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The wind was 13-18 knots out of the Northeast for the race on 2/17/2022 (my mother Elizabeth Jordan’s 91st birthday!). The course was A-B-E with two outside laps to the lighthouse and one inside lap over a distance of 4.93 miles. Papa Au and Speedy were back in the water after their painting and repairs which made for a fleet of 7 boats. Papa Au was looking for a helmsman or they weren’t going to race. Fortunately an old sailing friend of Chris Jordan’s was in town on vacation looking to race on a boat so it worked out well for everyone. Tim Verharen had lots of experience sailing on Puget Sound. He raced out of Tacoma with his dad on their Express 37 “Dreamspeaker.” So Papa Au being an Express 27 was right up his alley.

The start was interesting as Double Espresso and Weatherly started on port tack by the race committee. They looked like they would have passed in front of the rest of the fleet, but they were both over the starting line early and had to restart. This cost them a tremendous amount of time. Ozone was in a lee bow position to Fast Company at the start and they tried to push Fast Company up into the buoy so that they would have to restart without success. However this lee bow position gave Fast Company bad air and they tacked away. Ozone probably should have tacked to cover them.

At the Ninini Lighthouse buoy rounding it was Bonjolea II, Fast Company, Ozone, Papa Au, Double Espresso and Weatherly. Speedy did not have their RaceQ’s turned on so I couldn’t track their position well. But they were right there in the mix and they seemed faster using some borrowed sails. Meanwhile, Double Espresso and Weatherly were gaining after having to restart and they were having a nice battle with each other. The youngest Kauai Sailing Association kids on Double Espresso had their smaller #2 head sail up rather than the larger #1 like most of the other boats, but it didn’t seem to slow them down at all. The young kids rotated positions on each leg of the race so that there were 3 different helms persons (since Stella Fornari steered one lap I thought I better not say helmsman...)

On the second lap around the Kalapaki buoy before heading out to the lighthouse Ozone got headed and skipper Chris Jordan parked it near the buoy. Double Espresso came roaring down on starboard tack and passed them. Similarly Speedy had caught Ozone and passed them too. Ozone’s skipper was ready to pull his hair out. Fortunately his crew didn’t mutiny.

On the final lap inside the harbor Bonjolea II was still far in the lead, followed by Fast Company. But at the Kalapaki buoy Ozone caught up to Fast Company. Fast Company’s skipper Jim Saylor made a very slick move and he was able to luff up enough at the last minute to round the buoy. Ozone was coming in faster on starboard and didn’t think Fast Company would make it. Ozone had to not only luff up but went beyond head to wind to avoid hitting Fast Company. This definitely slowed Ozone down. Ozone put up a protest flag mistakenly thinking Fast Company had tacked in the zone, but they took the flag down later. To add insult to injury, Ozone had set up for a port pole spinnaker run which is usually the case. But the wind was so far north they should have had a starboard pole like Fast Company who now left Ozone in the dust. (Double Espresso had also set up with a port pole but they cleverly free flew the spinnaker which paid off. Nice move Uncle Carl!)

At the finish line Bonjolea II took line honors finishing a full leg in front of Fast Company. However on handicap they had to settle for 3rd place. And Fast Company had to settle for second place as Papa Au with Tim Verharen steering took the top first place spot by 6 seconds on  handicap. Great job Papa crew! Ozone, Double Espresso, Weatherly and Speedy rounded out the fleet

-Chris