The origins of Worrell 1000 can be traced to a bet in a bar at the Worrell Bros., a Virginia Beach resort restaurant. The bet was between the owners of the bar, brothers Michael and Chris Worrell. The bet was that it was impossible to sail a sixteen-foot catamaran from Virginia Beach to Florida. On October 1, 1974, Michael Worrell and his crew Steve McGarrett left the Virginia Beach oceanfront with hopes of reaching Florida in one piece. Although they did not win the bet they still sailed through two hurricanes and had to make multiple boat repairs. After twenty days, they had to stop in Fort Lauderdale, Florida due to their catamaran being in poor condition. Later, Worrell thought of turning the 954-mile journey into a regular regatta. The inaugural race, called "Worrell Bros. Coastwise Race", took place in May 1976. Four teams participated in the race. For that first race, limited to 16-foot hobie cats, there were very few rules. The participants could sail day and night, but they were supposed to come ashore and phone the restaurant once every 24 hours. The course was flipped with the start in Fort Lauderdale and the finish in Virginia Beach, to take advantage of the prevailing winds. The only team to finish the first race was that of Worrell and crew Guerry Beatson. 2 racers didn't make it past Georgia, however the boat crewed by Peter Guthrie and Alan Kramer maintained the lead through Nags Head, NC. Knowing they were well ahead they pulled ashore at the Nags Head pier to take a break. In the distance they saw a sail far to the south and ran to the beach to launch their boat for the final run to Virginia Beach. Unfortunately they did not realize how steep the surf was and when they attempted to launch in the high surf it overturned the boat and it broke apart allowing Worrell and Benson to win. The inaugural race took 13 days to complete! In 1979, Michael Worrell sold his half of Worrell Bros. to his brother Chris, who shortened the name of the race to Worrell 1000. In 1985, the rules were changed to allow any boat within 20-foot length, 8-foot beam, instead of just hobie cats. In 1987, the rules were changed to allow unrestricted beam. There was no race from 1990-1996, but it returned in 1997 as a production class event. For 2019, eligible classes were the Nacra F20 Carbon and the Formula 18. For the 2021 event, scheduled to take place May 10th to May 22nd 2021, only F18's will be allowed to compete. For the official NoR or to register, go the official website https://worrell1000race.com Boats must be able to launch from and finish on the beach.
Death
According to the website, Michael Worrell died on June 5, 2010.
Fees and prizes
Please see official race rules and details by visiting the current year's NoR. This can be found at: https://worrell1000race.com/nor/
Race strategy
Team Spit Fire, one of the competitors in the 2001 race, offered some words of advice and things they learned during the race:
Stay inshore. If it means jib reaching instead of flying the chute, stay in. If it means throwing 120 or 150 tacks in a leg, stay in. And if it looks really good offshore, stay in.
Get two complete sets of graphics for the sail. If you lose a main, the sponsors will be much happier if their names show up on the new one.
Take two vehicles. We had a 1981 Chevrolet 21' rv; it was adequate, but not that nimble. We had to unhook the spare boat every night to run errands or just to park at the hotels.
Never tank, no matter how far back you feel. Three days from the finish, we were 12th, but less than 15 minutes separated us from the next two boats. One of them broke a rudder casting at Hatteras and carried it the rest of the way to Kill Devil Hills, giving up just over an hour, and while the other stayed ahead, Kirk Newkirk of Key Sailing withdrew from a top-10 place in the race because he was unwilling to face the prospect of another 16- to 18-hour light wind leg. The rest of the fleet held positions, and we had our top-10 finish.
If something feels wrong to the sailors, it probably is. On measurement back in Houston, it was found that the bows were 4" closer together than the sterns. This damage to the main beam from Jensen explained the rudder toe problems.
