It was probably the lightest wind of the year for our sailboat races with the wind out of the North at perhaps up to 7 knots at times. The race committee wisely decided to do course D-E with two short inside the harbor laps around the Kalapaki Buoy.
It was definitely a port tack start day with all the boats starting near the race committee on port tack with their large #1 sails up. Fast Company appeared to have the best start and in fact rounded the Kalapaki Buoy first. Weatherly was able to get inside rights on Ozone and rounded next. Nice move! After Ozone it was Double Espresso, Bonjolea II, Papa Au and Speedy.
The next mark was the G-7 gybe buoy where Fast Company appeared to go wide. When they tacked back on to port, Fast Company had to duck Ozone on starboard. But at the G-11 buoy rounding by the Coast Guard Station Fast Company was back in the lead closely followed by Ozone. Ozone put up their spinnaker and they were gaining on Fast Company who just had their genoa up. But every time Ozone thought they would pass Fast Company they fell into their bad air and their spinnaker would collapse and Fast Company pulled ahead. Meanwhile Double Espresso, Bonjolea II, Weatherly, Papa Au and Speedy were rounding the G-11 buoy. Ozone was having trouble reaching up to the Kalapaki Buoy under spinnaker and switched back to their genoa but Fast Company gained even more.
After now going to the G-11 buoy by the Coast Guard Station for the second time, Fast Company put up their spinnaker while Ozone did not.This was a mistake for Ozone as Fast Company pulled away easily and Bonjolea II gained quite a bit. But now… the cruise ship was leaving and only those first three boats were able to go straight to the finish line. The other four boats had to back track to stay far away from the cruise ship which cost them a lot of time. Eventually, after the cruise ship passed, they were able to head back up towards the finish line.
It was Fast Company taking line honors and first place in the PHRF Class. Ozone was second and Bonjolea II third.
In the Club Class it was Double Espresso in first, Speedy in second and Weatherly in third.
For the Gene Wells Memorial Series overall it was Ozone taking first place with 8 points, Bonjolea II in second with 13 points and Fast Company in third with 17 points. The Ozone crew celebrated their win with a bottle of Chardonnay and Big Island Chocolates.
The Halloween Race is on Thursday October 27th with a 5pm start and this is the last race of the year as it is getting so dark after work. Think about costumes!
The public is cordially invited to watch the race from the Nawilwili mole parking area. Have fun!!!
-Chris
Click for complete results and the raceQs replay on the
Club Racing page.