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05/08/2001 - Leg 3: cat-alist.com following Team Dinghy Shop
Mike Walker 20 Minutes before the Start. Conditions are Wild, The Breaking Surf Line is Like a Mountain. Race Director implimenting Dangerous Surf Starting Procedure. Only 5 Boats Were Able to Start, Carnage on the Beach.

Mike Walker: "Words and photos do not do justice to what we have seen today".

Leg 3 Photos - by Walter Cooper Photography

20 minutes prior to the start, from Mike Walker, Team Manager
The waves are like Hatteras. The surfline of 3 to 5 feet will be treacherous to crash through. The winds seem like 15 to 20 on the beach but it is likely mid 20's out there.

The start will be 2 tier - 10 boats in the first start, then the second start is 5 minutes later with the the remaining 10 boats.

There will be no adjustment in time for the second tier boats loss of 5 minutes.

Gotta run, have to get the sails up, and we are the only Inter20 with no roller furling jib, so it takes a little longer.

Tuesday Wind Forecast

From the Worrell 1000 website:
9:35 AM - 6 foot surf with winds gusting to 25 knots. Race Director implimenting Dangerous Surf Starting Procedure.
10:40 AM EST: only 4 or 5 boats made it through the surf, many boats rolled, turtled, broken masts. Australia and Alexander's on the Bay we know made it thru. Surf is huge, I can't begin to tell you. Most people have never sailed thru this kind of surf.

There is at least 3 to 5 broken masts, countless broken rudders. I can see people carrying masts down the beach, others carring rudders. There are broken daggerboards, bent booms, masts, ripped sails everywhere, it seems.

A few minutes ago Carl hadn't left yet, I can't see his sails. Carl did dump, I can see them righting the boat on the beach.

Tommy Bahama definitely rolled over.

Nobody is hurt that we know of, lots of excitement.

Reigh and Scott: started on port tack, which was the instructed tack (every day went about 1 km down the surf, trying to power out of it, couple of big waves almost flipped them, three times. They held onto the boat, and managed to keep it flat and made it out. You have to do this without rudders or daggerboards.

It was such a busy day, there was no time for pictures of the start. We had to follow them down the beach to ensure they got out safely.

11:40 AM - boats that did not start will be able to start tomorrow, but they will have a penalty, to be determined later. So they now have to transport the boats that did not start to the next starting point.

The tide has been going out, so there is now more beach room to manoevre. But you can see the breakers in the distance, they are huge! Every 8 minutes there is a huge wave.

Boats that started - this is our listing, from what we could see

11:30 AM from the Worrell website:
The Race Director halted the launch after numorous boats were destroyed in the surf. The remainder of the boats will be trailered to the Cocoa Beach, FL checkpoint and the race will continue with proper recognition for the 5 teams that successfully launched this morning.

Thoughts from cat-alist.com: wonder how many contenders may be out now due to lack of replacement parts.

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