Team Seacats

I heard a rumor that the tracking has a bit of a lag and that the fleet is about three quarters of the way to Tybee Island. Yay!

They must have gotten some good wind and/or are running with the kites up. It would be nice if everyone comes in before dark.

The ground crew, that is…not the fleet. My air card is getting sketchy reception but I have a post ready for when we arrive in about 45 minutes, get checked in, etc.

You can always check the offial Tybee 500 site for live tracking if you’re so inclined. See you soon!

By this afternoon/evening it will all be over and we’ll finally know for certain who’s walking away with class and overall wins for this year’s Tybee 500. The start this morning at 8am wasn’t filled with the rudder carnage of yesterday’s leg. In favt, the onlt boats that had any kind of prolonged trouble in getting through the surf were Chums, Velocity 2, and Cat in the Cat. Zhik struggles a little but got out just fine as well.

Turns out that many of our immediate and informal extended family had a mini reunion here at Fernandina yesterday evening; many of whom are following us up to Tybee Island. The Zhik wives are here: Rebecca Krantz and Renee Lennard, our team manager’s wife Kristen and little boy Cole were with Kristen’s mom, Kip. Kristen’s dad is Hank Goodman, who is already the team manager for Zhik. And their manager for the whole trip has been Mike’s dad, Dave Krantz. Jake and I were very pleasantly surprised by the arrival of Jake’s parents Jim and Karen, who brought our nine year old twin nieces. My in-laws actually travelled along with us as ground crew in 2005 but this was the first time that the girls had been able to see Uncle Jake come into the beach during a race. I apologize if I’m forgetting anyone else who came to visit both here and along the way. I just wanted to say thanks for all the support from our friends and family throughout the race.

I’ll post more about the day’s race predictions once we get moving in the car.

I’m not yet sure how or when it happened but Seacats White has broken the fiberglass underneath the rear beam and aren’t sure if they can travel onwards or not. The amount of repair required (in the dark, on the beach, no less) would keep them up until the wee hours and may or may not be worth it. They were in at a decent time so if it was broken for awhile then they did quite well, considering the damage. More info as it becomes available.

Eight o’clock start tomorrow kiddies so hit the hay early. I’ll be there in spirit but in bed physically. Just kidding. No, I’m not.

Whike was first to hit the beach with a healthy lead and the kite flying, as did most of the teams that followed. Then it was TCDYC, who had a great day today. Next were Microwind and Velocity 1, followed by father and son on Royals Yellow and Orange duking it out until the end with the former eaking out ahead within thirty seconds.

Royal Green followed their teammates in about two minutes later followed by Seacats Orange. It turns out that Jamie and Leondro’s battery was drained on their transponder so they weren’t on the shore somewhere as I had feared from viewing the live feed on the Tybee site.

Stray Cats were next, then Accelerated Chaos beat Royal White in a near photo finish. Magic Marine were up on the shore at the same time heading slightly North of the flag. After they pulled it across, we could see that Carrie seemed to have some sort of problem with her left arm or shoulder. I don’t know if that was incurred during the landing or something she’d been nursing throughout the leg.

Roughly ten minutes later Chums was just behind Adrenalin and there were two more boats on the horizon. I’m spending time with my family now (Yay!) so I’m off the clock for a bit. Bjorn has got some great photos that I will upload later. You guys at home have a good weekend. I know all of these guys are eagerly awaiting the finish line at Tybee Island tomorrow.