On May the 4th the force was with us as the strong gusty winds and huge seas made sailing a challenge. All the Olson 30’s had reefs in their mainsails to compensate for the strong winds. The course was A-C-E with 2 laps out around the Ninini Lighthouse Buoy and a final inside lap around the Kalapaki Buoy for a distance of 6 miles. The wind was out of the East.
It was a pin end start on starboard tack and Fast Company being a little early luffed up to slow down and then once again took off for the best start. Ozone followed a little further down the line and Double Espresso with the youngest Kauai Sailing kids looked great as they started at the same time as Bonjolea II but a little upwind from them. Weatherly seemed to be outpointing all the Olson 30’s and as Ozone dropped down into bad air the skipper decided to tack towards the breakwater where there is usually a lift to make one’s boat point better. But the waves in there were huge, not only breaking over the breakwater but also over the buoy that
boats often sneak inside close to the breakwater. And so Ozone dropped back even more.
Fast Company was looking really good heading out of the harbor. But Bonjolea II was starting to catch up. Bonjolea II tacked back towards the Timber’s Resort about 1/3 of the way out to the lighthouse. Ozone then followed them and Fast Company quickly tacked to cover. At this time Weatherly was right next to Ozone and Double Espresso was just a little behind them. Bonjolea II tacked back towards the lighthouse buoy and they were a little low of the lay line. Fast Company saw this and kept going before tacking back. Double Espresso tacked onto Bonjolea II’s line while Ozone and Weatherly went further and tacked on Fast Company’s line.
Bonjolea II led the fleet at the Ninini Lighthouse buoy rounding followed by Fast Company and further back was Ozone. Double Espresso made a nice move when they ducked Weatherly and yet they were still able to make it to the the buoy okay and they rounded ahead of Weatherly. (The youngest KSA kids on Double Espresso showing off to the older ones on Weatherly what they could do). However, downwind under spinnaker Weatherly was able to pass Double Espresso near the entrance to the harbor.
The boat positions stayed the same for the rest of the race. At the finish line it was Bonjolea II taking line honors but not by enough time with their handicap to stay in first place and so it was Fast Company taking first place for an incredible 13th time in a row! WOW!!! So Bonjolea II took second place and Ozone was third. They were followed by Weatherly, Double Espresso and Speedy. And finishing last (but not least!) was Papa Au sailing in memory of their fellow crew mate Roger Cable for whom this series is named.
A great job by everyone to sail in these very strong winds and huge seas.
-Chris
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