VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — An offshore, long-distance catamaran sailboat race, the Worrell 1000, concluded in Virginia Beach Friday after racers spent two weeks on the water. The race began in Florida.
"It's a bucket list item. But it's long days, very phsyical. You have to be in the game for two weeks," explained Hardy Peters, skipper for Team Outer Banks.
Team Outer Banks and Virginia Beach's Team Rudee's told News 3 about what life was like on the water.
"The most challenging bit? We had two night legs this time," said Dalton Tebo, crew for Virginia Beach's Team Rudee's boat.
"That was the longest leg and it's the craziest leg because the fleet completely split," finished Randy Smyth, driver for Virginia Beach's Team Rudee's boat.
"We end up sailing until two, three, four in the morning sometimes. You lose a few pounds, I think I lost close to 12," said Peters.
It's a tough course with some unexpected obstacles.
"[A part of our sailboat] broke but it was very hard to repair because we couldn't reach it," said James Eaton, crew for Team Outer Banks. "Land wasn't very close and we had 70 miles to go. We saw a sea buoy and sailed over to it and we fixed it and that saved us a lot of time."
When everyone got to Virginia Beach's Oceanfront there was a crowd.
For the Rudee's team there was also a piece of history — a boat Smyth raced in 25 years ago, recently restored.
"This is where we would live our life on the Worrell 1000s hanging over the water you know watching the sharks, the rays, whatever else go by," as he showed News 3 reporter Erika Craven the boat.
"Back in the day what was different about the race?" asked Craven.
"It's the same 1000 miles, so there's no free ride then or now. But my memory of this one was we were trying to get around Cape Hatteras. Big high wind stormy day and we were near another Australian team and the wind was so rough it blew them over and the boat capsizing like a tumble weed out in the ocean. I said to Keith, 'we're not going to survive,'" said Smyth.
But survive they did, then and now.
The race, a tradition for the adventurous, started 50 years ago.
"It was born here in Virginia Beach and it was born from a bar bet. A beer-fueled bar bet between brothers," explained Beverley Simmons, communications director and historian for Worrell 1000. "But it was sailed in a 24-hour format, they never stopped. So they started in Ft. Lauderdale and sailed night and day the only rules were: keep the continent to your left, go as fast as you can, and stop once every 24 hours to call the restaurant just to let us know that you're okay. Insanity."
It now runs from south to north to take advantage of the wind and it's completed in 12 stages.
Teams from all over the world take on the challenge.
"It's a comradery of people too. It's not just boats and sails and wind and waves and sharks and all those stories," said Smyth.
Team Australia 1 won this year's race. The full results can be found here.
