The Ken Martinez Commodore Race #3 was really a different one. Ozone and Fast Company just couldn’t leave each other alone...
The wind was about 11 knots and Fast Company had their #3 sail up which is smaller and easier to control. Ozone had their larger #1 sail up which is sometimes harder to control but can give you more horsepower. The wind was 11 knots out of the East and the course was A-D-E.
Ozone thought that they had Fast Company under control at the start, being ahead and slightly to leeward at the pin end of the starting line. Fast Company thought that Ozone might have been over the starting line early but no recall notice was seen or heard. Bonjolea II the Sydney 36 started further down the line towards the race committee. And Double Espresso the third Olson 30 rounded out the fleet.
The very fast Bonjolea II caught up to Ozone and was giving them bad air and slowing them down so that Ozone had to tack away. But Fast Company had outpointed both boats and so Ozone had to duck Fast Company’s stern. Fast Company went way in to the beach before tacking out of the harbor towards the lighthouse. Ozone tacked back towards the beach higher up and when the two boats met up, Fast Company now had to duck Ozone. And when Fast Company and Ozone next met up, Ozone tacked directly in front of Fast Company to give them bad air. And Fast Company quickly tacked away to clear their air. But the next time Ozone tacked disaster struck. The jib sheet got fouled quite badly and the sail couldn’t be pulled in. It was so bad that they tacked the boat back the wrong way to clear the lines. This was obviously very slow and Fast Company now easily got ahead of them and rounded the Ninini Lighthouse buoy in second place behind Bonjolea II.
Downwind under spinnaker Ozone was able to catch up to Fast Company and the two boats were side by side with Fast Company having rights and being in control, intermittently taking Ozone up high. It was a horse race!
Controversy then ensued at the G-11 buoy by the Coast Guard Station. It was tight racing with Fast Company having rights again on the inside at the buoy with Jim Saylor yelling “Room at the mark!” and Chris Jordan on Ozone yelling back “You have plenty of room Jim!” But was it? A difference of opinion ensued when the two boats had light contact. Fast Company yelled “Protest” immediately and put up a red protest flag. Similarly Ozone quickly followed and put up a “PROTEST” flag and yelled protest. In fact, those on Fast Company commented about how vocal the crew on Ozone was in their protesting.
Ozone was now 3-4 boat lengths behind Fast Company after this contentious mark rounding. But in heading upwind again, Fast Company was seen to go into the obstruction zone by the mole and the crew on Ozone once again started yelling “Protest” for the 2nd time. Then Ozone appeared to tack early for the Kalapaki buoy halfway down the starting line while Fast Company went further towards the pin end. But this paid off for Ozone as they easily made it to the Kalapaki buoy and they were on the inside with rights over Fast Company. Downwind Fast Company went up higher towards the breakwater compared to Ozone and it looked like Ozone gained some on the way to the G-7 buoy. Meanwhile, the rocket ship Bonjolea II was passing the starting line again going upwind way in the lead as the 2 Olson 30’s were crossing it going downwind. And when the Olson 30’s reached the Kalapaki buoy for the last lap, Bonjolea II was already all the way downwind at the G-11 buoy about to head for the finish line. And on their final leg to the finish line Ozone was a little ahead when they saw Fast Company once again go into the obstruction zone by the mole and so the Ozone crew for the 3rd time yelled “Protest”.
So Bonjolea II for the 5th race in a row has taken line honors and first place. Much later, Ozone crossed the finish line a little ahead of Fast Company and then Double Espresso followed. But after the protest committee met to hear Fast Company’s protest and the 3 protests from Ozone the results changed dramatically. Ozone was disqualified for the closeness of the G-11 mark rounding with the light contact between the two boats. But Fast Company was also disqualified for going into the obstruction zone. Which means that the Kauai Sailing Association junior sailors on Double Espresso took second place behind Bonjolea II !!! What a day...
-Chris
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