1,000 miles in a sailboat: Virginia Beach-based team begins two-week journey Monday
Randy Smyth and Dalton Tebo will brave 1,000 miles of Atlantic Ocean in a sailboat.
No stranger to the Worrell 1000, Smyth is a six-time winner of the event that was born in 1974 with a bar bet between brothers Chris and Michael Worrell: Can you sail from Virginia Beach to Florida in a catamaran?
You can, although these days Virginia Beach is the finish line.
Fifteen teams, including Smyth and Tebo’s Team Rudee’s and several international teams, will compete over two weeks for the fastest time to sail from Hollywood, Florida, to the Oceanfront Inn in Virginia Beach. Rudee’s Restaurant owner Carter Turpin first sponsored a team in 1983.
The race is broken into 12 legs with two-person teams sailing one day at a time for roughly 100 miles in Formula 18 Class catamarans. Each leg begins at 10 a.m. from the beach and ends between two orange flags on the next checkpoint’s beach.
The race returned in 2019 after a 17-year absence before the pandemic forced another two-year hiatus.
Some notable historical events include: gale force winds delaying the 1981 race by 36 hours, a grounds crew member losing their jeep in the ocean in 1984, National Geographic filming a documentary on the 1986 race, Smyth winning in 1999 despite a leg infection and the course record being set in 2002 (71 hours, 32 minutes, 55 seconds).
Live tracking will be available at https://worrell1000race.com/race-tracking/.
Worrell 1000 Checkpoints
Day 1: Hollywood, Fla.
Day 2: Jensen Beach, Fla.
Day 3: Cocoa Beach, Fla.
Day 4: Daytona Beach, Fla.
Day 5: Jacksonville Beach, Fla.
Day 6: Off day
Day 7: Tybee Island, Ga.
Day 8: Folly Beach, S.C.
Day 9: Surfside Beach, S.C.
Day 10: Wrightsville Beach, N.C.
Day 11: Atlantic Beach, N.C.
Day 12: Buxton, N.C.
Day 13: Kill Devil Hills, N.C.
Day 14 (Finish): The Oceanfront Inn, Virginia Beach, Va.
Ray Nimmo, ray.nimmo@pilotonline.com
