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Since Fast Company’s skipper Jim Saylor was away on vacation, it was Kevin Millett of Kato fame who was guest steering. And Double Espresso with the youngest Kauai Sailing Association kids couldn’t race because Uncle Carl Andersson broke a finger in his left hand. But there were still 6 boats out on the race course. The 3.22 mile course was D-D-E with all laps rounding the Kalapaki Buoy and the courses stay inside the harbor. The first two laps went to the G-7 gybe mark before heading to the G-11 buoy by the Coast Guard Station and the last lap just went around G-11 before finishing upwind. The wind was out of the Northeast at 8-10 knots.

Kato appeared to have the best start and all the boats were near the pin end on starboard tack. Weatherly had Nate Sullivan driving and he was outpointing Ozone and he forced Ozone to tack away towards the breakwater. This put Ozone in last place (thanks Nate...) Bonjolea II had tacked onto port shortly after the start and when they tacked back onto starboard Ozone tacked below them rather than ducking them. Kato got a nice lift and made it around the Kalapaki Buoy first with Kevin Millett on the helm. Weatherly almost made it but had to do two short tacks to get around the buoy next. This slowed them down and the very fast Bonjolea II came rocketing through and passed them. Bonjolea II then passed Kato on the downwind leg to the G-7 gybe mark and Weatherly was gaining as well. Kato held on to round the G-11 buoy by the Coast Guard Station second behind Bonjolea II. Kato outpointed Weatherly and they made Ozone look even worse. Kato decided to tack towards the breakwater early, perhaps halfway upwind towards the mole. Weatherly and Ozone continued on trying to get the lift and to be able to clear the G-5 buoy on the next tack. Kato tacked back and went close to the mole but these actions didn’t help them as when they tacked back towards the breakwater they were now behind Weatherly and Ozone was much closer.

After the downwind leg to G-7 it appeared that Kato had problems rounding the G-11 buoy by the Coast Guard Station (no jib up yet?). This allowed Ozone to pass them and to take over 3rd place. On the final leg around the Kalapaki Buoy it was Bonjolea II substantially in the lead followed by Weatherly, Ozone, Kato, and Papa Au. Speedy had some issues (spinnaker?) and decided to retire so they were scored DNF (did not finish).

Ozone had a good downwind run and they were now on Weatherly’s stern as Bonjolea II took line honors and first place in the PHRF Class. (They are now in first place for the series with one more race to go). Ozone realized that they would never catch Weatherly by following them and being in their bad air so they tacked away early upwind towards the breakwater. Ozone tacked
back onto starboard to see if they could close out Weatherly at the R-6 buoy near the finish line. Weatherly tacked onto starboard just below Ozone’s line and Ozone thought that Weatherly’s jib would hit the buoy resulting in a penalty. But the crew got the jib in okay at the last minute. However, the boat itself hit the buoy at its widest part amidship on its port side. Ozone could be heard  yelling “Do your penalty turn for hitting the buoy”. The race committee was apparently unaware of the hitting of the buoy and sounded the finish horn for Weatherly as they crossed the line. But Weatherly did do a penalty turn and subsequently crossed the finish line about 22 seconds behind Ozone. So second and third place are in contention.  Ozone subsequently filed a protest to clarify the situation for when a boat hits the R-6 buoy which is included in the sailing instructions as an obstruction. Does a penalty turn exonerate the boat that hits the buoy (which I hope) or is the boat disqualified for going into the obstruction zone? We have asked the Honolulu protest committee jury experts to look into this for us and the meeting is on Zoom 6pm Monday.

In the Club Class it was Fast Company taking first place and Papa Au second. The 4th and final race of the Shorts Series will be held on Thursday 8/25/22 with a 5pm start. August 25th is also the 15th wedding anniversary for Mark and Terry Walsh, two fine sailors who previously sailed on Ozone for a long time before moving to the mainland. Mark is an ER nurse and his wife Terry is a pharmacist. Lovely people.

The public is invited to watch the races from the Nawiliwili mole parking area.

-Chris