teams caught on to your suggestion about the paddles. Jake, I don't doubt it at all. It is clear that he had become a Seacats fan too! Blessings to this wonderful fleet and their teams.

Interesting interview with Chuck the race official:
http://publish.vx.roo.com/wwwsailtv...o_Chuck_Interview_trim&vxBitrate=700

Are we in a media blackout?

Yes, you were.
Mary has packed up hers and my main computer and is heading north to meet me at a motel in Walterboro (on I-96 near I-26) and then on to Ohio. So, she stopped posting.

Meanwhile, I got a ton of pix, but had no room at Tybee and was unable to work on the pix at a picnic table (can't see the laptop screen).
So, I jumped in the van and came to Walterboro, did the pix and the story and got it up.
Meanwhile, I was counting on getting finish info from the Tybee site, but it was not there -- more tech problems.

So, I called John Williams. He gave me the finishes, which I added to the story. and Zing, there we are.

So, the story is up on the Headline Page. just click on www.catsailor.com or the logo in the left upper corner.

Meanwhile, the Tybee site still does not have the results up.
Sorry for the dead hole.
Rick

By the way, I was told 13 spinnakers on N20s bit the dust this week -- unbelievable. Lots of unhappy N20 campers.

No problem. It was beginning to seem as if it was planned. None of the team sites posted either.

Thanks

Rick the results posted are todays finishes and not the overall finishes?

I just watched the interview with Chuck courtesy of on the water anarchy. That was very insightful and changed my perception of the time penalty for violating the exclusion zone. The penalty does not sound harsh enough, maybe they should get a 40min penalty and get the finish time of the last boat on the leg.

I'm very jealous of everyone involved in this race, I would love to compete in something like that. You should do all you can to preserve it.

Ding Ding Ding . . . Winner! Good suggestions. Not DSQ, but harse enough with some uncertainty thrown in, nice! We do something similar on Tuesday night in that if you don't keep your own time you get the time of the next guy who keeps his time. Amazingly this is vary varible, since $10 watch will do it for you.

Last boat s ashore, final results are posted!

Rick, It is 3:25 am and I just got home from work. I have been wondering about the race all night. How wonderful to find the Catsailor Homepage you put together! Wow! Way to go TCDYC! Chris you guys rock! Congrats to all!

As always I do an analysis on the results (mostly to fine tune some performance models I play with for fun). And here are the REAL elapsed time results for this Tybee 500 event. Note that this means that the penalties has been deducted from the awarded finish times. However, the times spend on repairs and getting stranded in the surf are still included. It is impossibe for me to proper butts those delays. Most Carrie Howe and John Casey suffer from that as we know they spend about 2 hours fiddling with their rudders and that costs then 2nd place in my listing.

So here goes

One conclusion can be that it is pretty viable to race the F18's straight up against the N20's in a race like this. The spread of boats does not suggest that this is a serious factor in the overall result. Something that the handicapped results (See the official Tybee site or click here ) do not support with respect to handicapping. There it seems the F18's have a significant advantage as they are all grouped at the top of the score board. In that listing there are 4 F18's in places 1st to 4th and all but 1 F18 are in the top 8 places with only place 5 and 6 going to N20 crews.

All very interesting.

Wouter

Still no Dutch flag? Come on Ari, a little hip-hip-hooray for the old Country.

Wouter, AGAIN you mis-use facts to support a case.

You might want to have said....

"if you get a race where the wind is light and the angles are such that the N20's cannot carry their (one design) kites and the F18's can, then it is viable to race the N20 and the F18's boat on boat".

If it had beena dead run all the way, the results mwould have been different I feel; however, without any FACTS I cannot "prove" this........

Mischa Video >>>

Ehh, you are not very well versed in statistic are you now.

I only said that the results as presented are more supportive of equality on elasped time IN AN EVENT LIKE THIS then supportive of equality using handicap ratings.

Compare it to this example; Each time you throw a coin in the air you a reasonable change of getting tales.

-a- It doesn't mean you WILL get a tale
-b- It doesn't cover the case we you knowingly FAVOR a different outcome, as in use a crooked coin or have trained to throw the coin such that it always lands on one particular side.

Your next comment is of the -b- type.




And what if it had been an upwind beat all the way ? Or are we simply yet intentionally ignoring that possibilty ?

The facts are as they are. For this event, the F18 guys were not held back much at all by their decision to use the F18 boat or the N20's.

Trying to ignore that is just silly.

Wouter

[quote=Wouter][/quote]

edit

I cannot be arsed to argue with you Wouter. You have your view, and most have another view.

No my dear friend. YOU have a different viewpoint.

Don't equate that with the viewpoints that the rest of the populace may or may not have.

The data on which I based my comments have been detailed; and it can not be said that I misrepresented the data as it is accessibly for everybody to check.

You MAY differ in the interpretation of this this data set. But any difference there don't necessesarily equate to one being wrong and the other being right. So your stated OPINION suggesting otherwise was uncalled for.

Now, I leave you "to butt" with yourself.

Wouter

I do not differ with you analysis of the data for the Tybee 500 for this year. All it proves is if the wind is in the right direction and at the right strength, F18's can carry their kites more than N20's.

I'd suggest that anyone could have worked that out by simply looking at the race, and what happened. No need for stats analysis.



Now who's going to enter next year?

Wouter,

May I suggest (as I have previously) that you spend less time this summer in front of a keyboard and a little more time on the water.

The rest of us would appreciate your analysis more if you personally had some grip of the context that you are relating to...

Hat tip to Dave Krantz and his highly readable coverage of Team Zhike. Look forward to his comments tomorrow. Actually kind of nice to read a Dad worrying!

One good of many.

You mean, put your money where your mouth is? Haha!

We had paddles and used them as did many of the other boats. Not sure why they wern't seen. We particularly used them in cocoa with a good start, and were slower to use them in fernandina with a bad start. Our start in Daytona was complicated by a boat washing back on us and subsequent upper casting failure leading to a beaching and rudder change. But no doubt, paddles are KEY.

I've got to give a lot of credit and thanks to my father/Dave Krantz for covering the Tybee 500. He normally writes about hunting and fishing, but decided to give it a shot as a "outdoor adventure" story. He's not a sailor, so it's written from a completely different point of view. However he exposed us to an audience that we rarely reach. We had over 2,000,000 hits per day, and ESPN still has us on the front page. Hopefully we'll pick up some new sailors from this exposure.

My favorite column is today's notes and comments - http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/general/news/story?id=4172880

Hats off and congrats to all that raced, ground crewed, reported on and help run!

Amazing event, and testament to the caliber of everyone involved.

2 more issues:
1) exclusion zone - Its virtually impossible to assure as you aproach the 1st mark on what is usually a tight reach that you don't violate an imaginary line from the beach to that mark, but with a gps and these 4 0r 5 waypoints, you can be very sure to make sure you round each one, and that is what the rule should be. we missed the first on last year due to our own gps error, and took a penalty, as did two boats this year. Mischa would have won even with an extra hour of penalty, however, he did get a pretty good advantage on missing the first mark, so if you wanted to construct the "perfect" penalty that wouldn't outright disqualify, but would properly penalize, I would propose taking the estimated time of the "benefit" by using the gps tracks of the penalizer and comparing them to the person who is closest in time to them at the current stage of the race (In this case Steve or JC) and then add that time(i.e. if Mischa had travelled the extra x mile at Steve's speed), PLUS a time penalty, 20, 40, min or whatever, it may be more "fair" and increase compliance. That being said, the first mark is a shipping channel, and so when you are approaching it, you think its not part of the exclusion zone and thats why we skipped it last year and likely why Mischa did this year. ( I know, we shoulda read the SI better). We should all try better however to be compliant as a group effort and eliminate this constant point of contention in the race.

2) I-20 vs F-18. They each have their strong spots and weak spots. I would personally eliminate the handicap and let the fastest boat win!

As for the Exclusion zone - I propose a DNF for the day's leg as a penalty. Thats last place finisher plus 8 hours IIRC.

As a risk to national security, I say shoot a tomahawk missile up the offenders transom... that'll learn em'

I had a great time last week!

Sorry I had to miss the awards party Sunday, but I had a hot date with a babe at a hotel in SC. She didn't show until 2AM though and couldn't wake me up.
Getting old aint for girly-boys.
Rick

Great job by all who sailed, organized, cheered, etc. etc. etc. Millions of hits and ESPN coverage??? That’s incredible!

Some items from this board to be considered in lessons learned meetings for next year…

1. The OCS that was referenced was actually handled by the RC as required by the SIs:

“10.4 It is the responsibility of the team to know the position of the boat and whether or not they are over the line early. No recall flags will be flown (amends RRS 26). If necessary, a postponement will be signaled by 4 long sounds (Amends RRS 27.3). A boat’s hull or spinnaker pole is considered its leading edge, and a 15-minute penalty will be assessed for any boat over the starting line early.”

If it is truly a burden for the RC to fly a flag and blow a horn, then continue this practice (no recall flags), but expect the negative PR to continue. I can’t personally see this as a burden, but there may be mitigating factors that we’re not aware of over the web.

2. Finishing with ground crew:

Per the SIs: “11.2 …A maximum of two ground crew from each team may be on the course side (OCS) of the gate to assist a boat with finishing. If a boat receives assistance by more than two ground crew while OCS and not finished, it may be subject to penalty and/or disqualification at the discretion of the Race Committee. Emergency assistance may be provided in the surf as per SI (10.6).”

Per the RRS Definitions: “Finish: A boat finishes when any part of her hull, or crew or equipment in normal position, crosses the finishing line in the direction of the course from the last mark, either for the first time or after taking a penalty under rule 44.2 or, after correcting an error made at the finishing line, under rule 28.1.”

Seems like a case can be made that the ground crew in question did more than allowed by the SIs to “assist the boat with finishing” as defined in the RRS as “crossing the finishing line.” Unless there was an emergency, I would consider protesting this under outside assistance, and/or fair sailing.

3. Exclusion Zone and discretionary penalties:

Discretionary penalties are not a new concept, and in the hands of a seasoned jury, can be very effective. There have been a few OK ideas here, but here’s what I’ve seen that works remarkably well for Optis of all things (KISS), usually to enforce safety rules…

DSQ is always an option, but when there are good reasons for not going that far, using a standard such as 20% and 40%, often helps. (The 20% already exists in the RRS for certain offenses such as ZFP, so it does have a solid basis.)

It is best practice to include these penalties in the SIs, so there is less “questioning” after the fact (although there will always be whiners). Having a written standard to follow, rather than pulling a time penalty out of a hat, will help your jury’s PR tremendously.

Following KISS, for the case of the exclusion zone, there would seem to be a need for zero tolerance, since if the government gets involved, the future of the race itself may be endangered to some degree.

I would therefore suggest that if someone “cuts a corner” that’s a DSQ for that leg (score like DNF). The main logic for this is, besides the obvious issues with the military, they did not even sail the correct course (RRS string rule).

Now, if someone breaches the zone but unwinds, a 20% discretionary penalty can be used. This is typically scored as points equal to 20% of the fleet size. However, since this is a timed event, the most logical thing might be to make the penalty equal to 20% of the time difference between the first and last finishers for that leg.

Again, since the Exclusion zone has bigger-picture implications, 40% may be more effective.

And, since it’s always fun to play with Wouter, what are you smoking now??? “Real” elapsed times for people that don’t follow the rules (OCS) or sail the course correctly (exclusion zone)? Wow…

Mike

Ditto Jake. All those miles and all those hours on the water and you got me by what......17 minutes. Damn! Props to Tawd too. Maybe he'll share the location of that worm-hole he sailed through on the last day.

No kidding - I only needed 4 minutes on that crusty O.B. and when he split from behind me to head to shore about 12 miles out of Fernandina, I thought "Wow!, Todd just gave me a gift!". Turns out he thought I was ahead of him in the standings and felt that he needed to try something to gain on me.

It was absolutely incredible how close everyone - and I mean EVERYONE was...every boat length counted - every second of the day. It was one of the most mentally draining Tybee's I've ever been part of (but one of the easiest physically).

I saw those clouds over the land and wanted to go in. But I was having funny dueling with Jared and the Blue Wombat out offshore so I stuck around out there.

Jared is pretty damn good at protecting himself, I tried no less than 5 times to get around him and failed everytime.

Nice sailing buddy

man i miss the race already. wish we could be still heading up the coast. wish i could make great texas.

i hope the next big thing will be a distance race in the fall. its a long time to wait to sail like that again...

I think Mike's dad(good writer!) was right in calling all the competitors "winners". Congrats to all of the competitors, their teams, and the RC. Major kudos to Tad, Trey, and the Velocity teams for their great success at building the event's participation! Loved all the coverage. Tad, that is a really well written wrap up you posted. Thanks again, Brian

Thank You very much Brian. It was a lot of work leading up to the event and it seemed to go off VERY smoothly.

Speaking of which - I need to do something in that vein.

What did you guys think of the idea to add another leg on the south end?

I like the idea, but logistically it would be a challenge.
Most Key West hotels are not near the beach. Parking is worse than any other location. Personally, I think it would be more hassle than it's worth.

John, I was just saying that to Chuck the other day. I think it would awesome, and then maybe the milage would close in on 700 wich just sounds cooler than 600. I'm sure we cound find a suitable hotel somewhere. I think the Southernmost sits right there in a good location.

Also, does anyone know where the message to contact Skip Elliott with our serial numbers is?

The message is over on the sailing anarchy forums on the "On the Water Anarchy" thread for for the Tybee 500. Its on the second thread somewhere.

Here ya go Larry,
They seem to be trying to make this right. I spoke with Harry and Skip and got positive feedback from both. They are taking responsibility which is nice to see.

"At this point I really don't know too much about it. I did get a call Friday afternoon from a person that told me it had happened. All I can tell you right now is that we switched the tape we use on them a few years ago after one sail failed with the old style tape. Since switching we have not had any failures, however it is obvious from this regatta that this tape is not strong enough either. We will certainly stand behind any of the sails that failed.

In the mean time I need to get more information on those sails so I can trace back to when they were built and see if they were all done with the same batch of tape or see if there were any other similarities or differences. If you have one of these sails please call me at the loft on Monday. I will need to know the serial number that is stamped on our logo on your sail.

Harry Pattison
Elliott / Pattison Sailmakers
949 645-6697"

I agree with Mike on the start from Key West. While it sounds great on the surface, hotels are expensive there and logistically it would be tougher. I've only done the race once now, but I'd vote to keep starting from Islamorada.

Bailey

The Islander was by far the most expensive and it puts you there at least 2 or 3 nights. It may actually be more affordable in Key Weird.

Instead of making the race longer - how about splitting up the Cocoa leg or the Tybee leg. If you made the Jupiter leg longer (although I love the Jupiter stop where it is, but if the beach is going to stay rocky then maybe more thought needs to go into changing that checkpoint) that would make cocoa shorter. Split the last leg from Fernandina and stop in St. Simons, which makes a nice short 30 mile parade into Tybee which makes it easy to plan an event or something at the finish.

Just a thought....

Frank's Post-Mortem:

After spending 9 days away from Pittsburgh and my wife Monica and three boys, I just now have the time to look at the many posts/opinions on this forum and felt I should give my thanks and congratulations to the many people who made this regatta so successful this year.

Having done a few Tybees, this week was the very best in my opinion. My thanks to my tireless ground crew for their superlative efforts. Tim Owens, our team manager had our boat dialed in and corrected every day. Daryl Moss has become a Tybee legend and is a great team member and even better friend. I can't imagine doing any major distance race without Daryl at my side. Bonnie Kohl's brilliant and effortless writing gave so many who could not be at the race a vivid decryption of the minute by minute details as only she can describe. And finally, to my dear friend Jake Kohl nothing need to be said - we have been through many great adventures on the Atlantic together and I hope we have many many more. A very good week Jake - thank you kindly.

I also wish to congratulate a some of the people who made the journey to Tybee Island last week:

Chris Zander and David Strickland of Team Seacats White. You guys sailed very well and had some bad luck with the boat. Shake it off and look forward to next year - Jake and I will help you get back to the line next year - start planning now. Bjorn and Robin stay after these guys and start planning for the next big event. Bjorn, the photos were great - thanks!

To Chuck, Judy, Neil, and the RC thank you for putting it on again. None of us appreciate the BS that you go through and I am glad you took the time to get us into the Keys this year. Chuck I apologize for some of my loud comments about the Canaveral matters - the RC passed judgment and enough said. It wasn't the first judgment I didn't like and I am certain it won't be the last. In the future, however, I suggest you add a sentence in the SIs that says the penalty will be 8 hours after the last boat in that day - problem solved! You will have the best little navigators in the world rounding the cape!

John Williams: God bless you for coming - your presence added greatly to the entire week. I hope to talk to you soon.

Rick Bliss: For those who remember, Rick was part of the Tybee RC in 2003 and was as helpful then as he was this year. I struggled mightily on Windy Hill's "barge" or HT18 - I hated that boat. Rick found us everyday and gave advice and support on how to do better. You will not meet a finer gentlemen at any regatta. FYI: Thank you for bringing your parts trailer - it kept many a boat on the line each day!!!

Trey, Tad, JC, Misha, Alison, Derek, Kate and the entire Velocity Sailing entourage - you guys helped make this regatta a great one! No one will ever know how expensive and time consuming it is to get your boat and team ready to go on this journey - and you managed to do it for SEVEN BOATS!!!!!!!!!! Also, getting professional sailors on the line helps the event greatly - thanks for convincing Carrie, JC, Misha and Eduard to come to the states for the event.

Jay and Laurel Sonnenklar thank you for organizing your teams and convincing Steve to come to Tybee this year. You young fellas sailed like champs all week and I greatly enjoyed your company and help all week. Congratulations on winning the N20 class - a pretty good lot of sailors!

FYI: Chris and Terry looked way too comfortable on the beach this year - pull out the foulies and get to the gym - I hope to see you guys on the water next year!

Jamie and Leondro thanks for coming - we managed to keep you guys in sight on quite a few legs this year but you were just too fast! Congrats to Leondro on his first Tybee - I hope you come back next year.

Jared and Colin - Another super regatta. Jared, let me know when your congressional campaign starts - I will gladly send a check! You have a very bright future and I look forward to seeing where the path of your future takes you.

Mike and David of Team Zhik/Layline - thanks for getting the F18 guys coming to the event. You guys had a great week and I promise to lend you our extra paddle next year!

To the New England Sailors: Chris T., Chris B., Todd, Brandon, Morgan, Tyler, Mike & Tripp - Congratulations on a terrific regatta! Spread the word and get some more Yankees to come to the race next year. Also, get Michael Ferrara on the water this summer - he needs some on the water training for next year's event!

Larry and Jackson you pilgrims have come very far indeed! You were fast and in the mix all week - I appreciate you being there and I am glad to have you as friends.

And lastly, to the TODD and his crew Jeff. Cat Fever had a great regatta and your flip at the finish line will grace many a magazine article(s) - I still don't know how you managed to walk away from that dreadful landing but I am very glad you did - look forward to sailing with you again soon.

Thanks,

Frank - Team Seacats

SUGGESTION: Hey Chuck, Let's start in Tybee and go North next year....Think about it.

It would be a water start and finish for the first leg from KW to Islamorada, then a water start from Islamorada. Beaches after that. Most of the logistics are on the RC side (boats, marks, flags, etc.) at each end. I don't think you can count on being on the start boat and beating the fleet to the Islander - we'd need a team at each end. There's only one road and it gets jammed up too easily. Or the RC follows along on the water, but at significant fuel cost.

So far I have only heard from 4 people who had spinnakers fail in the Tybe 500. If you had this problem please contact me at 949 645-6697. We will need you to send the spinnaker back to us. Please ship it to:

870 Production Place
Newport Beach, CA 92663

I don't know all the details yet because I haven't seen any of the sails but am trying to get a complete picture of the problem. What I do know so far is that somewhere in the neighborhood of 9 spinnakers failed. From the people I have spoken with I know that the age of the sails goes from at least 2 years old to the present, and the failures so far have been the result of the horizontal seam failing. Since the sails span that much time difference we can be fairly certain that it doesn't have anything to do with a bad batch of seam tape or a difference in the finish on the fabric. We are now leaning towards the idea that while the tape may have been strong enough for most sailing that it is not strong enough for the more extreme conditions.

Most of the people I have spoken with have indicated that the conditions for this race had much more time spent very tight reaching in breeze than previous races had. This would seem to indicate that while the sails were strong enough for shorter races and more downwind races, that under high loads for extended periods of time the glue seams were slowly creeping until they reached the point that they were no longer strong enough to hold the seam together.

Besides replacing the sails that failed we are also asking anyone that has one of our I-20 spinnaker to please send them to us to have the center seam sewn.

As a side note I have heard there has been a rumor going around that some of the sails are being built overseas. I can tell you without exception every sail from us is built here in our loft in Newport Beach.

Harry Pattison
Elliott / Pattison Sailmakers
949 645-6697

Frank you ARE da man!!!
Thank you for everything from your comittment and integrity as a racer and your generosity as a party organizer. I truly am glad to know you, balloon hands and all.

This year was by far the most competitive and mentally grueling races I've done.
I'd like to thank Jeff LoSapio(note the capital S ,Jake) for crewing with me and pushing me to sail my best. There's a few folks on here who know I'm not the easiest guy to spend a week with but Jeff did it like a champ. Stokes Seegers ( note the lower case s) worked his butt off for us taking care of the boat and us. I've never met anyone who was as willing to do anything the team needed, like he does. Kevin Lineberger received his baptism under fire in the Cat distance racing world as our Team Manager, he did exactly what was needed and asked of him. We call that ground crewin' on the big boats.
I'd also like to thank all the competitors that drove us to push as hard as we could. Especially Karl Langefeld (my crew from last year ,who never got a proper Thank you then. THANKS) who was hell bent on beating me as I was him. Jared Sonnenklar was the same way . Thanks ,it just makes us all faster.
Also Jake and Bonnie Kohl for vinyl, apparel and web coverage. Thanks a million. My two favorite discoveries this past week that far exceeded my expectations were McLube one drop and Jake's shirts.
Thanks to the race committee for their tireless work.

Hope to see everyone again in the future.

Todd Hart
Team Cat Fever

So for those of you who participated in multi-boat teams, did you feel that this strategy was the most effective way of obtaining support (sponsorship), publicity, logistics?

Is this sort of race just too complicated to handle as a one boat, unsponsored, 5 person team?

Were the experiences of, say, Stray Cat and/or Cat-in-the-Hat different than those of Velocity or White/Orange/Blue?

Being a 1 boat team, with no sponsors or websites, I found the program to be quite easy, but then, I had the easiest job of all....I just steered the boat. Beth, God bless her, was the driving force on the beach. There is no way I could have done the race without her. She handled all the hotels, found sailmakers when I needed them, found the marine stores when I needed them. She made sure Bryan and I had our waters and food for the day, changed batteries in the GPS every morning, made sure all the electronics, and supplies came off the boat each night and made it to the boat each morning. She even posted our progress on her Facebook page. Through all this, she even managed to help out some other teams when they needed some help. My Dad was there every night washing off the boat and helping with sails. Dan, our pusher, helped catch us each day and never failed to give us a Herculean push every morning. So with all the help I had, one boat was easy to manage, I think a multi-boat team could get very complicated unless each team operates independently during the race.

1 boat team = easy
2 boat team = a little harder
7 boat team = i don't know how they do it

The ground crew goes a LONG way to making this race less challenging on the sailors. Ideally you need two people that A) knows catamarans B) is easy going but attentive/responsible and C) can put up with you.

Both of our ground crew guys (Tim and Daryl) have ground crewed in excess of four years (I think Daryl has been there 6). They are pretty darn selfless when it comes to this race and it's hard work being on the ground. When we slide onto the beach, they're their to catch the boat and as soon as the boat is wheeled back to the dune and turned into the wind, Tim has a waterproof notebook and pen ready to make a list of anything the boat needs. They are fully skilled to handle any repairs or maintenance with the boat that is not fiberglass related (I manage that - but it's a rarity that any is needed). If I've done my boat prep well, they hopefully don't have much to do (and Tim lives near me so he helps with the prep before the race). There's a cooler with refreshment and a couple of sandwiches or something waiting there too. It's easy to discount what the ground crews do for this race but they really have to work hard and are almost constantly on the move, at the hardware/marine/food store, checking in and out, packing up cars / trailers...etc.

The pusher function proved to be a big deal this year and Daryl excels in this area. You don't necessarily need a huge guy for a pusher but it helps. On the tough days (Daytona / Cocoa) a little experience from the pusher pays off big - as it did for us this year as we never got trapped behind the surf line and made steady progress out each day.

When Bonnie comes along, she is in front of the computer for 6 to 10 hours a day manipulating photos, writing, and uploading her well written story - and we all enjoy having the documentation to go back and relive.

Bjorn was a new addition to the team this year to help with the addition of the second team. Though it was his first year he hit the ground running and blended in very nicely with the team. He did a terrific job managing Chris and David's "Team Seacats White" and taking many of the photos on our site. It sounds like he's willing to come back again too which would be terrific.

I can sort of speak from both sides of the coin, having now spent time on the conglomerate side, and previously being the single team small operation.

I'll preface this by saying that the reason we went "all in" with so many teams, is because we heeded the warnings of Chuck when he sat us down in '08 and said "10 boats don't pay for this race."

So we got some new guys on 20's. We knew that they didn't have the experience to get to the line without help - so Trey and I, already planning on running our two boats, added them to our fold. We had to get more ground personnel to handle the additional boats. We had to get a manager to keep track of all this stuff. So even though we added two boats, we added a whole new level of complexity - especially since they were new teams and would need a certain level of ramp-up time to get what this thing was all about.

When it was presented to us that Carrie and Sizzle wanted to get into the race, we looked at what we had already, and how many more resources it would take to get them to the line. We found that as we added more boats, other than the personnel, that the incremental costs were lower.

It was when the race was hovering around 18 boats or so, when we decided to introduce our outsourced logistics operation. I think that something like what we offered is going to be necessary to offer in order for overseas teams to be interested in this race. One team, Pirates, took us up on our turnkey package. To my knowledge, based on the feedback we got from them, they were happy customers. We certainly have some ideas on how to improve this program in the future.

As for sponsorships. No matter how low the incremental costs were getting, we were still looking at a huge budget compared to a smaller team. We had, I think, 11 rooms at the Islander. WITHOUT SPONSORSHIPS - WE COULDN'T HAVE DONE WHAT WE DID.

I remember reading an SI article where Todd Hart said that we had problems raising sponsorship dollars for the W1k - but that was fine by him since he "sails for [my] himself." There's virtue in his words indeed - since sponsorships are often misconceived by those who haven't had them before as one-way streets. We're not Michael Jordan, Jeff Gordon, or any other professional athlete (well except for Carrie and JC) who only needs to wear the product and give the Sponsors ROI. So while you may be sailing for "Team Velocity" or "Tad Pecorak" you really are racing for THEM, and you have to remember that while you carry their logos on you sails, on your website, on your body, that you represent THEIR corporate name. This is another thing that some people don't understand. Everything you do, you have to have the "what would our sponsors think of this?" in the back of your mind.

In the vein of "working for the sponsors" is why we brought in CLEAN from SA. In addition to the broad coverage and readership he brought the race, his gonzo journalism got our sponsors more exposure than any other media outlet available to us. Since the overwhelming majority of our sponsors were sailing/marine related, then SA was the perfect demographic to shoot for. Whether you love CLEAN or hate him, you cannot deny the popularity of his website. Like Howard Stern, when people who hate him are asked "why do you keep listening?" the response was "I want to see what he says next." I don't want to blow up his spot, but he's a very cool dude. I had the pleasure of staying in the same room as him and his lovely wife the entire week, and I'm proud to count him amongst my friends now.

As for whether or not the size of our team allowed us to get more sponsorships, I'm sure that had a lot to do with the decision to sponsor us from some companies. I'd like to think that they sponsored us because of the quality of the people involved, not just because we were spamming ourselves all over the fleet.

As for the complexity of running all these teams? We knew that we had to pick the right person for the job. Without Allison, the wheels would have fallen off the wagon very very early. When we arrived in Islamorada, we were all tired from lack of sleep, moody from being cramped up with each other for so long, and HOT. I was honestly scared someone was going to blow up, but it passed in one day as we have a plethora of personalities on the team who have a divine talent to make people laugh - which is well needed throughout the race.

Does that answer your questions WB?

I'm OUT!

Andrew, I know that is said tongue-in-cheek, but in reality the compatibility part is extremely important. I have been a part of, and witnessed, teams that melted down under the pressure of the event. It ruins friendships and is debilitating to the guys on the water. Jake's team has been through the fire and been tempered, so he may only have a academic idea of what can happen if personalities clash. The sailors or managers who build teams are responsible for laying the cornerstone.

I agree, I would put requirement "C" ahead of all others. Knowledge of cats is definitely important, but can be taught.

As for the suggestion to make the last leg shorter (30 miles) to make the finish more predictable / tight for spectators, I think that's a fantastic idea for the race, but wouldn't that be a logistical nightmare for the ground crews? I'm thinking there wouldn't be enough time to pack up and beat the boats to the finish.

Mike

yes it was meant as humor... and i completely agree with all he (and others has said). Without competent and reliable ground crew... there would be no race like this. Not to mention the need to be able to work well together.


And for complete disclosure... i am a grumpy, gnarly, pita to work with (ask anyone i work with) and would probably not make for a good skipper (or crew) in this type of event.

Re sponsorships vs gifts

Interesting take by Peter Harkin

http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7507#7507

so beachcat sailing, as an industry, should really take a hard look at marketing opportunities, from those with that particular talent, to develop a really good return on investment from 'sponsors'.

I slept through most of my marketing 101 class, so I'll defer the research and brainstorming to those that actually do it for a living...

Funny i found economics and price theory the perfect antidote for insomnia... i enjoyed the marketing classes as they were all BS

The OA is overlooking at least one source of sponsorship i.e. the "keyboard" sailors. I derive an enormous amount of pleasure from all this stuff, and unlike television, I don't have to sit through endless commercials. I bought a shirt from SA, because they put on great coverage. I'd be happy to buy a shirt from the Tybee 500, especially if they stamped a big, red "SPONSOR" on the back. Granted, these are small ticket items in the grander scheme, but it all adds up.

I might even pay a little more for something limited addition. A nice shirt with all the competitors signatures would make a pretty nice souvenir (the signatures needn't be original).

Fair is fair, if you put on a show, I'm happy to pay admission.

Hell, you might consider incorporating and selling shares.

I really think the time is right for a big push for "Green Watersports" such as, sailing, and I'm talking about Hobie Waves, Getaways, Hobie Adventure Island Kayaks, pedal power, arm power and/or sail power.

Obama is on the gas milage kick, what better way to jump on that bandwagon than show the country how little gasoline you need (compared to a Jet Ski) to have a fun day on the water, and there is the physical excercise as well, something we fat-butt Americans need a lot more of. And you get some good, gas efficient car (a little Ford or something) to tow the little Wave trailers, show people you don't need a F350 Dually Diesel to haul your sailboat/kayak.

There's your "Two birds, One stone", no carbon footprint, and NO NOISE, which is my biggest problem with jet ski's here on my lake, they are so Freaking loud and obnoxious.

I swear if I had a 308 with a scope...

There's your marketing opportunity, you get Gatorade (or some other sports drink) to piggy back on it, Bullfrog sunblock, or Coppertone, somebody big who wants some exposure, pun intended.

You have a "Day of Fun in the Sun and Learn to Sail" Sponsored by Hobie, Gatorade, Bullfrog, with US Sailing provided free instructors, etc.

Do it on Daytona Beach at spring break. Now that I think more about that, maybe get Hawiian Tropic as your sunscreen sponsor, with their girls rubbing on the lotion! Hell, I'll take sailing lessons for some of that action!

The point is, when it comes to leisure sports/activities, I think you have to push it into people's faces. We all know men are impulse buyers. How many times have you been rigging up on the beach, to have some guy wonder up and start with all the questions, "Wow, that looks cool, what's it cost? Is that hard to do? Where are you guys from?" I would love to say, here, put this harness and life jackett on, let's get wet! And take out every one of them, but you know we don't have time for that at a regatta. BUT, if you put together some type of a "Come and give it a try, FREE!" type day, who knows?


You might sell a few boats and get some new blood into the sport, you point out the obvious advantages over a Jet Ski, the free-ness of it all(no gas), the Green-ness of it all(wind/solar powered), the way Chicks dig it, etc. and invite him to the next local regatta/party. Guys are always looking for an excuse to party, especially if it involves free beer on a beach!

Well, that's my storm in my brain...and I will be delivering some of my old Catsailor Mags. to my Dr. friend later today, as soon as I am well enough I'm taking him out on the Prindle, then the Blade if he's up for it.

7/11, CVS pharmacy. Any company that sells stuff to beach goers is a potential sponsor for us. The convenience stores even have gas pumps.

The question isn't whether or not that the sponsors are "involved" in the industry or the activity or not. Its whether or not they get ROI. A sunscreen company would be a great fit for us! Until they realize that the biggest media we had there, SA, as big as it is, still isn't Main-Stream-Media coverage.

This year, I sent out emails and called quite a few TV stations' sports desks along the coast where we were stopping in an effort to get out sponsors in front of cameras and notepads.

I think the only one that bothered to come out was the Savannah paper (I'm told they were there, but I didn't actually see a reporter on the beach). If I'm mistaken, JW please correct me - I know you were working on this as well.

So the hard part of getting sponsorships isn't so much about them "fitting" into the sport. Its more about convincing them that there is an ROI with the event. Whether we like it or not, even this event is hard to get journalists to show up to despite people like Todd giving the camera more action than it can handle.

Well let's take a lesson from the French, who seem to have pretty good sponsorship, they take out the reporters on the boats, right? Maybe if you said something in your emails to the local TV channels like, "Be at the beach by 10:00 am for a quick Media sail..." and each team takes one media guy out for a quick lap up and down the coast, or maybe have separate media boats, not in the race, just for taking the media out for a quick blast reach/sail so they can see what it's like or maybe put some of them on a powerboat, or chaseboat, where they can keep up with the leaders and get some up close film for the 6+11pm reports. Did anyone offer to take any media crews out on a power boat at all?

Just as soon as I say that, I see this:
http://www.news-journalonline.com/beach.htm

Tybee 500 has pretty good coverage over at ESPN, that's pretty mainstream and i was told is was on the ESPN website frontage for a few days, probably not main article but still. I was also told it generated a few million hits.

http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/general/news/story?id=4159160

ROI? How does that accounting work? What if I frequent 7/11 year round because they are sailing sponsors? How about selling them on the idea of using the sailing lifestyle in their display advertising: buy your bag of ice from us and you'll be as cool as the Tybee sailors!

I can't imagine any single event is worth sponsoring,in terms of short term ROI. Repeat business over a period of several years is another mattter.

It's a job for Trey! He's a sailsman!

I am all in favor of sponsorship, promoting the sport, the sport as a better recreational activity vs jetski's etc...
(and i really dislike sailing through exhaust, sailing near boats who don't understand sailing nor right of way, and the noise of motors)...

but i dont think you can call our sport "green".. (even though we are "greener" than jetski's) with the amount of petro-chemicals used in the production of our boats/lines/blocks/sports clothing.... etc

Unless we go back to hemp lines, and wooden boats .. we are a part of the petro-industrial manufacturing world.

You gonna live in a grass shack, grow your own food, walk to work and **** in a privy?

Absolutely not! - i am not saying i am "Mr Tree Hugger" i am simply stating that our sport probably can't be considered a "green sport"...

PS i like your idea of T-shirts and such as a way to generate revenues for the events.

Care to cite an example of a green sport? Other than hop scotch.

i am simply stateing that all of our gear and equipment contains petro-chemicals and it would be hard pressed to claim we are a "green-sport".

I am not trying to promote any other sport nor am i any authority on what is a green sport...

It is not about being completely green. It is about trying to reduce carbon foot print as much as you can. Once a sailboat is produced the boat is greener than most vehicle racing sports.

Below is a link to an auto racing series trying to reduce their carbon footprint. By the simple act of reducing their carbon footprint, they are concidered greener.

http://americanlemans.com/index_green.php

PS: the series is a good development ground for new technologies that will trickle down to production cars which in the long term will help reduce carbon footprint more substantially.

Dude! I'm bustin' yur hump. My a/c hasn't been turned off in decades, and I definitely ain't shovelin' a composting shitter.

What Craig said.

As Tad notes above, we contacted every TV and print media outlet we could, all the way up the coast. Some of them took the time to talk with us, and a couple sent cameras. I think we got fair coverage over the week, but I would love to see it become good coverage again. Originally, I was brought onto the team to manage media relations... with the staffing issues we were presented with, I wound up doing stickers, scoring, flags, safety checks, errands, web posts, etc. - just like everyone else on the RC, including Chuck and Judi. Chuck needs more staff, he knows it, and with the level of commitment shown by the teams to show up in numbers, I think he'll get there.

For reference, we actually spoke to reporters in Hollywood, Cocoa Beach, Fernandina Beach and in Tybee Island throughout the week. Four out of six checkpoints got newspaper and video coverage, and Hollywood and Tybee Island maintained little blurbs in the paper all week. I'm glad Claude got with the guy from the Jacksonville paper - I was down the beach with the demolition derby. Didn't even know the guy had shown up. Nice piece though, eh?

Haha... i was wondering what crawled up your @#&!!! I was trying to figure out what i had said to piss you off (as i often do without trying)

I had actually written,"did you wake up grumpy" but edited out.... lol

Nothing attracts media attention like an International Security Breach near NASA! If they had only fired a warning shot accross his bow,... it would be all over mainstream news...

Turtle racing!
Cow Chip toss!
Cow Tipping!

You mentioned the word thats unmentionable.

Either that or a death of some sort, "crew strangles skipper with spin sheet" should make it on CNN

For sponsorship you could "sell" each leg of the race to a sponsor, the first leg could be the Disney leg, second leg the Coca-Cola leg etc.

Cow?

OK Craig, now you've done it! Everyone get your butts to Sebring next March for the 12 hour American LeMans race, usually won by a turbo-diesel Audi! They've also got the Petron Tequila girls hanging out at the tent, you'll want to stop by for a "sample" no doubt!

These are full on race cars that will blow your mind if you have not seen how fast these things can corner! Thanks to Jack Whorle I got my first up front look at this race, even though I have lived 7 miles from the track for the past 12 years, never could justify the time/money/sunburn/deafness/etc. to spend the day out there, but Jack made me an offer I could not refuse, now I'm a convert! And they are pushing these race cars constantly for better gas millage, better motors, better brakes, better suspension, and it all trickles down to their production cars. I just wish I could afford a new Audi TT! Or that V12 thing that costs about $150,000 and goes 150mph! F-ME! They had a couple of them sitting on display, I kept trying to think of how I could sneak one out...

If you like fast cars and creative engineering, you have got to see these things up close!

There are several feeder type races leading up to the big 12hr. race, they have an excellent Vintage group of which Jack is king, some very nice old stuff there.

And as far as Sailboats not being Green because of the Petro Chemicals, show me anything that's green but made without petrochemicals of some sort, I guess we could use wooden A cats, staples, no glue, no paint...and cotton sails.

JQ Public could care less about petro chemicals. Just tell them the boats run on wind, not gas.

I'd be happy to let you borrow mine. It's great fun, and they don't scream as much as you'd think when you pop them. And you can sell the jet-skis on e-bay to recoup your ammo/time cost. It's a win-win!

I think you need a hunting license with DUMB$SS sticker here in FL. Season starts May 1 and goes to Aug 31. No bag limit, but well endowed females of the species are not allowed..

Don't forget pain-killer manufacturers as sponsors. BC Powder is someone who might really like this event, as it's a smaller brand who may not have the power to sponsor, say VOR type stuff.

Please, no one call that "head on" place. I can't stand the commercials (although if any tag line sticks in my head, it's that friggin thing).

Do pre- and post- race parties have a sponsor restaurant? There should be "media day" at both venues and competitors and ground crew should agree to be available for stuff like that.

Does anyone run a travel agency or something like that who could help put together packages for the competitors? Would it help reduce overall cost by getting block rooms and/or better rates? How about containers for overseas competitors?

GPS people might want a piece of the action, and they can demonstrate how "extreme" their equipment is...

That Spot tracking thing was genius. I think that should be used in the DVD of the race, especially the little leg "wrap-up" and maybe some color commentary from the sailors (doesn't have to be during the event, but can be produced afterward in interview voiceover if needed)

Can the T-500 or sailor webpages highlight certain items during the race? Like the boats, line, sails, GPS, emergency equipment, clothing, etc.? That's good advertising ROI for sponsors... BK and SA have great ability to do little 5 minute spots that focus on this stuff. It probably could be produced at any time during the year, too, with little snips from the actual event to save production time/cost.

And I agree with Pete; it's good entertainment, and I'm happy to buy some swag (whatever that means). Maybe a 50/50 raffle or "pick your horse" thing, too...


I guess the local media didn't really go crazy getting coverage at the layovers....


Would there be any interest in a "Taste of Tybee" series during the year, wherein people could sail a leg of the event? Local clubs could host it (so Chuck doesn't have to kill himself). Not only would it be good training for teams thinking of going the distance, but might generate interest throughout the year for the T-500. Maybe even have something like the Harken series for that?

Just brainstorming here...

How about that film company that has the blimp? Or anyone who owns a blimp.

Make up of the boats and gear is minor compared to getting there and back. Here's from my trip computer:

Miles driven - 2747.0
Gallons of gas used - 188
Average mph - 51.0
Average mpg - 14.6

This is from my Astro Van which towed the boat down and back. We took two vehicles. There were 24 teams. Then add any other support vehicles.

OK, but add up the fuel if we were racing power boats and then show the figures....

For sure. Of course it would depend on the class of boat being raced. Small hydros, not much gas (but probably two cycle). Big offshore, more gas. That might also affect the size of the trucks as well (then they'd likely be diesel, not as much fuel but potentially worse emissions). The bigger boats would involve more materials for the build. I'm sure a large offshore racer goes through a good amount of fuel.

But the point was merely that if people are going to talk "green" it involves more than just the build (and sailing) of the boats. A point some will gladly make when the green argument is made...

Some of my friends use to spend $1000 a weekend per boat on fuel for there offshore boats chasing the trophy girlfriends!!!

Doug

*GRUMBLE GRUMBLE* I wonder how many "logs" that they hit every time they go out?

Lot's of 'em.
I work/help with some log rehabilitators up this way. They do make a little more noise so the logs know thy're coming.

Visions of girlfriends mounted on the walls as trophies...

John,

It was obvious that you were completely overworked. It is also obvious that the organization does not really understand how the whole media/sponsorship cycle work. The Tybee story is a compelling one - but to get it the kind of coverage necessary to find real title sponsorship for the event, you actually have to get on your knees and suck. The people that are good at media relations have close personal friendships with the journalists and editors at every important pub, or they find them months before their event. That's why they succeed. Chuck and his crew do a great job of getting boats off the beach and then on the beach - the rest of the organization is like the media effort - sorely lacking. Frankly, I'm amazed that the race has survived as long as it has, which speaks volumes of the importance of the race itself, and the strength of the name.

No argument here, Alan. Like I said, more staff would free up that one person with the kneepads and a smile to stay on top of calling, tossing swag, calling again, writing releases, e-mailing, then making some calls. It would be like changing gears on a ten-speed for this event. One good pitch with a lucky break might bring the sponsor needed to create the space needed for evolution, but the lightning strike is far less certain than a concentrated and sustained effort. Chuck's got some really viable ideas for the future... as long as the fleet doesn't lynch him for looking down the road a piece. He's got a very hard balancing act to perform.

Greeeeeeeeeat.

A good idea instead would be to post a complete blog roll on the website. I enjoyed Bonnie's comments, Dave Krantz' ESPN thing (2 million hits, did he say?), and Rick's reports -- the written stuff. I couldn't find the Moose-Burd blog until it was over (darn). And I missed out on the Pirates of Chesapeake too. The GPS stuff was incredible. A lot of the links I got from Seacats' site.

I hope Great Texas does a blog roll as well as the other good things on Tybee's! Hint, hint, wink, wink, nudge, nudge, know what I mean, know what I mean?

For anyone on a team who is on the fence about whether to blog or not, don't be doubtful. Your stuff will be read! IMO, the reason is that the audience is sailing people who love to hear the technical details. (Still hoping for a post on a failed spinnaker and recovery, for example?) This is what builds interest. In order to get interest, don't hide the blog lights under a basket, but put it on a blog roll! Then people like John better twitter.

Where's Herendeen? He seemed to be good with the 'schmoozing' and I see press releases he wrote up for SCCA. And having done the T500, he might have the energy to deal with the media...? Don't know about the kneepad thing, though.

About the blog stuff... Yes, people who "know" read that stuff, but there really ought to be someone who takes those blog posts, digests them for the "regular" media outlets, and hands them press releases....

Check back to our site occasionally, we'll try to add some thoughts and stuff apre' race.

"apre' race" We are gonna revoke you n20 drivers license....

So when are more of you MD boys gonna come down yonder and show the floridian coast what you got?

Good idea...let me describe where my spinnaker replacement cash just went....hmmmm 1996 Opti.

Ok, take the Opti, saw it in half down the middle, add some sides along the cut for each half, a couple of aluminum beams, presto! A proper sailing craft for a young 'un...

no doubt! I've mentioned it a few times that I should have bought two, not one for each kid but to attach beams to...:)

If anybody is around where the Spinsheet is available, turn to pages 52-53. Or check it out online - Spinsheet Magazine - click the link for June issue online, scroll through to pages 52-53. Check out the editorial (What the hull?) - we may just be turning Spinsheet into a multihull rag!

Great spread!

Nice, Good work.

Hey Keith thats great! I'm going to have to send my folks over to the western shore to pick up a copy!

I can always grab a stack of 'em. Then when you come over for a Tuesday night race you can pick 'em up! How many do you want?