Team Seacats

I have heard that there are two boats on the beach. Unfortunately, I am not down there so I can’t report as to who they are. I am very sorry.

By this afternoon/evening the fat lady will sing, it will all be over and we’ll finally know for certain who’s walking away with both class and overall overall honors for this year’s Tybee 500. Overall and as far as I recall, the top three boats appear to be Whike, Magic marine, and Microwind. It’s notable that all three of those boats are F18 class, which may have had something to do with the light conditions this year. It also may have to do with the fact that these guys are world class sailors! Yeah, that could be it. Even more impressive is the fact that Mischa and Eduard incurred a forty minute penalty for inadvertantly missing one of the marks during the trip around the Cape. The start this morning at 8am wasn’t filled with the rudder carnage of yesterday’s leg. In fact, the only boats that had any kind of prolonged trouble in getting through the surf were Chums, Velocity 2, and Cat in the Cat. Zhik struggled a little but got out just fine as well.

Turns out that many of our immediate and informal extended family had a mini reunion at Fernandina yesterday afternoon; many of whom are also meeting up with us in Tybee Island. The Zhik wives are here: Rebecca Krantz and Renee Lennard, Kristen Owens (wife of our team manager Tim Owens) and her little boy plus Kristen’s mom Kip Goodman. Kristen’s dad is Hank Goodman, who is the team manager for Zhik. Also, Mike Krantz’s dad, Dave has been with us for the whole trip covering the race for ESPN Sports. Jake and I were also thrilled by the surprise arrival of Jake’s parents Jim and Karen, who brought our nine year old twin nieces with them. 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 their 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. We also have some friends coming in from various parts of the Southeast to watch the finish of the race and it will be great to see them as well.

I totally forgot how much this leg of the trip is in what we term the boondocks and my aircard coverage is scattered and weak at best. So I’m writing this en route and will post it in about two hours when we arrive in Tybee Island. Some of the teams will rolling in after dark unless I miss my guess. There was some decent wind as of the starting horn and from the direction to warrant a spinnaker start but it seems to have died now and they may quite possibly be jumping off boats for a little swim if they get parked in a Dead Zone, which seems to have happened about twenty miles out. The key concern for the teams on this leg is to have the good fortune not to break anything or anyone since there are precious few places for ground crews to provide a rescue for them. It’s a virtually roadless no man’s land of marsh and mush for the vast majority of the leg and as our team manager Tim remarked, “They’ve they’ve had all week to shakedown the boats for any problems” so hopefully it’s been time enough to foresee all problems that can possibly be foreseen.

That brings me to Seacats White. I mentioned yesterday that the starboard side of their rear beam had come unseated (with a crack in the fiberglass underneath) and was apparently doing a visible twisty motion as they came through the breakers. They may have weebled and wobbled but they didn’t fall down and had a great leg considering their handicap. They first noticed it about five miles out from Daytona after hearing a pop but being the kind of laid back guys that they are, David’s instruction to their ground crew was, “Well, if you don’t see us sailing anywhere while driving up the A1A then the boat hascome apart and we’re in the water.” With the wind behind them, they decided that it was a better idea to take it easy, steady, and pointed in a straight shot toward Fernandina. They considered staying up late into the night and make the beam serviceable enough for the final leg but opted instead to put her on the trailer this morning and drive up the road to see the finish instead fo simply heading straight home. This was probably the best idea considering the aformentioned accessibility problems between Fernandina and Tybee Island.

For all involved (but the sailors in particular), it has been a very long trip from Islamorada to Tybee Island. This is generally the point where some of the teams are so tired that they’re saying (or at least thinking) they won’t be back next year but after some time has passed they always change their tunes. Understandably, it’s difficult to stay motivated when your fingers look like overstuffed sausages and you’ve been trapped out in a harness for nearly five hundred miles. Within a month or so they are in a mindset to get psyched up for another go at it next Spring.

If I get a signal then I’ll update everyone as to the position of the fleet found on the Live Tracking link on the official Tybee 500 web site. If you’re fortunate enough to have a signal in your homes then you can find out for yourselves even now. Wait a minute, I forgot that I’m not posting this until I get to Tybee Island and then I’ll know myself. How quickly we forget. I think I said before but it’s so true, technology is a fickle mistress. I believe I have a few bars on my Blackberry so perhaps I’ll post that I can’t post. That will be useless but at least I’ll feel somewhat connected that way. I’m certainly not typing all of this again, that’s for sure! Even I have my limits.

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.