Team Dinghy Shop [Print]   [Close]

(GPS courtesy of Radioworld)
In the close up of the finish, you can see the route is all over the place. The boys had a problem with the mainsheet blocks (now fixed) and dumped very near a very big cruise ship. You see that they drifted down wind (no track at that point), and sailed off to the finish.

05/06/2001 - Leg 1: cat-alist.com following Team Dinghy Shop

Leg 1 Results - shows results for the day and overall.

The Worrell 1000 started at 4 PM EST from Miami, with winds from the northeast 17 to 20 knots and 1 to 2 foot swells. The wind is on the nose, it will be a pretty close finish to day 1.

The start was delayed till 4 PM, as a result of the Air Show.

The finish line was within the containment zone of the air show. No finishes could occur until the containment zone was released - this happened at 6 PM. Fortunately this was not a problem, but it was close! The first team finished at 6:14:45 PM EST.

The first leg is from Miami to Fort Lauderdale, with a distance to be covered of 26 miles (the day 1 end point is in fact the starting point of last years race).

The shore crews will be hard pressed to make it there in time, as the Fort Lauderdale Air Show is on, this will cause difficulties for the shore crew to be able to negotiate traffic with the motor homes and trailers impeding their progress.

Race News

6:39 PM - Tom Weaver of Pyacht Men has suffered damage to his leg, he did walk away, however, so it may be only a bad bruise (originally thought to be a broken ankle).
*** Tom Weaver is out. Broke his foot in 2 places.

6:19 PM - Team Guidant Sandra Tartaglino suffered a broken leg right at the finish line when their boat almost turned over in the surf, it looked like a pitch pole, and she was thrown forward. The rescue squad took her away on on a back board. It took maybe 15-20 minutes for the rescue squad to get to her, due to the traffic caused by the Fort Lauderdale Air Show.

Mike Walker, Team Manager - Team Dinghy Shop

Today's leg was a short race from Miami to Ft. Lauderdale, at just over 20 nautical miles. The team drew the 19th starting position (at the very wrong end of the beach-start positions are numbered from the north. After a great start, they drove the boat well through the waves and started to make up some positions that they had lost due to their starting position.

About 1/3 of the way into the race (NE winds at about 20 knots and 1 meter waves), the main sheet blocks buckled. This made it almost impossible for Reigh to sheet out in the puffs. This resulted in them dumping the boat 3 times on this leg of the race. The first time they dumped, they where in the lead having passed the 18 boats ahead of them. They have proven that they have great upwind boat speed.

The last dump occurred when they attempted to cross behind a very large cruise ship. I've attached the GPS track from that time. You can see how they drifted downwind in the short period of time that they where over.

Today's short 2 hour leg was a great test for finding small problems with the boats. Tomorrow looks like more of the same.

Photos by Mike Walker



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