VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — After a 21 year hiatus, it's almost time to set sail for the Worrell 1000 again. The Worrell 1000 is an endurance sailing race of catamarans that travels up the East Coast from Hollywood, Florida to Virginia Beach.
It all started as a bar bet in the 70's before it became an organized event in the 80's. It ran through 2001.
There was a trial run of the event three years ago with just three boats to see if the idea was still viable. Apparently, it is. This year its back full force with 17 entries at present. Six of the boats are international.
There is a team from the Outer Banks. Plus, Team Rudee's out of Virginia Beach is the only boat from Virginia. Their team manager Mike Eason tries to describe this event, "It's a grueling test of not only equipment, but people, both mentally and physically. It will test your ability to hang in there and complete a thousand miles."
Team Rudee's has one of the best and most experienced sailors out there in Randy Smythe. He is their captain and joined on board by Dalton Tebo. They and all the sailors are in for something extremely challenging. Eason says, "If you were to run a marathon and then turn around the next day and run another marathon, it eventually over time will wear you down."
They will sail between 80-120 miles every day for 12 days. Eason explains when you're finished, it's worth bragging about, "This is kind of climbing Mt. Everest for sailing. If you can put on your resume that you won the Worrell 1000, it gives you a lot of credibility and a lot of sense of this guy did something extraordinary."
The race starts on May 9 in Florida. They arrive May 21 in Virginia Beach.