It was a beautiful day for sailing with the winds at 12 knots out of the Northeast. The course was H-E-F-E with 4 laps inside the harbor all around the Kalapaki buoy upwind with a couple of new courses downwind. The H course downwind goes around the G-9 buoy and the F course goes around the G-7 buoy. The distance was 3.66 miles.
The 3 boats in the race all hit the starting line at the same time with Bonjolea II and Ozone side by side on port tack by the race committee and Speedy on starboard tack by the pin end (which usually pays off). But not this time as the wind was far enough North that the port tack starters passed ahead of Speedy.
Bonjolea II rounded the Kalapaki buoy first. Ozone had to tack just in front of the oncoming Speedy in order to maintain their slight lead at the rounding. Downwind the boats went to G-9 before heading back upwind. And on the approach upwind to the Kalapaki Buoy both Bonjolea II and Speedy had to tack twice in order to make it around. But Ozone caught a small lift and barely made it around without tacking which saved them some time.
The next downwind leg under spinnaker went to the G-11 buoy by the Coast Guard Station before heading back upwind to the Kalapaki Buoy. Shortly after rounding G-11behind Bonjolea II, Ozone decided to split tacks early to try to gain and they headed off towards the breakwater. But when the boats met up again the boat separation seemed to be about the same.The next downwind leg went to G-7 and then back upwind to the Kalapaki Buoy and the boat positions again stayed the same.
The 4th and final lap went downwind to the G-11 buoy by the Coast Guard Station and then back upwind to the finish line. And at the finish line it was Bonjolea II taking line honors for at least the 7th time in a row. And Ozone, being 3 minutes behind them, assumed that Bonjolea II had won yet again. But the Ozone crew was surprised and delighted to find out that they had taken first place by a mere 7 seconds on handicap time! The Ozone crew felt that they had “the perfect sail” while the Bonjolea II crew said they had a few errors. So Bonjolea II took second place and Speedy took third place.
The community get together afterwards was held at the clubhouse and there was a great meal of sliders, pork chili verde, salads, chicken and dessert. Many thanks to Jeremy and friends!
The 4th and final race of the Short Series will be held on Thursday 8/24 with a 5 pm start. The public is invited to join the race committee on the Nawiliwili mole parking area to watch the race.
-Chris
Click for complete results and the RaceQs replay on the
Club Racing page.