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If there is one sailing event that always makes my heart skip a beat it’s the Worrell 1000. It has always been like that from the first time I heard about the race back when who knows when. A long time ago. I grew up sailing beach cats out of Durban, South Africa. Hobie 16’s to be exact, and I simply loved it. We were just day sailing and the thrill was at a high level.
When I heard that there was a beach cat race along the east coast of the US that went from beach to beach and involved good music and pretty women in bikinis, I was totally hooked. When I found out that it was a 1,000 mile race, well my mind was blown. A thousand miles on a beach cat and on a Hobie 16 nonetheless. What an idea and what an event it was; until it wasn’t.
I bring this up now because the Worrell 1000 is back and the most recent race finished this past weekend. There are a few things to note here. I knew Mike Worrell, well that may be a bit of a stretch, I met him a few times. He was a mild mannered man who, back in 1974, as a result of a bar bet, you know how those things go, sailed his Hobie 16 from Virginia Beach to Florida. There were only two entries; Mike and his brother. Mike and his crew Steve McGarrett were the only ones that finished. They pulled into Ft Lauderdale after 20 days. From that bar bet and very humble beginning the Worrell 1000 grew in strength until it started to attract some of the best sailors in the world…
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