TYBEE 500

Day 1 - Water start within sight of the the dock. One boat (reportedly John Casey) was over early and didn't restart. Probably a 20 minute penalty. We got a report 45 mins ago that they were 24 miles away. Breeze is beautiful here on the beach. Coming in about 12-14 kts from the SE. Frank just spotted the first, second, ok 6 boats now (4:02 pm) from the 9th floor of the hotel. They're coming fast, approx 16 kts, with the spinnakers up. I have to run down and catch some boats.

First in with a fairly large margin was Team Royal Orange with Steve Lohmayer and Jay Sonnenklar on a Nacra 20. They made a smooth landing with their spinnaker flying. Next boat in was Mischa Hemskeerk on a Hobie Tiger and then John Casey on a Hobie Tiger. Hard to post finishes right now since I was there on the beach catching and dodging boats. Lot of action. Todd Hart flipped over 40' in front of the line just as Easton and Trip Burd approached the beach. They were pushing hard to beat out another boat off their starboard bow. Things got tight as the Hart sailors and ground crew struggled to pull the boat over the line while it was still on it's side. I think they may have beaten out Mike and Trip by inches. Only a few problems with boats today as two spinnakers were torn, a few daggerboards and rudders were dinged (mostly at or near the finish) and one rudder casting was broken. They tell me the SPOT locators worked beautifully, at least on the Royal boats. Never got the chance to check the computer.

One Day before the RACE.

The boats and teams are ready to go. Work went on until midnight tonight on a few of them. 24 teams this year with a lot of talent. One female skipper. Forecast is for 5-14 on Monday from the southeast then south and finally west. Probably dropping off to very little as darkness falls. I heard someone say about 110 miles tomorrow. The Islander Resort has been a great place to set up for the race. Lots of room. A water start rather than LeMans due to a depth problem. Almost a full moon low tide. Reefs everywhere for the first 20 miles. SPOT locators on many boats. Link over to the SPOT site from the Tybee 500 website from what I've been told to see where the boats are throughout the day and maybe night. I know more tomorrow about the locator beacons. The fleet consists of Nacra 20's , Nacra F-18 Infusions and Hobie Tigers.