Thirty stalwarts of the beach catamaran sailing community took sail on 15 boats May 10th, 2010 to face the elements in a grueling race to Tybee Island, Georgia, some 560 miles from the starting point in Islamorada, Florida. 

The first day from Islamorada, FL. saw stiff breezes on the nose changing as boats rounded the tip of Florida to continue a tough beat to the finish.  The distance of 90+ miles took the last boats more than 12 hours to finish in the dark, but all boats made it, with crews beat up and looking for a comfortable bed. 

The second day from Hollywood to Jupiter, FL  was a shorter leg, but rough seas continued.  Crews saw wash board sailing and challenging sea conditions take a toll on the boats.  Ground crews were up late into the night working repairs. 

Day three from Jupiter to Cocoa Beach were equally challenging, where inlets caused rough sailing even though winds had clocked to give sailors their first chance to use spinnakers.  One boat lost a crew member in early going, recovering, but the boat and crew drifted ashore with broken battens and a decision to take its penalty and a day ashore.  Another crew lost a crew member and put panic in the race committee until all systems worked as planned and the crew member was found by use of the required personal EPIRB and was returned to his boat by Boat US, to continue the race.

Day four starting from Cocoa Beach involved a trip around Cape Canaveral, where a Shuttle stood on the pad, ready for launch the following day.  All boats were required to remain 3 miles off shore for the rounding before arriving in Daytona Beach.  The day was a glorious sail for all with great reaching winds cooperating for a continuous spinnaker run, after turning the corner off the Cape.  

Day five from Daytona Beach was equally a great sailing day, traveling from Daytona to Fernandina Beach, Florida in record time. The race committee had to drive ahead quickly just to stay up with speeding catamarans.

The final day, starting at Fernandina Beach on May 15th, 2010 looked to have light winds and the crews voted to start at 8:00AM in case the forecast held.  Actually, the winds held, but the course carried to the north east, causing the leg to be full of short and long spinnaker gibes.  But even so, much to the pleasure of all, boats began to arrive at 3:30 in the afternoon. There was a joyous celebration throughout the home city of Tybee Island, GA.  Awards followed on Sunday morning.

Final Results 2010 Tybee 500 See Complete Results
F18 Teams	Skipper/ Crew	Total Elapsed Time (hours:minutes:seconds)	Place
Bugaboo (Hobie Wildcat)	Mischa Heemskerk (Neth) Eduard Zanen (Neth)	38:09:51	1
AHPC (AHPC C2)	John Casey Dalton Tebo	38:57:05	2
PepPod Sailing (Nacra Infusion)	Tyler Burd Garth Fasano	40:47:59	3
Seacats Adrenaline (Nacra Infusion)	Todd Riccardi Brendon Scanlon	41:07:41	4
Nacra 20 Teams	Skipper/ Crew	Total Elapsed Time (hours:minutes:seconds)	Place
Velocity 1	Trey Brown Baily White	38:15:53	1
Royal Yellow	Steve Lohmayer Jay Sonnenklar	38:23:11	2
Royal Orange	Jared Sonnenklar Colin Page	39:31:25	3
Seacats Orange	Jake Kohl Frank Moore	39:41:14	4
Royal Blue	Todd Hart Jeff LaSapio	41:26:33	5
Royal White	Jason Childers Zack Marks	43:25:18	6
Velocity 4	Sam Carter Kirk Spicer	44:50:14	7
Velocity 5 Cat in the Hat	Larry Ferber Bryan Paine	45:11:19	8
Velocity 3	Brett Robinson Alan Friedman	49:34:46	9
Velocity 2	Don Lenfestey Ryan Boyle	56:43:41	10
Seacats White	Chris Zander David Strickland	DNF	DNF

Take a look at the finish pictures just a couple of hours old.

http://tybee500.com/album/?g2_itemId=26087

The 2010 running of the Tybee 500 endurance race is complete with another very fast run, great weather, and favorable winds.

Congratulation to all the teams and support staff on a successful event. The following is a list of finish times for each team, the race started in Fernandina Beach, Florida at 8:00 am and finished at Tybee Island, Georgia.

All times US Eastern Time pm

3:31:04 Royal Yellow
3:32:22 Velocity 1
3:33:09 Bugaboo
3:34:57 Seacats Orange
3:39:58 Royal Orange
3:41:44 Royal Blue
3:43:19 AHPC
3:51:26 Royal White
3:54:56 PepPod Sailing
3:59:14 Seacats Adrenaline
4:05:35 Velocity 4
4:29:21 Velocity 3
4:51:32 Velocity 2
4:57:34 Velocity 5 (Cat in the Hat)

The final two finishers of the 2010 Tybee 500 have arrived safely.

Velocity 2 at 4:51:32 pm

Velocity 5 (Cat in the Hat) at 4:57:34 pm

Velocity 4 at 4:05:35 pm

Velocity 3 at 4:29:21

 

Team Seacats Adrenaline at 3:59:14 pm

Royal White 3:51:26 pm

PepPod Sailing 3:54:56

 

Royal Orange 3:39:58

Royal Blue 3:41:44

AHPC 15:43:19

Velocity One 3:32:22

Bugaboo 3:33:09

Seacats Orange 3:34:57

Royal Yellow takes line honors again as the team completes the long Fernandina to Tybee Island leg at 3:31:04

All boats started cleanly through light surf and winds 5-10, it was a great display of the cooperation and skill of the boat crews and their support teams to get the boats started on their very long journey up the coast to Tybee Island, Georgia.

See pictures of the Leg 6 start from Fernandina Beach Here.

Today's start time is 8:00 am, two hours earlier than previous legs to allow more time for the very long leg and expected lighter winds. At the skippers meeting at 7:00 am Chuck Bargeron, race director, stressed the importance of watching for a large sandbar in the approach to Tybee Island.

Leg five from Daytona Beach to Fernandina Beach went very well with no major problems and all teams finishing before 5:30 pm. Beautiful sailing weather prevailed and the teams initially split about evenly on staying close to shore or heading outside the layline in search of more breeze. Eventually all teams returned to the layline or farther inland except for one, who ventured about 10 miles offshore looking for more wind.

Times for Thursday, Leg 5,  Daytona Beach to Fernandina Beach

4:22:15 Royal Yellow
4:26:05 Velocity One
4:26:58 Bugaboo
4:29:19 AHPC
4:34:08 Seacats Orange
4:34:24 Royal Orange
4:38:00 Seacats Adrenaline
4:38:08 Royal Blue
4:45:41 PepPod Sailing
4:50:17 Velocity 4
4:53:53 Royal White
4:58:57 Velocity 2
4:59:51 Velocity 3
5:29:55 Velocity 5

Team Velocity Five (Cat in the Hat) gets onto the beach at 5:29:55 pm to complete the fifth leg of the 2010 Tybee 500.

 

Team Velocity Two gets in at 4:58:57 pm

then

Team Velocity Three just behind them at 4:59:51 pm

 Only one more boat still racing, then on to Tybee Island!

Royal White arrives at 4:53:53 pm to become the 11th boat to finish leg 5 of the 2010 Tybee 500.

Next in is PepPod Sailing at 4:45:41 pm

then

Velocity 4 at 4:50:17 pm

 Royal White will be next in.

Velocity One at 4:26:05

Bugaboo 4:26:58

AHPC 4:29:19

Seacats Orange 4:34:08

Royal Orange 4:34:24

Seacats Adrenaline 4:38:00

Royal Blue 4:38:08

More to come, stay tuned.

 

Team Royal Yellow at 4:22:15 pm became the first to finish Leg Five of the 2010 Tybee 500.

Congratulations Team Royal Yello!

Due to the length of the final leg (over 100 miles) between Fernandina, Florida and Tybee Island, Georgia combined with concern over possible light wind, the decision has been made to move the start time from 10:00 am to 8:00 am for the Saturday leg.

The teams were polled about the change of schedule and there was a consensus that the extra hours of daylight would be beneficial. 

In target shooting if you have a group of bullets hit the target near the same area, but one lone shot is away from the others it's called a "flyer". Well on the current tracking map Velocity Five seems to be taking a chance that better winds are farther offshore and has distanced themselves from the main group, looks like it is working well for them so far.

Other top boats are Bugaboo, Royal Yellow, and AHPC.

In light surf and winds from the Southeast at 6-7 mph. Judging from the tracker it looks like they found some wind farther up the coast with some boats reporting speeds over 20 kts. It looks like some wind judgment is going to be required to decide on a course, some boats are heading pretty far offshore from the layline and others are hugging the shore.

We will find out who guesses right at Fernandina Beach, more later.

With a space shuttle ready to launch at Cape Canaveral there was a lot of discussion and warnings to the competitors to obey the 3 mile restricted space around the Cape. Any team that went inside this invisible barrier was sure to be disqualified from the race and possibly detained by security forces.

But with good navigation and careful sailing, all crews rounded the cape without creating any International Incidents or security problems. After the teams rounded, which involved some upwind work, they were able to fall off to a reach and pop spinnakers.

Another extremely fast leg with all teams completing the aprox. 90 miles in under 8 hours.

4:21:21 pm Royal Yellow (N20)
4:21:24 pm Velocity One (N20)
4:30:31 pm Royal Orange (N20)
4:39:03 pm Bugaboo (F18)
4:40:41 pm AHPC (F18)
4:44:12 pm Seacats Orange (N20)
5:00:12 pm Royal Blue (N20)
5:04:03 pm Velocity Five (Cat in the Hat) (N20)
5:07:09 pm Royal White (N20)
5:15:46 pm Velocity Three (N20)
5:17:13 pm Velocity Four (N20)
5:29:57 pm Seacats Adrenaline (F18)
5:35:14 pm Velocity Two (N20)
5:39:56 pm PepPod Sailing (F18)

Team PepPod Sailing (pronounced Pep(as in peppy)Pod, not Pea Pod)

Finished at 5:39:56 pm.

Race Leg Wrap-up Next.

With the arrival of Team Velocity Two at 5:35:14 pm there is only one boat still racing, and they are already in the surf line.

Velocity Three at 5:15:46 pm

Velocity Four at 5:17:13 pm

Seacats Adrenaline at 5:29:57 pm

Two more boats still on the course, but they aren't far out, another very fast leg.

Royal Blue finished at 5:00:10 pm

Velocity 5 (Cat in the Hat) at 5:04:03 pm

Royal White 5:07:09 pm

Royal Orange rounded out the top three finishes at 4:30:31 pm
followed by the first F18 finisher Bugaboo at 4:39:03 pm.

Next in line were AHPC at 4:40:41 and then
Seacats Orange came in at 4:44:12 pm.

Dueling through the surf it was anyones race to win until the very end with Royal Yellow taking line honors with a finish at 4:21:21 pm very closely followed by Velocity One at 4:21:24 pm . Wow! 88 miles and more than six hours of racing and the first two boats finish 3 seconds apart! This is an extremely fast time considering they had to make a large detour around Cape Canaveral on the way up the coast.

 Several more boats are visible but pretty far back. More to come.

Daytona Beach, FL - May 13, 2010, story by Warren Green --- The 2010 Tybee 500 arrived in Cocoa Beach after three days of thrills and spills and men overboard.  Strong winds would seem to be just what the doctor ordered for Catamaran sailors, but some Tybee sailors would like a little more cooperation from Mother Nature.a

On the first day, the course changes from northeast to north, but the winds changed to stay on the nose.  Our Sailors received very little relief from hanging on the wire to keep their boats upright.  We had one collision underway resulting in a broken spinnaker pole.

Ground crews and race committee stayed on the beach long hours, while the boats took up to 12 hours of slogging upwind to Hollywood Beach.  The last boat arrived at 10:30 PM after at 10:00AM start.  Several boats experienced capsizing, but all crews arrived safely, thanks to "Blinkey", a yellow strobe designed by race founder, Chuck Bargeron.  Blinkey has pointed the way home for many sailors over the eight years of the Tybee 500. Crews carry special safety equipment and Spot tracking devices for recovery in case of mishaps.  Inspections are made at the beginning, and at each stop along the course, to be sure no one has misplaced or lost any gear.

Send us your team stories and announcement and they will be posted here.

There are 219 pictures from the start and finish of Leg Three of the 2010 Tybee 500 to view here.

Day Three Pictures 2010 Tybee 500

 If you have pictures of the race you would like to share with this site, email them to

tybee500

at

tybee500.com

The fourth leg of the 2010 Tybee 500 started from Cocoa Beach, FL without any major problems. Fourteen teams left the beach in two waves through light surf, the beach here is a gradual drop, so the pushers were able to aid the boats much farther out than previous starts where the deep water appeared sooner.

 Next stop Daytona Beach!

The one and only cape rounding of this race involves the difficult to see warning buoys off of Cape Canaveral. NASA prohibits anyone from passing within three nautical miles to the shore of Cape Canaveral, and several times in the past, a representative from the military has come to brief the competitors on the repercussions of violating that boundary. This year it is in the official Sailing Instructions that violating this protected area means disqualification from the race. Needless to say, sailors pay close attention to their GPS units on this leg, and don't get inside the warning buoys. There are also sandbars that cause breaking waves far off the Cape, they can be run into if the teams are not paying close attention. 

Good Luck to All Teams.

News from Team Seacats White, skipper Chris Zander and crew David Strickland have withdrawn from the 2010 Tybee 500.
They report that the rear beam attachments on the hulls are failing despite attempts to reinforce and repair the area.

 They have decided that the boat cannot be repaired on the fly. Chris and David say they will be back for another attempt next year.

 Thank you Team Seacats White for entering the race and good luck on your next attempt.

Up to date (preliminary) Race Results can be found here

http://tybee500.com/page/Tybee-500-Results/

Team Royal Blue awarded 64 minute Redress for Leg 1 resulting from Collision.

Leg Three Wrap-up

Leg Three continued the great winds from the East as the boats averaged speeds in the high teens and low twenties for this extremely long leg.

Preliminary finish times as reported live from the beach.
(all times local US Eastern Time.

3:55:31 Bugaboo (F18)
4:02:01 Royal Orange (N20)
4:02:13 Velocity One (N20)
4:05:18 Royal Yellow (N20)
4:18:17 Pepod Sailing (F18)
4:20:42 Seacats Adrenaline (F18)
4:24:00 AHPC (F18)
4:24:22 Secats Orange (N20)
4:39:34 Velocity Five (N20)
4:44:34 Royal Blue (N20)
5:01:30 Velocity Two (N20)
5:03:08 Royal White (N20)
5:07:33 Velocity Four (N20)
5:31:08 Velocity Three (N20)

Seacats White started leg, then retired due to repairs needed.

Velocity Three becomes the last boat to complete leg three of the 2010 Tybee 500.

 No finish time is listed for Seacats White because they started they officially started the race, did not initially launch through the surf because they had a beam repair to complete. They later launched the boat and decided the repair needed further attention and withdrew from the leg. Pulling the boat at Jupiter.

Velocity Four arrived at 5:07:33 pm, just one more boat still sailing.

Velocity Two at 5:01:30 pm

Royal White at 5:03:08 pm

Team Royal Blue completes the third leg of the Tybee 500 at 4:44:34 pm, only 50 minutes separates the first 10 boats in this 110 mile endurance leg. Great sailing by all teams. 

Next in is Velocity 5 (Cat in the Hat) sailing through the surf as the ninth boat to finish at 4:39:34 pm.

Another close pair of finishers with Team AHPC, the leg two first finisher at 4:24:00 pm and then Seacats Orange at 4:24:22 pm

 

Boats coming in fast now

Team Pepod at 4:18:17

Team Seacats Adrenaline at 4:20:42

Now four boats on the beach with Royal Yellow finishing at 4:05:18, just three minutes after the last two.

Running nearly side by side through the surf, Royal Orange finished at 4:02:01 pm and Velocity One at 4:02:13 pm just behind.

With there second first-to-finish of the race Team Bugaboo finished with at 3:55:31 pm

 

Tybee Officials, team managers, and spectators all line the beach here in front of the International Palms Resort here in Cocoa Beach, Florida anxiously awaiting the arrival of the first boats. If you are following the race on our live tracker page at http://tybee500.com/TybeeTracker then you know that the lead boats are getting close and should arrive within the next 1/2 hour or so. I'll be posting arrival times as they get here.

 Update, just got the call that four boats are in sight of the beach, it's on!

 The beach here at Cocoa couldn't be nicer for this event, after the boats have arrived for the day I'll post pics in the photo albums as usual, look in the Day Three Album for pictures of the Jupiter start and the Cocoa Beach finish.

Section 9.4 of Sailing Instructions Amended.

Note: Results are unofficial pending 3 requests for redress and one penalty.

Results At:  http://tybee500.com/page/Tybee-500-Results/