Va. Beach team gets rousing send-off
Team Rudee’s ready to go in Worrell 1000
VIRGINIA BEACH — Wearing red shirts and carrying trays of coconut shrimp, servers at Rudee’s Restaurant turned Wednesday afternoon’s shift into a sailing pep rally for a catamaran parked by the docks.
The boat is heading to the Worrell 1000 Race, which starts Monday in Hollywood, Florida, and ends May 21 in Virginia Beach.
“It’s a special event that we’re lucky to be a part of,” said server Dana Ingham, as she offered guests a bite to eat as they admired the sleek vessel with its sails up.
The famous long-distance offshore race was conceived as a bar bet in Virginia Beach in the 1970s. It’s back on this year after a long hiatus. Carter Turpin, owner of Rudee’s Restaurant, first sponsored a team in 1983.
Turpin is a power boater at heart, but he’s always had a soft spot for the Worrell 1000 race, so he signed up to sponsor again this year.
“I love the idea of it being a beach event,” he said.
Two-man crews will compete in 18-foot-long catamaran boats, starting and ending each day on a different beach as they move up the coast. They’ll average about 100 miles a day.
Fifteen teams, including several international ones, are signed up.
Mike Eason, Team Rudee’s manager, will drive the catamaran
to Florida on Thursday, where skipper Randy Smyth and crew member Dalton Tebo will go for a test run before Monday’s launch.
Eason’s crossing his fingers for good weather.
“We’re hoping the wind is behind them the whole way,” he said. “That would make a nice trip.”
Live tracking of the boats during the race will be available at hworrell1000race.com/ race-tracking/.