Tybee 500 Hotline

Great to know, Mary! Thanks so much. Your and Barb's Hotline updates will be an incredible asset. I've spent the last hour and a half uploading photos and an update with a ridiculously slow connection qand so am more than ready to get back down to my Ground Crew on the beach and give them the news.

First boat to finish at Hollywood was Team Tybee at approximately 4:20 (unofficial time), followed about 7 minutes later by Team Morada (the lone Nacra 6.0 in the race). Third boat is approaching the finish now.

Okay, third boat in is the Marstrom 20, and the fourth boat is Windy Hill.

None of these first four boats were using spinnakers, but the next three or four approaching the finish ARE flying spinnakers.

The wind is still pretty light.

Here are some more finishes:

5th in is Sailmax 1
6th is St. Louis
7th is Pirates
8th is Key Sailing
9th is Sailmax 2

Last two boats are Spacecoast and Velocity, in that order. And that's confirmed.

Post deleted by Mary

Where's the "Blade" can anyone see the "Blade" Robi can you see it! Wouter can you see it from way over there! I just can't see it!

Apparently, results will not be posted on the tybee500 website.

Latest word is that the results will be given to Rick to post on this website. They will either be included in his stories or there will be a link to them -- depends on what format the race committee is using for the results.

Rick's stories and pictures should be ready to view any minute now. You will find them on the catsailor.com home page.

Results will have to be added later -- we haven't received them yet.

The blade doesnt rate good enough for the race. I think its a conspiracy to NOT let the Blade run in this race. Folks are TOOOO SKEEERD!

Monday, May 9:
The boats have all started in a 5-7-mph breeze out of the east-southeast.

Everyone was flying (or trying to fly) spinnakers. Team Tybee had a clean start with spinnaker set and had a half-mile lead before the next boats got going. Several boats had problems getting their spinnakers up. It was five minutes after the start before the last two boats got them flying.

Results are now posted from yesterday. See Rick's morning story on our home page. Right now the link to the results on the home page is not working, but there is another link to the results if you click through to Rick's story, and that results link works. Rick will try to get the link on the front page working when he gets a chance.

He will be uploading pictures soon, so keep checking our home page.

first boat to Singer Island 1:05 pm. Can't make it out but no other boats in sight.

Seas 1'-2'; wind 8mph out of the SSE; air temp 80; water temp 78; sunny and the boat should be running spinnakers.

Are you sure that isn't a rental boat or a private boat not in the race?

I was just kidding, that is why I put the picture in. That boat is the "Mariah" about 35'.

I am working out of my balcony so I will have the results as they pass here if I can see them.

1st- Coconut Grove
2nd- Team Tybee
3rd- Sailmax 1
4th- Key Sailing
5th- Morada
6th- Pirates
7th- Sailbiz ll
8th- Spacecoast
9th- Windy Hill
10th- St Louis
11th- Velocity

Rick is at the finish line at Jupiter Beach, and seven boats are in sight, all flying spinnakers. It's light air, 4-5 mph, and it has shifted more to the south, so better for the spinnakers.

Is that Carla Schiffer in 1st?

Don't know. Could not find any pics of their boat to verify.

Post deleted by Mary

The first three boats have finished, all within about 30 seconds of each other.

Carla Schiefer/Clive Mayo on the Marstrom 20 finished first.
Sailmax I finished second.
Team Tybee finished third.

Tybee broached in the surf and ended up the wrong side of the finish flag and had to get the boat around to finish properly, but it did not affect their finish position (just the time).
* * * * *
Six more boats about 10 minutes away from the above finishes.

The rest of the finishes for Monday:
4th -- Key Sailing
5th -- Pirates
6th -- Morada
7th -- Sailmax II
8th -- Spacecoast
9th -- Windy Hill
10th -- St. Louis
11th -- Velocity (not yet in)

Funny, I was checking on the "who's online" button earlier (about 2 oclock) and I saw MauganH17 there. Hmmmmm, Maybe they stopped to check the race updates.

one of our ground crew was using my treo to check the updates. He was worried about us. Long day, will write more when I get home.

TUESDAY, MAY 10
Earlier this morning it looked like it might be a problem for the start because of very light air and pretty big surf. But the surf died down a little by the time they started.

Wind is very light out of the northeast. Most of the boats paddled out through the surf and now are sailing close-hauled along the beach.

We will be getting some reports along the way from Kirk Newkirk, who is also hugging the shore, driving close-hauled up U.S. 1.

By the way, results are now posted on the Tybee 500 website, www.tybee500.com.

Report just in from Kirk Newkirk:
The boats have just passed Hobe Sound. Wind has picked up and is from the ESE, and all the boats are flying spinnakers -- somewhere between a beam reach and a broad reach.

Here is the order at this point: Pirates, Tybee, Key Sailing, Coconut Grove, Sailmax I, Sailmax II, Windy Hil, Morada, St. Louis, Spacecoast, Velocity.

Hobe Sound is only about 15 miles north of the start, but the boats are moving along really well now, which is good, because this is a very long leg -- about 111 miles to Cocoa Beach.

I just spoke to Kirk, they are at Hobe Sound

Waterhouse
Tybee 20sec behind
Key Sailing 110sec
M20 130sec
Krantz 130 sec
Carl and Jake
Windy Hill
Morada
St Louis
Space Coast
Velocity

Still very light, seabreeze hasn't started kicking yet.

(sorry Mary, looks like you just spoke with him too!)

Glad the wind picked up, it would be a long paddle to Cocoa Beach.

New report from Kirk Newkirk:
The first five boats are all within a minute.
Pirates is still in 1st place by about 15 seconds over Tybee. Sailmax I has moved into third place and Coconut Grove Sails is now in 4th and Key Sailing in 5th.
Sailmax II and Windy Hill are the next two boats after the lead pack.

The wind is ESE at about 8-10 but all the shifts are going more to the south. All the boats have been reaching along the beach, but as the wind gets more southerly, they will probably start having to tack downwind, taking them more offshore.

This call just in from Dave Lennard on SailMax I. The wind is blowing 10k, they have 74 miles to go and are sailing just along the coast. The top five boats in the lead pack are: Team Tybee, Pirates, Coconut Grove, SailMax I, and Key Sailing. We're hoping that SailMax II are holding their 6th place position in the front of the second group of boats.

The boat are north of Vero Beach -- about 35-40 miles from the finish line. Wind is up to about 12 mph out of the SE, and the boats are still going straight up the shoreline. They could be finishing in two-three hours.

First six boats are in:
Tybee
Pirates
Sailmax I
Morada
Coconut Grove Sails
Key Sailing

All with spinnakers, within minutes of each other. Wind is still about 12 and shifting a little more to the south.

Two more boats on the horizon.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005
10:00 a.m.
All the boats started with spinnakers up in about a 5 mph southwest wind. The surf was pretty good size, but nobody had any problems getting out.

The fleet is heading to Ormond Beach, north of Daytona. Along the way they have to get around Cape Canaveral, and they have to stay at least three miles offshore while rounding it. It is supposed to be a five-mile perimeter, but it was negotiated down to three miles.

I don't know how far it is from Cocoa to Ormond, because I can't find that information anywhere. My road atlas is in my car, which has been in the service department at the dealership for three days now.

Anybody know what the distance is? I know it is 69 miles from Cocoa to Daytona, but I don't know how much farther it is to Ormond Beach.