May 5, 2002 - The race began at 5:30pm from South Beach, Miami, FL. The guys drew 17th on the starting line. They finished Leg 1 in 3rd, just 40 seconds behind the leaders in Fort Lauderdale, FL. They left again for Leg 2 Monday at 10:00am.  -Update by Chuck Bargeron
 

May 6, 2002 - Team Tybee had another excellent showing today. They started 3rd off the line this morning and hit Jensen Beach 2nd. Even though Skipper Steve Lohmayer took several "swims" during this leg, their overall time brought them into 1st place. The sailors reported many turtle encounters. Fortunately, no damage done to either turtle or boat. The team immediately prepared for the next day, checking the boat for any needed adjustments. They were then able to relax, have dinner at the motor home and recap the day. -Update by Judi Bargeron
 

May 8, 2002 - "Although Team Tybee was not the first to hit the beach at Daytona we still hold first place overall.  We are very pleased at how the guys are racing but they are frustrated with their performance today.  Steve is still battling a shoulder problem.  He gets lots of icing and stretching.  Onward to Jacksonville Thursday." -Update by Judi Bargeron
 

May 9, 2002 - "Winds were light and out of the south this morning and increased as the day progressed.  Team Tybee capitalized on this and came screaming into Jacksonville Beach with a full spinnaker.  We started 5th on the line this morning, landed 3rd this afternoon and still hold first overall.  It was another early day which has allowed us to better prepare for the longest leg of the race, Tybee Island.  We hope to see a big crowd on the beach tomorrow evening as Team Tybee sails into the "home port" for the 4th year."
-Update by Judi Bargeron
 

May 11, 2002 - "After  a challenging start at Tybee Island, we worked our way towards the East because we knew the wind was going to fill in/shift from the Northeast.  Along with Alexander's and Lexis Nexus we tried to sail as fast as possible without going out too far or getting too close to land too early (did not want to miss the wind shift).  Our rumb line (the straight line between two points from which they work off of) between the jetty and Isle of Palms was at 55 degrees.  We tried to steer above 55 as much as possible without going too slow.  We watched as Tommy Bahama and maybe Castrol were down inside heading for the shore line at HIlton Head. Our first encounter with the sand bars/breakers was just before sunset. We went thru some breakers behind Alexander's, then Tommy Bahama joined us through the breakers.  We had to adjust to the darkness once the sun set, but the lights from shore helped to illuminate the tell tales on the sails.  Tommy Bahama was the only boat we could see after dark because they had glow lights on their boat.  At one point the water became really smooth, like a lake.  I knew this was not good, probably indicative of a sand bar, at that point Tommy Bahama ran aground.  We immediately tacked out to avoid the same.  We could hear the squawking of numerous birds that were nesting there.  We sailed without rudders and dagger boards to get back out through the breakers.  It was pitch black and all we could see a big white breaker rolling towards us.  Otherwise, in the dark we could not tell the sky from the water.  Once in deep water we tacked back to our course which was 45-50 degrees at that time.  Now we lost sight of Tommy Bahama so we had to find the sand bars by ourselves.  We made a few more tacks to clear the jetty entrance at Charleston, it was a little hairy because we could not tell between the brick wall on either side of the channel markers and the water.  After we rounded the end of the jetty we could already see the finish line strobe, 4 miles away.  At that point we had no idea who was in front of us or behind us.  During this leg our rudders kicked up about a dozen times from hitting jelly fish, and before dark we had to weave between a lot of debris in the water, big pieces of lumber with nails in it.  We are inspecting the boat today  to ensure their was no structural damage, we have already found some cosmetic damage."
-Update by Judi Bargeron

 

May 12, 2002 - Team Tybee came into Isle of Palms around 1:45 a.m., second behind Team Alexander's.  That brings Tybee back into first place overall in front of Team Alexander's.  Both Teams (good friends) decided early on if we could finish the race one-two (it did not matter who was one and who was two) that it would be the ultimate.  The joke was for several legs of this race the sailors from both teams needed a math lesson to learn the difference between finishing "one-two" and finishing "three-four, five-six",  etc.  Well, as they came in last night they all got an "A" in math as they finished "one-two"!
-Update by Judi Bargeron
 

May 13, 2002 - Wow, what a night last night was. The second of 2 night legs began at Isle of Palms, S. C. In previous years it was or nearly was daybreak before we saw Team Tybee hit shore but not last night!! They hit the beach with full spinnaker and continued "sailing" up the beach. With a good downwind sail most teams made it to Myrtle Beach under the old time record.
Steve and Kenny were ecstatic that they made it to Myrtle Beach before midnight. And to top it all off, they had to navigate without a GPS (global positioning system). Their GPS screen went blank after the start and they were unable to revive it. But having sailed this course before, they recalled a few key coordinates and by using their compass and watching other boats they made their way to the beach in second place for this leg, maintaining their overall lead.
Today (Monday) we are regrouping and relaxing in preparation for the remainder of the race. There is a severe wind, with possible hail, storm coming this way. To secure the boat we buried a stake in the sand to tie the boat down and took the mast down. Then pray for no hail which could really damage a boat. Onward to Wrightsville Beach tomorrow, 10 a.m.

 

May 14, 2002 - After Monday's "lay day" it was back to sailing today.  We are extremely thankful we did not have to sail yesterday with the winds in Myrtle Beach gusting to 80 and severe rains in the evening.   Steve, "The start at Mrytle Beach was a very smooth and fast one.  However, after about 5 minutes I found myself sailing solo.  As soon as I noticed Kenny was gone I stopped the boat , tacked back and there he was." Kenny, "I don't know what happened.  All of a sudden I was in the water.  Maybe a wave picked me up off the trapeze." Steve, "It was quick ride to Cape Fear, we closed the coast a little early and passed the lead boat (at the time was Alexanders) after they capsized.  We had the South African team in hot pursuit. They were doing a good job in tough conditions.  When there was too much wind and you were ready to capsize you did not know whether to turn into or away from the wind.  It was such a broad reach and gusty winds that turning either way could be suicide.  We caught a gust and couldn't let the sails out fast enough and capsized.  We both jumped over the main sail into the water, holding onto our trapeze wires because the boat will float away so fast.  After we righted  the boat teams San Antonio, Alexander's and Caliente were on top of us.  Then the spinnakers were put up and we jibed along the coast, rounding the cape.  Lexis Nexus and Castrol went outside and we realized they were going to pass us from the oceanside.  When we got to the Cape, we were behind Caliente when they flipped.  We had to quickly drop the spinnaker and proceed through a small opening in the sand bar, it's dry sand on either side, crashing breakers from one side and we are just skimming the sand with rudders and dagger boards up.  Fortunately due to the wind direction the breakers were smaller than usual.  Immediately through this was deep water again.  We had to quickly get the rudders and  dagger boards down and back on the trapeze.  From there it was a 28 mile dash to the finish.  The water was very flat and we were sailing within about 300 feet of the beach, following the contour of the  coast.  As other boats around us were capsizing, everyone taking their turn, we were feeling sorry for them, well, not really.  Then once again we caught a gust sweeping off the land and could not sheet out quick enough to prevent capsizing, AGAIN.  We had to work at passing the same boats for the second time.  Slowly picking off boat by boat we made our way towards the finish.  But not before a 30 knot gust almost capsized us.  All sails were released and the boat turned into the wind to avoid another capsizing.  Fortunately this time it worked.  After clearing the jetty it was about a one mile beat to the finish.  Since we came in 6th today I guess it's time for a remedial math lesson."
 

May 15, 2002 - After a meal of spaghetti in the motor home Steve recalls the day of sailing:
"So which way do we go today, do we follow the coast or go down the rhumb line?  Do we listen to the local forecast or do we follow the pack?  Or better yet, do we stay with our closest rival, Castrol, and cover them?  After a quick start off the beach the first 15 miles straight down the rhumb line went quickly.  At one point Castrol took a tack back towards the shore, we continued on with most the other boats.  Half an hour later the wind died next to nothing.  We wondered how Castrol was doing along the shore.  As the boats in the lead pack spread out we noticed Castrol had rejoined us but a little further out than us.  That was a temporary relief that we were in a better position than they.  Tommy Bahama and Alexander's were further out and ahead than most the other boats. This did not matter much since there was no breeze for anyone.  Lexis Nexus had there bows headed towards Wilmington, heading back towards the coast.  As the wind was very selective, it would pull a boat forward and stop.  Then it would pull another boat forward and stop.  Caliente was next to us and to their good fortune they were selected and pulled well beyond our reach of quickly catching them.  While we sat along, drifting we turned on our VHF radio to listen to the forecast.  It called for winds from the Southeast which was totally different from what we had heard on the weather channel this morning.  We did not venture any further one way or another but focused on the rhumb line towards Atlantic Beach. After a little while the spinnakers wen t up on all the boats and everyone started moving again.  As our spinnaker filled our compass course was dead on to Atlantic Beach and at a nice heading.  The boats to our right would have to venture back towards the rhumb line which would be slower than us.  The boats on our left would have a better angle than we did but they were going to get this wind shift last.  So it was a matter of timing and position.  The wind direction was steady  but not the speed.  We double trapped, single trapped, and did not trap but stayed steady on the rhumb line.  Caliente continued to pull away but at the same time our position looked better and better than the boats to our right.  San Antonio were to the left of us but not far away heading back to the rhumb line.  So there were boats from all directions all converging towards the rhumb line heading to the finish. At one point something appeared that looked like a tower right on the rhumb line.  As we got closer it looked like a war ship, well it had guns on it.  We now know it was a war ship probably responsible for the bombing noise we heard earlier but at this point all was quiet.  We found out this evening that it may have tried to hail us. As we got within 10 miles of the finish we noticed a red spinnaker along the shore, Lexis Nexus.  Evidently they had found wind and definitely was going to beat us to the finish.  Then we had to deal with San Antonio closing in from the left and Castrol closing in from the right.  Castrol took a jibe into the shore and once we were on their line we jibed too.  San Antonio joined us.  And their ahead of us was one more sail, Outer Banks.  They had also found wind along the shoreline.  We went to cover San Antonio and Castrol.  We then saw Tommy Bahama who had made the outer line work for them.  As we took our final jibe to the beach Castrol closed in on us with their own private puff of wind which closed the gap even smaller.  We hit the beach 20 seconds before Castrol.  A lot of work to gain 20 seconds.  But it was better than losing 20 seconds."
 

May 16, 2002 - "Easy start off Atlantic beach, spinnakers up almost instantly.  It looked like we would sail directly to Cape Lookout.  Then the heading changed and the shoreline looked like it would be more favorable.  Tommy Bahama and Rudees were already working the shoreline.  It took us about and hour and a half to get to the Cape, it was very calm.  The spinnakers came down about 3 miles before the Cape because the wind shifted in front of us, it became a jib reach to the Cape.  At the Cape the lead boats went through the small breakers, we decided to cut the corner tight going across some almost dry sand (with the spinnaker up) to make up for some lost time.  With us were Tommy Bahama, Rudees, Bay Wind II, Caliente, San Antonio and Alexander's.  We jibed in and out, working the shoreline for the next 2 hours.  Rudees went off shore trying to sail the rhumb line to Hatteras. The rest of decided to work the shoreline, jibing back and forth from the shoreline out seeing how far we could go without getting hurt by the other teams who were on the inside.  As we moved up the Outer Banks, the port tacks were shorter, the starboard tacks were longer, only occasionlly jibing at times to keep from going too far offshore.   We  could see jeeps and 4 wheelers  fishing and camping along the shore.  After awhile the boats separated 2 by 2.  Bay Wind II took a capsize.  At the Ocracoke Inlet we worked our way out to the sea buoy to avoid the breakers, Tommy Bahama stayed in and had to drop the spinnaker.  Castrol on the other hand gave the breakers a try and capsized in the inlet.  With Castrol back behind us we sailed more conservatively in the big waves and increasing wind.  Soon San Antonio also capsized and that left only Tommy Bahama in front of us.  After the Hatteras inlet we jibed back into the shore, there were no breakers but we had to work against an outgoing tide .  San Antonio was grinding us down and passed us just before the finish.  But we did what we intended to do and gained almost enough time to beat Castrol." 
 

May 17, 2002 - "Once we made it off the beach and through the waves we wanted to get outside of the big stuff around the Cape.  As we closed the Cape everyone was getting used to the big swells.  One by one everyone raised their spinnakers once they got more comfortable with the conditions.   Kenny picked a nice line, after some advice from Alexander's, which got us through without any real problems. From the Cape on we tried to keep close in to shore. Other boats had to drop their spinnakers and reach back in.  Alexander's, Antieauart and we carried the spinnaker all the way to Oregon Inlet, dropped it and reached towards the finish line.  At that point we think Castrol gained a little more on us. 
Kenny, "Once we put the spinnaker down and started our reach the ride included a "salt water firehose".  I was locked into a position holding onto the wire and couldn't let go.  Now I has "sailing elbow"!!  But at any rate we held off Castrol while maintaining survival mode.  Tomorrow's another day and anything can happen!"
 

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