ATLANTIC 1000 Images

DAY 6 – Fernandina Beach to Tybee Island

Team Semp Toshiba winners

Today was the last leg of the Tybee 500 – the first half of the Atlantic 1000. Team Castrol is in the lead followed by team Tybee. We trail Team Oz (Rick Bliss) by 5 seconds in 4rth. Our objective today is to beat Rick Bliss by 5 seconds as the 2 front runners are a long way ahead of us.

I do the navigation in the morning – the course – just over 90 miles in a straight line. The wind is from the ESE at about 12 knots. Our direct line to the finish is 028 degrees. The coastline is different form the Florida coastline – we are in Georgia now - lots of shallows and sandbanks and the coastline covered in mangroves. Added obstacles today will be the shrimp boats.

The adrenalin is pumping before the start – I am sweating in all my gear. Team Castrol lines up next to us. We exchange the handshakes – sail safe - we say. We are off – we are a little inhibited by the boat immediately to leeward of us and cannot keep our momentum thru the surf – when we clear it - we are in 4rth. Tybee had Team Howard’s Pub have got good starts. We are close reaching – just on double trapeze. We sneak past Castrol after about 30 minutes and start to pull away.

We clear a rocky outcrop and soon after Tybee and Howard’s Pub put up their spinnakers and head for the coast. We decide to stick to the rumb line and keep going. Castrol hesitates for a moment and then decides to follow us. It’s a long slog and we stick to our strategy. The wind comes and goes – it’s difficult to keep concentrating. Team Oz has chosen a middle road between us and Team Tybee and is making gains – he eventually passes us – and so a fight to the death begins.

We stick with them forever – we eventually pass him taking advantage of the passage of a shrimp boat the crosses in front of us. We take the lead again. Team Oz then decides to join the others closer to the coast. It pays and then they are in front again. The lead 4 boats courses converge as we get approximately 16 miles form the finish.

Team Oz leads the pack, us in second – Howard’s Pub in third. Team Tybee and Castrol are a way back. A large dark thunderstorm had been building in the east for the last few hours. Eventually the wind gets to us. The breeze goes from 10 knots to 25 knot in a few minutes.

The sea is still flat and Satellite takes off on a massive double trapeze reach – probably the fastest I have ever been on a small catamaran. Roberto and I are both on trapeze and the boat is just flying. We start to drive in underneath Team Oz. I am nervous as there are shallows closer to the coast. I shudder to think what would happen to us (and the boat) if we were to hit a sand bank at 25 knots. The first few miles are adrenalin pumped – after that – all we want to do is finish. My hands are killing me. Sometimes the waves wash my feet off the boat and I am upside down with my head dragging in the water. We are on the limit absolutely – it’s all or nothing. Any mistake and we would be upside down – the race over for us. Drama behind us as team Howard’s Pub capsizes in a big puff !

As we approach Tybee it’s difficult to see where the finish is. We are committed to a lower course than the others. Ahead of us lie shallows and breaking waves. We decide to just go for it – we need those five seconds. We dodge the beakers weaving our way between them – one nearly capsizes us. I see the finish just after the breakwater. Team Oz gybes down to us – we cross just in front of him. We gybe and surf in on a wave fully pumped and cross the line ahead of Team Oz to register our first win of the event. I whoop with delight. Team Oz finishes 3 seconds behind us – a nail biting finish. The beach is crowded and everyone is cheering. Man it feels good.

It was and incredible duel between us and Team Oz – after over 90 miles of racing we finish 2 seconds apart! Not enough to secure the third position but great to win a leg ahead of the 2 top teams. Team Castrol arrive 4rth in that leg and pull of a spectacular capsize coming down off a wave into the sand. Their ground crew drags the boat across the line on its side. The thrills and spills of long distance racing – it’s awesome.

Tomorrow is day off – thank God – another 500 miles lie ahead of us – I prefer not to think about it.

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