KATO WINS, BUT FAST COMPANY TAKES THE SERIES

The final race of the 7 race Rum Series was held on 7/30/20 in gusty winds. However, Ozone was the only boat with a reef in their main. The brave Olson 30 Double Expresso with Charlie Heatherly on the helm only had one other crew member. The boats were crowded on the favored pin end at the start. Ozone was trying to barge and Fast Company called on them to come up. Speedy and Papa Au were closer to the starting line going slow to kill time and Fast Company had to bail out and go below them to avoid hitting their sterns. Meanwhile Speedy continued to take the barging Ozone up so that Ozone hit the starting buoy and had to restart, putting them at the back of the fleet.

The teenage crew on Weatherly for the second race in a row appeared to have the best start. Bonjolea II tacked back to the breakwater shortly after the start but had to duck Ozone. But on the next tack they were ahead and Ozone had to duck them. On the upwind leg to the lighthouse buoy Papa Au tacked back to the beach. Ozone followed them but shouldn’t have as they went too far traveling a longer distance. Plus the reefed main didn’t seem to help them at all. At the Ninini lighthouse turning buoy it was Kato around first followed by Weatherly, Fast Company, Bonjolea II, Papa Au, Ozone, Speedy and Iwa. On reaching the harbor it was Bonjolea II in front followed by Weatherly, Kato and Fast Company. On the downwind leg Ozone caught a big wave and surfed it to catch up to Papa Au. Converging on the G-11 buoy by the Coast Guard station, it looked like Weatherly was leading followed by Kato, Bonjolea II and Fast Company. On the upwind leg towards the mole Fast Company came back and passed Bonjolea II. Weatherly didn’t seem to be pointing as high which cost them some distance. Bonjolea II tacked early towards the breakwater which doesn’t usually pay off, but in this case it did as when they tacked back they were in the lead ahead of Kato, Weatherly and Fast Company. Later Fast Company passed Weatherly and gave Kato a battle. Meanwhile Ozone had trouble gybing their spinnaker and headed off towards the river mouth. They took down the chute and tried to put up their jib but it came free out of the headstay track which slowed them way down until they could correct it. Fast Company also had issues with their jib halyard dropping three times and the main halyard once, but they seemed to recover just fine.

At the finish line it was Kato taking first place in the PHRF class and Fast Company taking second. However, Fast Company had done so well in the previous 6 races that they won the overall series. Even though Bonjolea II was the first to cross the finish line taking line honors, with their handicap they corrected to third place. Papa Au corrected ahead of Weatherly and Ozone. Weatherly’s teenage crew again beat Ozone, this time by a 2 full minutes.

In the Club class it was Weatherly in first place followed by Papa Au and Iwa. The next race is on Thursday 8/6/20 and this is the first race of the Gene Wells Series named in memory of the famous boat builder and Nawiliwili Yacht Club member Gene Wells. The start of the race is 5pm and the public is invited to watch it from the Nawiliwili mole parking area. (I think that was Dr. Thatcher Magoun and his wife Nina watching from the mole last week!!!)

-Chris

Click here for complete results on the racing page and more photos by Pam.