Velocity Sailing

What a morning! We are just on the road heading to Jupiter now, at least part of TVS. Had 2 starts, the first one went well, some boats a little slower to get past the gnarly chop. The second start was squirley to say the least. Brett and Alan flipped just off the beach, and drifted back on their side to the beach. Trusty ground crew Mark Smith helped get them back upright and back out.

While all of that drama was unfolding, Ryan and Don did not want to be outdone, so they tried to dryroll it, but Don fell off the boat. He decided to test out his PFD and drift around for awhile. Ryan single handed it after that, came about and was too powered to stop to pick up his captain. So he went and was going to come around again for attempt #2. At that time, Brett and Alan were under way, and spotted Don bobbing like an apple, just chillin’ like a villain. While they were attempting their first man overboard drill, the Blue Wombat flipped with Ryan onboard. Alan and Brett managed to pluck Don out of the warm waters of Hollywood Beach. They zoomed ahead and Don lept from the boat like a marlin and swam over to his crew and boat. Brett and Alan resumed their course up the coast. Don and Ryan made an executive decision to leave the boat on it’s side and drift back in since they were relatively close. Ryan stood on the inside of the hull and rode the waves back to shore. Don didn’t get enough swimming in today, so he body surfed the waves to shore. He was a little exhausted when he made it back, but was in one piece! They got the boat all sorted and low and behold, a few battens up top had pierced through the mainsail. Second executive decision of the day, they decided to call it a day. They will take the penalty and start from Jupiter tomorrow.

We packed up the boat, rinsed the saltwater off the boys and are heading north.

Sam and Kirk broke a rudder eyelet about 2 miles up the beach, but were replenished by Pete and Mr. Spicer.

Also got word that Brett activated his EPIRB, but is now back on the boat. Allison had a nice chat with the Air Force about that whole situation.

More when we get to Jupiter. Check out the video from this morning, it should be on the Live Feed page.

Where are they?

Ryan and Don made it in around 10:30 tonight. Safe and sound. The tiller extension up and broke on them around Key Largo. There was an intra-crew collision between them, the boat, and the tiller extension. Tiller extension did not win. So, Don had to crouch in and couldn’t hike out all the way for the rest of the leg. Made for a LONG leg! They have both been fed, watered, and are laying in bed ready to sleep!

Kirk and Sam broke their boom, right in half. Looked like a bent toothpick on the beach. They were able to make it in too… I’ll get the full story tomorrow.

The ground crew has been at work all night, fixing various things, readjusting, tuning rudders, etc. They have been on the beach with their headlamps and flashlights working hard all evening. Thanks to them, they sailors will shove off in the morning in good shape, a little worse for the wear, but in better condition than they landed.

Some bit of humor….there was lots of peeing on the water, boat, and other things today. One sailor said “By the third time I had to pee, I thought, this was enjoyable!” Another said “So, X was out on the wire and I was on the tramp….I just couldn’t hold it, so the tramp was the place.”

Check out Sailing Anarchy for some good stories!!!!!! Alan Block has been writing some incredible pieces.

Stay tuned in the morning! Tune into the “LIVE STREAM” page around 9:50-55 in the morning for shots from the start!

The lights are starting to fade, blinky has been erected on the beach, and there are still sailors on the water. So far, 3 TVS boats have made it to the finish. Mischa and Eduard of Bugaboo, one of our outsourced boats, pulled in first around 6:05pm. Both were a little sore and still jetlagged after arriving in the States on Friday. Trey and Bailey were about 10 minutes behind them, followed by JC and Dalton of Team AHPC, another one of our outsourced boats. Seacats Orange, a slew of Royal boats, and Seacats Adrenaline were on the beach when I headed upstairs a little while ago. I did hear Chuck’s clown horn go off a little bit ago, signaling another boat ashore.

Kirk’s mom and dad are with us this year, and they are anxiously awaiting the finish of Kirk and Sam’s first leg of a Tybee 500! Cristina (Alan’s fiance) flew in from St. Thomas today, so she is also anticipating he and Brett pulling in sometime soon. Thanks to The Buzz 104.3 St Thomas for their sponsorship!

Kirk's Mom and Dad, awaiting anxiously!

There has been some talk today about the Spots…. they haven’t been completely reliable, for tracking purposes for those of us on land. It looks like Larry and Brian’s stopped working about 8 hours ago, and the others have been slow to update as well. And, to quell any rumors, JC did NOT throw his spot off the boat because it was extra weight… it was still attached when he landed

Tad just came up and told me that Seacats White as well as Sam and Kirk made it ashore just a few minutes ago. Brett and Alan should be here in about an hour. Looks like Don and Ryan are somewhere near Key Biscayne. They have not called to let us know of any problems…

Mischa and Eduard have had their treatments for the night, some sore muscles…Trey has the next scheduled appointment this evening. Hopefully they will all get a good night’s sleep tonight and tank up on the water!

Don and Ryan of TVS 2 heading out on the water

They boys were off this morning for an on the water start. Hopefully some of you caught our live broadcast, which was a little hard since we were far removed from the start. Tomorrow’s should be better! Brett and Alan of TVS 3 were busy this morning working on a spinnaker turning block and spinnaker pole eye strap. They were not the last ones off the beach this year

Word is just in that Todd Hart broke a spinnaker pole and was heading back to land to grab a new one. Apparently, he is wanting to file for redress because he was involved in a port/ starbird incident.

We will update you as we hear!

Here are some pictures from this morning.

Sam and Kirk mushing their boat to the water

Ryan stretching before his first Tybee 500

Pete, Kirk, and Sam of TVS 4

Well, after a long day of safety checks, fine tuning boats, and shake down sails, Team Velocity is ready for the start of the Tybee 500 Monday morning. Most of the guys are tucked into bed and dreaming of a great day tomorrow. Tad has investigated the weather and will update the team in the morning. Skipper’s meeting at 9am, on the water start at 10 am.

The Team at dinner last night

Don and Ryan of TVS2 acting as turtles

Trey and Bailey of TVS 1 discussing strategy

Sorry that we did not get around to posting yesterday. We were out on the beach celebrating every one’s arrival and busy stacking boats until well after dark. After quite an endeavour, all 5 of the Team Velocity boats successfully finished the race this year! Despite all of the broken rudders, ripped spinnakers and other issues, everyone made it to shore in Tybee. Carrie and JC finished fourth for the day yesterday, followed by Trey and Alan in 8th. Brad and Don finally beat Tad and Bailey to the beach, they were bragging quite a lot about that yesterday, finishing 15th. Tad and Bailey pulled in six minutes later in 17th. Brett and Alan rounded out the day in 21st after ripping their jib.  Everyone was very elated to have finished the race and be on dry land once again. Tad said that he didn’t want to step foot on the boat for another 2 months at least and everyone has pretty much sworn off eating any more Power Bars and Gatorade for the time being.  Congrats to all the sailors on a great race and a job well done!

Team Velocity Sailors celebrating the finish of the 2009 Tybee 500

The overall results  can be found at the Tybee 500 webpage.  For our team, JC and Carrie finished second overall with a corrected time of 2 days, one hour thirty five minutes and thirty seven seconds. That’s a long time on the water! Trey and Alan sailed into 6th place, Tad and Bailey captured 19th, Brad and Don were close behind in 21st and Brett and Alan finished 22nd.

Special thanks to our ground crew for their hard work and dedication this week! They made everything run smoothly, completed midnight repairs, drove trailors from waypoint to waypoint, coordinated hotel rooms, acted as sherpas for all of the sailors 5000 bags, and encouraged our guys to finish each leg no matter what challenge was presented.  Everyone appreciates your commitment this week!

The 2009 Team Velocity Ground Crew grabbing some BBQ

Now it’s time to rinse all the sand off the gear, wash some stinky knee pads and swim trunks and slip back into our daily lives.

So, onto Tybee this morning. We have trailors packed with ripped spinnakers galore. Tad and Bailey had the head of theirs rip right off at the grommet. We met them on the beach at north of Sarasota yesterday to swap out with their old Atlantic Boat and Supply spinnaker that has seen many a Tybees. They went ahead and use it again this morning as their red one was not going to be repaired overnight. Brad and Don had multiple tears in their red and blue striped spin too. They were able to borrow one of Trey’s extra spins this morning. Brett and Alan also had issues with several delaminated areas and used one of Brett’s old spins. So 4 out of 5 spins bit the dust this trip. Hopefully all of their sails will last the day today.

JC and Carrie had rudder problems once again, so their gudgeons had to be replaced overnight. Trey and Alan had a rudder casting that had to be swapped out too. Is that enough maintenance for one night?

More when we get up to Tybee. We must get on the road in case they beat us there again today!

So, the fleet finished rolling in around 9pm tonight minus Chris Zander and Dave Strickland of Team Seacats who busted a rudder casting and beached back at Smyrna. They will be trailoring it here to Daytona, getting a good bite to eat, sleeping, and taking the 8hr penalty and starting again tomorrow assuming they can fix their casting before the start. 

Trey and Alan rolled in third tonight behind Royal Blue and Key Sailing. They were followed by JC and Carrie who finished 11th, Tad and Bailey who rolled in just  a few minutes later in 12th and then Brad and Don snuck behind them in 13th. Brett and Alan finished up the evening by bringing up the tail of the fleet. The only reported issues tonight were a slight tear in Brett and Alan’s spinnaker that they said could be patched by some sail tape and then Carrie and JC’s chipped daggerboard that jumped off  the boat in Cocoa that will be swapped out for a fresh one in the morning. JC said that everytime they changed tacks they would switch the daggerboard from one side to the other.  The guys and Carrie looked beat after a long night last night. As if being on the water all day was not enough, Trey, Alan and Don jumped in the pool tonight to make sure that their PFD’s worked, and yes, they did. They bobbed around like some apples for awhile until they got so hungry they had to venture out for food with the crew. 

We are hoping for some good rest tonight and a great day tomorrow on the water!

Last night was quite a late night as Jen said in her post. JC and Carrie were first to arrive for TVS shortly after Mischa and Eduard hit the beach. She was very suprised by her dolphin balloons and birthday cake on the beach. Her brother was nice enough to send some flowers that we put in her room. I think she wins for the most exhausting birthday of the fleet!  Trey and Alan were next to arrive around midnight or slightly before. All of us just stopped paying attention to the clock when it got to be around 11pm. We knew we were in for a late night.

A view of the Velocity tent with some of our sponsor banners

We want to send a big thanks to Mack at SouthSails for the speedy repair of Tad’s spinnaker early this morning. We really appreciate him being willing to help us out in the wee hours of the morning! Big shout out to The Chuck, Brian Kerr, and Scott for putting out the call and transporting it to and from the shop for us. Our catamaran community here in the Southeast is the best.

The repaired spin-far right. Off off and away!