OZONE WINS WAHINE RACE #1 WITH ALISON FORNARI STEERING

The Wahine Series of 4 races requires that a woman steer the boat. This has always been one of my favorite series. After Ozone had a terrible start (set up by tactician Chris Jordan), the first Wahine race was won by Alison Fornari who steered the Olson 30 Ozone to a comeback victory. The 6.03 mile course was B-A-D which the fleet thought was G-O-O-D in the lighter 9-11 knot winds out of the East-Northeast. There were two outside laps to the lighthouse buoy and one inside lap to the Kalapaki buoy.

Speedy had Kristiina Chapman on the helm with an excellent start and they were the first of the 6 Olson 30’s to round the Kalapaki Buoy to starboard. Double Espresso had the youngest Kauai Sailing Association sailors aboard with Yeva on the helm. Although they started way down the line away from what appeared to be the pin end favored start (probably to avoid all those aggressive sailors in the fleet) they were surprisingly right in the thick of things at the first mark rounding at the Kalapaki Buoy. And later they flew their spinnaker. Great job! Uncle Carl Andersson was very proud of them.

Ozone and Weatherly were at the back of the fleet heading out. But Ozone pointed better than usual heading upwind and they gained a lot and were now the first Olson 30 to round the lighthouse buoy just behind Bonjolea II who was in the lead with Bonnie Tiffany steering. They were followed by Kato with Emily Martin steering (was she barking orders to her fellow crewman and husband Aaron?) and then Fast Company with famous chef Jakki Nelson on the helm. Jim Saylor must have felt very safe with her steering as he wasn’t wearing his usual helmet. Papa Au had Victoria Aiu
steering. She is the daughter of the late Dr. Patrick Aiu who had sailed on the Hokulea. He came up with the name Namahoe for the Kauai sailing canoe. The word means “the twins” like the twin hulls of the Hawaiian sailing catamaran. In a dream he saw the boat sailing towards the twin constellation Gemini, which the Hawaiians call Namahoe. Weatherly had Astrid Andersson steering with the older Kauai Sailing Association sailors. Astrid and several of her crew members recently came back from a 5 day outing to Nualolo where they were studying the reef and they found a rare coral. She will be talking about this after the next Wahine Race. And finally, the lovely Benateau Oceanis 41 Iwa was helmed by Karen Cole. We are always happy to see them out racing. Her crew Pam gets some great close up pictures of the boats.

Downwind from the lighthouse buoy while under spinnaker the Olson 30’s Kato and Fast Company appeared to be having a battle. Fast Company eventually got a little bit ahead of Kato. But the Express 27 Papa Au was close behind and leading both of them on handicap time. On the second lap Bonjolea II again rounded the Ninini Lighthouse Buoy first and they had extended their lead. Ozone had again pointed well upwind and rounded next ahead of the other 5 Olson 30’s. But Ozone wondered if they could beat Bonjolea II with their handicap rating as Bonjolea II was doing so well. At this same rounding Kato had again resumed their lead over Fast Company. They were closely followed by Weatherly and Papa Au.

At the downwind G-11 buoy by the Coast Guard Station the spinnakers need to come down and the jibs need to go up in a timely fashion. Weatherly was able to get inside Fast Company at the mark. But Fast Company didn’t give Weatherly the required room and Weatherly hit the buoy. Fast Company did their 2 penalty turns for fouling Weatherly and Weatherly did 2 penalty turns for hitting the buoy (although the rules only require one turn for this). These penalty turns allowed Papa Au to gain. The last lap went to the Kalapaki buoy and back to G-11 and then upwind to the finish line.

Bonjolea II crossed the finish line first getting line honors. But with their 42 seconds a mile handicap it allowed Ozone with Alison Fornari steering to take first place overall in the PHRF Class by 26 seconds. Bonjolea II with Bonnie Tiffany steering took second and Papa Au with Victoria Aiu on the helm took third. In the Club Class it was Speedy in first place with Kristiina Chapman steering, Weatherly in second with Astrid Andersson on the helm, and third place was Kato with Emily Martin driving.

After the race the Kauai Sailing Association sponsored a talk by Thor Temme who spoke about his great adventures with family on his 56 foot catamaran “Manu Kai”. Thor sailed from Kauai to California, down to Mexico, through the Panama Canal, around the Caribbean, across the Atlantic to Europe, then later back to the Caribbean and the Bahamas. The boat is now in Maryland for the hurricane season. Living the dream!

The second race of the Wahine Series will be held on Thursday July 15 with a 5pm start. The public is invited to watch the races from the Nawiliwili mole parking area where the race committee is located. Afterwards a talk about the 5 day KSA studies of the reef and surroundings at Nualolo will be given by Astrid Andersson. Dinner will be available for
$15. No RSVP required.

-Chris

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