The course was A-E-E over a 4.4 mile distance with one upwind lap outside the harbor around the Ninini Lighthouse buoy and 2 laps inside the harbor upwind around the Kalapaki buoy. All 3 downwind legs went around the G-11 buoy by the Coast Guard Station.
The wind was 8-9 knots out of the Northeast as the 4 boats in the race jockeyed for a good position at the start. The starting line looked pretty well set as Speedy and Bonjolea II started on port tack by the race committee on the mole while Ozone and Double Espresso started at the pin end on the opposite side on starboard tack. And port tack paid off as Bonjolea II cleared the other boats. Ozone tacked back towards the breakwater to cover Speedy and Bonjolea II as did Double Espresso. Double Espresso had Elisabeth Biuk on the helm with her Kauai Sailing Association team of young adults.
Bonjolea II with Bonnie Tiffany on the helm was the first boat to tack out of the harbor to head for the Ninini Lighthouse buoy. Speedy tacked out next after going a little further and Ozone waited a little longer before tacking out just beyond Speedy. Double Espresso tacked on the same line as Ozone. Speedy was outpointing everyone nicely but this may have made them a little slower as Ozone gained a little. And at the Ninini Lighthouse buoy rounding it was Bonjolea II leading followed by Ozone and Speedy. But Double Espresso after the rounding was coming up quickly on Speedy.
Downwind under spinnaker the boats were on starboard tack as they entered the harbor. Bonjolea II the Sydney 36 needed to gybe and reach up with their asymmetrical spinnaker while the three Olson 30’s could pull their spinnaker poles way back and sail more directly downwind to the G-11 buoy by the Coast Guard Station. But Bonjolea II gained on Ozone and gained even more on the upwind leg. Meanwhile, Speedy and Double Espresso were side by side at this mark rounding with Speedy having rights being on the inside and they gained some on the upwind leg as well. Ozone took a wind shift header towards the cruise ship and so tacked away towards the breakwater and Speedy and Double Espresso did the same. The boats rounded the Kalapaki Buoy in the same positions but Speedy decided to head more towards the Nawiliwili parking area while Ozone and Double Espresso gybed and headed towards the breakwater thinking that there was more wind up there. Speedy however had a hotter angle and was coming on fast, gaining on Ozone and putting a little more distance between them and Double Espresso.
After rounding the G-11 buoy and heading back upwind towards the breakwater Ozone decided to tack early to avoid a couple of paddlers. But this hurt them a lot as they were now low of the Kalapaki Buoy mark. And Speedy who had continued on had taken the lift closer to the breakwater before tacking and they were now breathing down Ozone’s neck. So Ozone tacked twice to get in front of Speedy and to make it around the buoy, but this cost them some valuable time as Bonjolea II continued to pull away.
And the boats followed one another in the same order as they headed for the finish line. Bonjolea II took line honors and first place with a corrected time of 59:38. Ozone took second place on the corrected time of 59:52,14 seconds behind Bonjolea II. Speedy was in third place with a time of 1:00:44 and Double Espresso followed at 1:03:09.
The public is invited to watch the 5th race in the Gene Wells Memorial Series from the Nawiliwili mole parking area where they can hang out with the race committee.
-Chris
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