It was a rainy, miserable day with no wind...just like sailing in Seattle! But I didn’t have my long underwear on. Good thing as all my clothes ended up soaking wet in spite of wearing my foul weather gear. There was no wind on leaving the dock as Ozone paddled to get out to the harbor and Fast Company rocked the boat from side to side sculling. Double Espresso rounded out the 3 boat fleet. The other “Fair weather sailors” were no where to be seen.
Once out in the harbor with the large jibs up the boats were able to do a knot or so of boat speed. Ozone set the obstruction buoy by the mole just as the warning sound went off and they were really worried that they wouldn’t make it to the starting line a short distance away.
The course was a very unusual S-T with the first leg to the G-11 buoy by the Coast Guard Station, totally opposite of the direction we normally start. From there it was on to G-7 and then to the Kalapaki Buoy. The second lap in the light air was to G-7 and then to Kalapaki and on to the finish line for a total distance of only 1.9 miles. This was a good decision by the race committee in the very light air. The wind started off at maybe one knot and it gusted at times all the way up to a roaring 5 knots!!!
The start to G-11 was tight between Ozone to leeward and Fast Company to windward. They were overlapped as they rounded the buoy to starboard to head back up wind. But when they saw Double Espresso round the buoy to port as required, both boats turned back to re-round the buoy correctly, which gave Double Espresso a substantial lead. And although both boats tried to catch Double Espresso it was not to be as the Kauai Sailing Association crew took line honors and first place by over 2 minutes ahead of the other boats. Ozone took second place and Fast Company a close third.
The crew on Ozone drowned their sorrows with a bottle of dark Hanalei rum that mainsail trimmer Terry Wells brought from his son Grant’s distillery. It was delicious and warmed the soul. Highly recommended for the sailing conditions we had.
-Chris
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Club Racing page