Story by Brian Karr, Photos by Roy Laughlin, Elaine Henry

Each year, Fleet 45 of Cocoa Beach, Florida hosts three major sailing events providing plenty of sailing variety.  In February, there is the Hagar the Horrible fun sailing regatta at Kelly Park.  In June, the Jetty Park Ocean Regatta in Cape Canaveral.  Finally, in August, the 45x45 long distance race sailed from Cape Canaveral to Vero Beach.  The 45x45 was originally sailed from Cocoa Beach, but with its new starting point at Jetty Park, it is now a 53 mile trip each way, sailing south on Saturday, and back north on Sunday.  Sailed in the ocean along the Worrell 1000 route, the 45x45 is an excellent chance to get a two day taste of different weather conditions and what the Worrell is really like.

The fleet made its way south with some cats staying close to shore and others venturing further out.  Around Patrick Air Force Base, Chuck Harnden and myself on my Nacra 6.0 caught up with Jon Cruden and Scott McMillan, sailing on a Hobie 16, who appeared to be having trouble.  As we got closer we realized Scott had hooked a 25lb Jack on a trolling line he had set out behind the boat!  Even more exciting was when they pulled the fish up to the boat and realized a shark had nearly bitten it in two.

The cats continued towards Sebastian Inlet as the breeze shifted south and built.   Although we were now beating directly upwind, the increase in wind strength helped move the fleet along. Unfortunately, as we approached the Inlet, the combination of the outgoing tide through the Inlet, the increasing waves, and the now 18-20 kt breeze made for extremely turbulent seas.  Mike Taylor, who sailed with Richard "Gilligan" Uschold  on Gilligan’s Prindle 18-2 had this account, "Things were going well up till about 1pm somewhere off Melbourne.  That’s when the winds picked up and shifted south.  Four hours later off Sebastian Inlet it was getting to be a bit much. At 6pm it was time to be done.  After finally getting to the beach in Vero we discovered that one hull had taken on considerable amounts of water which could explain the sluggish behavior of the boat on certain tacks.  What would you expect from the SS MINNOW a 3 hour cruise? :)

After this trip I can only gather a little what the Worrell guys go through. I’m still tired.  Fleet 45 member Greg Henry, sailing on a Hobie 17, provided this body crunching analysis, "This year was the classic 45X45, shear up-wind punishment to Vero and a delightful downwind sail back.  I used to worry about the beating the boat got in those 20 knot on-the-nose sails down; I'm starting to worry more about knees and other anatomy.  At a conservative 2-3 second apparent wave period over the course of 9+ hours we probably encountered 150,000 waves more or less head on.  Allow for the fact that it took half the day for the seas to get sloppy and you're down to 75,000 that were at least irritating to the average beach cat sailor.  Of those, at least every tenth wave was in the boat / body slamming category (7500).  Add a trapeze harness that just doesn't have a sweet spot and you start to get a sense of what 45++ miles upwind in the ocean can be like, and why getting off the boat in Vero feels as good as it does.  Adding the broken boat stories and a call to the Coast Guard to cancel an overdue boat report made for a lively pool-side conversation on Saturday night. As difficult as Saturday was, Sunday was just the opposite.  Ten to fifteen knots on a broad reach with following seas, blue skies and no rain is hard to improve on.  The only real downside to the whole trip, besides the worrying about others part, was the lack of encountered sea life.  In two days I saw less then half a dozen turtles, a couple of dozen flying fish, and several dolphin."

Other damage incurred near the Inlet involved Ed LeGrand and crew James on a Hobie 16 who dismasted after a month old shroud snapped, and my Nacra when the tang on my bow foil snapped resulting in significant damage to the foil by the time we made it to the beach.  After trying to reattach the foil diamond with spare line, Chuck and I continued towards Vero staying close to the shoreline which was somewhat protected by a point further south.  Richard Sconyers on a Hobie 18 decided to turn back reaching Jetty Park later that evening.

Kris VanNostran and Kris Jr. on a Mystere 5.5, Greg Henry on the Hobie 17, and Bruce Proctor and Ross Hamilton on a  Prindle 19 finished first within minutes of each other around 7pm for an approximate 10 hour trip.  Gilligan and Mike on the Prindle, Roy Laughlin and crew Shawn on a Supercat 19, and Dave Foy on a Hobie 17 finished within the next 45 minutes.  Chuck and I finished approximately 25 minutes later after making a second beach stop to try and keep the foil from breaking.  John Cruden and Scott McMillian pulled up to the beach around 10:30pm  reporting that they has caught two more Jacks.  The extra time fishing early on though resulted in a 12 and a half hour trip!   The last boat, a Hobie 18 sailed by Frank Margiotta, stopped in Melbourne to make the return trip from there.

On Sunday, Chris Runge and Mike Martin joined the fleet for the return trip on Chris’s spinnaker rigged Prindle 19.  Now, with the wind behind us, it made for a much better day.  Chris commented, "It was a blast! Picture this ... chute up, emerald green waters, peak speeds near 20 knots in 12 knots of wind. Throw in a minor mishap or mechanical problem and it was one of the best sails in a long time. The few words perfectly described my sail up the coast with my good friend and crew Mike Martin."  Again the starts were staggered, and every one made the trip back with little problem.  Chuck and I, after some reinforcement help from Frank Roderick, and others, decided to make the trip back and use my new spinnaker (which I had yet to hoist on the 6.0) even though the foil was looking pretty ugly.  It was worth the chance, we flew the chute from beach to beach without incident and had a total riot.  Our significant others had a difficult time keeping up with us in traffic along Hwy A1A!

Bruce Proctor on the Prindle 19 summed up the weekends sailing, "Me and my crew sailed the P19 on both days.  It appears that everyone took a pounding on the way to Vero, especially if you were unfortunate enough to sail close to Sebastian Inlet.  We sailed out at least a mile, and noticed the waves were still larger than normal.  Sunday was as much fun as Saturday was hard! I don't think you can really appreciate the sailing we had on Sunday unless you sailed Saturday. It was just perfect!!"  Special thanks to the Palm Court Resort in Vero Beach and to all who attended.  See you next year!

Boats set up on Saturday morning at Jetty Park

Oops...   Down comes Frank's rig!

Brian Karr and Chuck Harnden arrive on the jury-rigged Nacra 6.0