KATO WINS INVITATIONAL RACE #1

The Invitational Race Series of 4 races requires a guest on board as part of the rules in order to expand interest in sailing and racing. The seven boat fleet had light air at 6-10 knots out of the East-Northeast so the larger #1
sails were used. The 2 lap course A-E had one lap outside to the lighthouse buoy and one inside lap to the Kalapaki buoy over a distance of 3.4 miles.

At the start it appeared that Bonjolea II and Speedy were early and they both turned around to restart. Fast Company was the only boat to start on port tack although Ozone had considered it for awhile. Papa Au on starboard and Fast Company on port hit the starting line at the same time. Ozone started at the pin end in clear air and they were very happy with their start. Fast Company now had to duck Papa Au and Ozone. Ozone tacked to the breakwater and then tacked back to weather of Fast Company in order to cover them. Speedy and Papa Au now tacked to get out to the lighthouse buoy and it looked like they would just clear the green buoy at the end of the breakwater. Bonjolea II and Kato went further before they tacked out. Ozone, being to weather, had Fast Company pinned down for awhile and Jim Saylor could be heard saying that Ozone should tack as the other boats were getting away. But Ozone kept going until Fast Company tacked to clear Ozone’s stern. Ozone then tacked on top of Fast Company to cover them and to give them bad air. When Weatherly and Papa Au ducked Ozone and Fast Company, Fast Company decided to follow them and get clear air and so they tacked back towards the Timbers resort.

Bonjolea II rounded the lighthouse buoy first followed by Kato and Ozone. But subsequently there was a lot of excitement at the buoy. As Speedy came in on starboard tack, Weatherly lee bowed them on the inside. As the two boats came into the 3 boat length circle at the buoy on starboard tack, Fast Company was trying to sneak in on port tack but they fouled Weatherly. Weatherly put up their protest flag and barely missed hitting the buoy by inches. Fast Company continued downwind for awhile and then did their 2 penalty turns with their spinnaker up!!! I have never seen nor heard of anyone doing that before. It looked like they had a spinnaker wrap for awhile in the shape of an hour glass and all of this put them back in last position.

At the G-11 buoy by the Coast Guard Station Bonjolea II again rounded first to head upwind on the second lap to the Kalapaki Buoy. Kato, Ozone, Speedy, Weatherly, Papa Au, and Fast Company followed. Speedy had been inside at the mark so Weatherly had to give them room, but Weatherly went a little wider and cut the buoy closer to take control of the situation and a little later they went ahead of Speedy.

At the finish line it was Bonjolea II taking line honors but Kato corrected to first place which was a nice birthday present for crew person Katie Christofferson (the better half of Kevin Millet). Bonjolea II took second place and Ozone third.
Although Fast Company was the last of the seven boat fleet to cross the finish line, they corrected over Speedy who was penalized when their invited guest had a family emergency at the last minute (I offered to give them a doctor’s excuse to give to the race committee…).

The second race of the Invitational Series will be held on Thursday June 3rd with a 5 pm start. The public is invited to watch the races from the Nawiliwili mole parking area where the race committee will be located. After the race there will be an educational talk about the Newport-Ensenada Race that Chris Jordan did in 2018 when the Schock 35 he was on won their class. A Mexican meal (shrimp tacos?) will be provided for $15 to the first 25 people who register at cjordan@wilcoxhealth.org.

-Chris

Click the link for access to complete results and the RaceQs replay on the racing page as well as more photos from Charlotte.