A thousand-mile sailing race stops on Ocracoke

Text and photos by Peter Vankevich

Those at the Lifeguard Beach on Ocracoke May 22 and 23 were treated to an unusual site – an invasion of catamarans.

This was the penultimate leg of a world-class long-distance catamaran sailing race. Folks packed Lifeguard Beach on May 22 to watch 11 catamarans that had departed that morning from Atlantic Beach and land on the Ocracoke beach in the late afternoon over a period of two hours and 19 minutes.

The Worrell 1000 Race, which runs every two years, is a long-distance, offshore sailing competition that in 12 days covers approximately 1,000 miles up the East Coast from Hollywood, Florida, ending at Virginia Beach.

These state-of-the art racing catamarans are designed to be launched and landed from a beach and are around 18 feet in length. Each has a skipper and one crew mate and for this competition, a team of three ground crew support. This year Australia celebrated by having its two teams take first and second place.

The race gets its name from two brothers, Michael and Chris Worrell, who made a bet in 1974 as to whether it was possible to sail a catamaran from Virginia Beach to Florida. In 1976 the first race began but flipping the direction, Fort Lauderdale to Virginia Beach.

“As is usual for most Worrel 1000 races, when you are sailing 1,000 miles, we will get great weather and not so great weather and it’s rare that all teams that start actually finish and this year was no exception,” said Beverley Simmons the communications director.

The 12 teams representing five countries, the United States, France, Australia, Germany and the Netherlands, in the early stages confronted 40 to 50 knot winds and thunderstorms. The Australian Team, Babysitting Robots, capsized and dismasted in the third stage from Cocoa Beach to Daytona. Although the crew of two, rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard, were not injured, it caused enough damage to the boat for them to withdraw.

Each day the overall leaderboard with times and the day’s stage were calculated along with tracking and posted on the Worrel 1000 Race website and Facebook page.

The stage to Ocracoke from Atlantic Beach generated a lot of discussion among the many who were closely watching each day’s results.  

Team Rudee’s hailing from Virginia Beach with skipper Randy Smyth and crew mate Dalton Tebo came ashore first with a 7:08:45 time. Their first-place finish for this stage was due to a risky strategy of cutting through the Core Sound with its many shoals and shallow water rather than going out to sea around Cape Lookout. It worked. The water was clear so they could monitor the depths and they caught an outgoing tide.

Only Team Australia 2 chose to follow them ensuring a second-place finish (7:13:41). The remaining finishers much later that day were Team Australia 1 (8:01:12), Cirrus/MM Sailing (8:02:49), A Gentleman’s Agreement (8:09:22), Meerkat (8:22:26), TCDYC (8:57:12,)  Team Germany (9:00:42), MLP (9:13:14), Roo in the Hat (9:17:28) and Team Outer Banks (OBX) (9:27:01).

Team Outer Banks, captained by Hardy Peters, owner of East Coast Sailboats in Point Harbor, and crew mate James Eaton suffered a setback on this stage when the spinnaker halyard broke causing them to come in last place. “We were doing so well up until then,” Peters said, “but that’s part of the race.”

This was the first time Ocracoke was a staging site. Last fall the Worrell 1000 website posted a statement that its organizing authority closely monitors conditions at checkpoints and determined due to erosion of the beaches, the Hatteras checkpoint option was no longer viable for the 2024 race and the decision was made to relocate to Ocracoke Island.

“The Worrell 1000 stop on Ocracoke was an incredible experience for both spectators and our community,” said Helena Stevens, the Ocracoke Tourism Authority director. “The excitement it brought to the island was palpable, and our residents were proud to host such a renowned race. Thanks to the excellent cooperation with local authorities and the National Park Service, everything went smoothly, creating unforgettable memories for everyone involved.”

Those watching and cheering on the teams, both as they came ashore and launched the following morning, appeared to agree with this assessment and all who were asked expressed hope that Ocracoke will again be a staging site when the next race will take place in 2026.

Congratulations to winners Team Australia 1, skipper Brett Burvill and crew mate Max Puttman.

Here are the final results

1          Team Australia 1  90:09:11 Skipper Brett Burvill , Crew mate Max Puttman

2          Team Australia 2  93:11:15 Skipper Pete Skewes, Crew mate Bailey Skewes

3          Cirrus/MM Sailing  93:35:13 Skipper Emmanuel Boulogne, Crew Mate Matthieu Marfaing

4          Team Rudee’s  94:40:16 Skipper Randy Smyth, Crew Mate Dalton Tebo

5          TCDYC 100:23:15 Skipper Chris Green, Crew Mate Jean Boulogne

6          A Gentleman’s Agreement103:01:10 Skipper Ian Ray, Crew Mate Sam Carter

7          Meerkat  103:03:28 Skipper Mark Modderman, Crew Mate Mike Siau

8          Team Outer Banks (OBX)103:24:33 Skipper Hardy Peters, Crew Mate James Eaton

9          Team Germany 103:46:35 Skipper Stefan Rumpf, Crew Mate Christian Schutz

10        MLP    05:17:34 Skipper Gerard Loos, Crew Mate André Hauschke

11        Roo in the Hat 118:42:57 Skipper Brett White, Crew Mate Larry Ferber

DNF Babysitting Robots Skpper Trey Sunderland, Crew Mate Nik Tossi