The 4/28/22 race was course A-E-A over 5.8 miles with winds out of the East at 12 knots. Most boats had their large #1 sails up except for Ozone who put up their #2. Skipper Chris Jordan is still kicking himself for making that decision and for leaving the #1 in the car. I had to agree with winning skipper Jim Saylor at the end of the race when he said to just throw that sail in the trash...
Papa Au was missing Roger Cable but they were still able to put a crew together to race. The more boats the better! Fast Company had a very good start at the pin end and forced Ozone to sharply duck them. Bonjolea II was the first boat to tack back towards the breakwater followed by Double Espresso with the young Kauai Sailing Association kids. When Ozone went that way they had to duck Bonjolea II as they came back on starboard. Fast Company tacked to get out of the harbor as they neared the Kukui lighthouse. Bonjolea II went in even further before tacking. On the other hand, Weatherly and Speedy tacked early but Speedy had to soon tack back to avoid Double Espresso.
On the leg out to the Ninini lighthouse buoy Bonjolea II tacked back towards the beach at the Hokuala resort. Fast Company quickly tacked and covered them and later Speedy and Ozone tacked too. When Weatherly tacked back (with Evan doing a nice job on the helm) they were on starboard tack with rights. Double Espresso avoided them by tacking below them.
Bonjolea II rounded the lighthouse buoy first followed by Fast Company, Weatherly, Speedy, Ozone, Double Espresso and Papa Au. Ozone was moaning the fact that they didn’t have enough horsepower with the smaller #2 sail and they couldn’t point as well either. But downwind under spinnaker Ozone was able to pass Speedy near the G-11 buoy. The second lap was inside the harbor to the Kalapaki buoy and back to G-11 by the Coast Guard Station. It was a port spinnaker pole situation downwind. When Ozone rounded the G-11 buoy to head upwind they were just behind Speedy and in their bad air. Ozone’s skipper Chris Jordan made the mistake of tacking away early towards the breakwater. When then two boats next met up, Speedy was way ahead. On the final lap it was Bonjolea II again around the Ninini lighthouse buoy first followed by Fast Company. Behind them it was Weatherly, Speedy, Ozone, Double Espresso and Papa Au. Downwind under spinnaker Speedy had a very good run and passed Weatherly.
At the finish line it was Bonjolea II crossing for line honors in the PHRF Class. But it was Fast Company taking first place by almost 2 minutes on corrected time and Bonjolea II was second. And Speedy did a nice job taking third place. In the Club Class it was Weatherly, Ozone and Double Espresso taking first, second and third. It was getting dark and Papa Au decided to bag the last leg and sailed straight into the inner harbor for a DNF (did not finish).
The 6th race of the Doug Gibson Memorial Rum Race Series will be held on Thursday May 5th with a 5pm start. The public is invited to watch the races from the Nawiliwili mole parking area.
-Chris
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photos by Charlotte Ross.