The course was C-F-E over 4.4 miles with the winds out of the East Northeast at 12-13 knots. The Sydney 36 had to battle the 4 Olson 30’s, owing them over 3 minutes on handicap time due to their length and speed. Could they do it?
Fiasco came down the starting line on starboard and tacked onto port about midway down the line when the starting horn went off. Bonjolea II and Ozone came in on port tack near the pin end. But when Speedy started on starboard tack near the pin they forced Bonjolea II to tack away. When Ozone tacked onto starboard, Fiasco tacked into a lee bow position giving Ozone bad air. And when Bonjolea II tacked back towards the breakwater they were now behind, having to duck both Fiasco and Ozone. But at the breakwater they had a lift and by sailing fast they now took over the lead. Fiasco, Ozone and Speedy tacked out of the harbor but Bonjolea II took it in further towards the Kukui lighthouse rocks before tacking out. And by doing this they appeared to have a lift (or maybe they were just out pointing the Olsons) and Bonjolea II gained even more. Fiasco was to weather of Ozone for a long time but when Ozone pounded on a big wave it slowed them way down and Fiasco pulled ahead.
Bonjolea II rounded the Ninini Lighthouse buoy with a nice lead. Fiasco tacked below the layline and they had to throw in 2 more tacks to make it around the buoy. Ozone went further to the layline and tacked thinking that they could possibly catch Fiasco. But then disaster struck Ozone. The pin holding the lower and intermediate starboard shrouds came out and both shrouds were waving in the wind as the mast bent like the bow of a bow and arrow. Ozone’s skipper could have tacked back to let the port shrouds hold up the mast but they would have been heading the wrong way towards Oahu. Or they could have just retired from the race. But both options would risk giving the series to Fiasco. Perhaps foolishly the skipper risked losing the mast by nursing the boat around the Ninini Lighthouse buoy. Downwind the mast was held up okay by the very tight backstay, but there was no way to use the spinnaker on this long leg as three of the crew were working on fixing the shrouds. And once they had figured it out and the boat rounded the Kalapaki buoy and got onto port tack it took the tension off the shrouds and made them slack so that the crew could repair things. And Ozone’s skipper Chris Jordan heaved a big sigh of relief. Way to go crew!
Bonjolea II with Bonnie Tiffany on the helm was now way in the lead, looking very good. Fiasco was a ways back but with Jim Saylor on the helm they were leading the other 3 Olson 30’s. Speedy with Dick Olsen steering was right on Ozone’s stern. Double Espresso had Carl Andersson steering with only 2 wahine crew so they wisely did not use their spinnaker. But being so short handed I am sure that they learned a lot!
The rarely used middle course “F” went upwind around the Kalapaki buoy and then around G-7. Bonjolea II was doing so well that they were lapping some of the Olson 30’s on this lap. And the second disaster struck Ozone when skipper Chris Jordan went the wrong way around the G-7 buoy by leaving it to port. Ozone was about halfway back to the Kalapaki buoy before they realized their mistake and they had to turn around and go back to G-7. They unwound the wrong direction and then rounded in the proper direction. But Speedy and Double Espresso had passed them and Ozone was now dead last...
Bonjolea II finished very easily in first place with a handicap time of 49:47. Fiasco was second with a time of 52:22 and Speedy with Dick Olsen steering took 3rd place with a time of 58:38. A despondent Ozone finished in 4th place, lamenting their calamities, finishing over 7 minutes behind Fiasco.
But fortunately for Ozone this worst 4th place finish turned out to be their one throwout as allowed in the 6 race series. And so Ozone won the Spring Shakedown 6 Race Series overall with 8 points just one point ahead of Fiasco in second place with 9 points. Bonjolea II took 3rd place with 11 points.
The 7 race Rum Series starts this Thursday 3/27/25 with a 5pm start. If all 7 races are completed a boat’s worst score will be discarded. Bring on the Rum!
-Chris
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