News
Halfway Point Wrapup, the Story So Far
Daytona Beach, FL - May 13, 2010, story by Warren Green --- The 2010 Tybee 500 arrived in Cocoa Beach after three days of thrills and spills and men overboard. Strong winds would seem to be just what the doctor ordered for Catamaran sailors, but some Tybee sailors would like a little more cooperation from Mother Nature.a
On the first day, the course changes from northeast to north, but the winds changed to stay on the nose. Our Sailors received very little relief from hanging on the wire to keep their boats upright. We had one collision underway resulting in a broken spinnaker pole.
Ground crews and race committee stayed on the beach long hours, while the boats took up to 12 hours of slogging upwind to Hollywood Beach. The last boat arrived at 10:30 PM after at 10:00AM start. Several boats experienced capsizing, but all crews arrived safely, thanks to "Blinkey", a yellow strobe designed by race founder, Chuck Bargeron. Blinkey has pointed the way home for many sailors over the eight years of the Tybee 500. Crews carry special safety equipment and Spot tracking devices for recovery in case of mishaps. Inspections are made at the beginning, and at each stop along the course, to be sure no one has misplaced or lost any gear.
The second day of racing from Hollywood to Jupiter Beach found winds of 12 to 21 greeting sailors only somewhat rested from the previous day’s ordeal. All 15 boats made it thru the surf, but one capsized, lost a crew member, and drifted back to shore with sail battens peeking mysteriously away from their pockets. The crew member was retrieved by a second boat (Team Velocity 5, Cat in the Hat) after several minutes adrift, while ground crew waited anxiously on shore. Because of multiple broken battens the team decided this was not their day and decided to rest a day and restart from Jupiter on day three.
On the first day, the course changes from northeast to north, but the winds changed to stay on the nose. Our Sailors received very little relief from hanging on the wire to keep their boats upright. We had one collision underway resulting in a broken spinnaker pole.
Ground crews and race committee stayed on the beach long hours, while the boats took up to 12 hours of slogging upwind to Hollywood Beach. The last boat arrived at 10:30 PM after at 10:00AM start. Several boats experienced capsizing, but all crews arrived safely, thanks to "Blinkey", a yellow strobe designed by race founder, Chuck Bargeron. Blinkey has pointed the way home for many sailors over the eight years of the Tybee 500. Crews carry special safety equipment and Spot tracking devices for recovery in case of mishaps. Inspections are made at the beginning, and at each stop along the course, to be sure no one has misplaced or lost any gear.
Day two continued to bring other mishaps, causing broken parts on boats and a separation of one skipper from his boat. Alert crews, pre-race briefings and the sailing instructions guided the crews to provide assistance and search for the overboard skipper. The skipper (Larry Ferber) was found by a TowUS boat responding to the EPIRB signal he triggered. The skipper was returned to his boat, yes the same boat that had earlier picked up another sailor separated from their boat, allowing the team to continue racing.
Crew Bryan Paine, sailing with a broken rudder gudgeon and alone on the boat searched the area and stayed with the un-skippered boat until the skipper was found and placed back on the boat. Fourteen boats lumbered ashore in Jupiter Beach in near record time.
Day three from Jupiter Beach to Cocoa Beach came with great promise of a spinnaker leg, winds obliging. Committee members cannot remember this leg of 112 miles in just 5 hours, 55 minutes. There were some thrills along the way with several capsizes, and on loss of spinnaker halyard, but all arrived Cocoa Beach safely.
As of this writing, boats are underway from Cocoa Beach to Daytona Beach. Special briefing was given to stay clear of the exclusion zone around the Cape where a space shuttle sat on the pad for launch tomorrow. Race committee members have arrived and setup the finish line for the arrivals expected.
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