OPENING DAY!

After 3 months with no racing it was great to have opening day finally arrive on Saturday February 5th. At least 6 of the racing boats had spent time out of the water having their bottoms sanded and painted as well as other repairs. Papa Au had a big project to replace their stringers to strengthen their keel. Speedy and Papa Au were not quite ready to race, but hopefully will be back in a couple of weeks. We also missed Iwa who may need to change insurance companies as theirs apparently doesn’t cover racing. We missed all you sailors!

But it was a beautiful sunny day and there was lots of excitement. At 9am the skippers met for the first time to get instructions with David MacAfee, our new rear commodore. Help was provided by John Ross who has done this instruction many times before. Three races were planned. Jim Saylor correctly predicted that the westerly wind would come around to the northeast by race start time. However, 5-10 knots of wind wind is a lot lighter than normal in our usual races. The large #1 sails were up. Race #1 was course A-E over 3.4 miles. Kato started on port tack. They were looking very good. (Unfortunately they don’t plan on racing much this year. Kevin Millet and his wife Katie have their catamaran Kalewa in Puerto Vallarta Mexico and they will be going back and forth). Anyway, Kato was looking very good and they were the first boat out of the harbor, followed by Bonjolea II. Fast Company made a nicely timed tack and just cleared the end of the breakwater. Ozone and Weatherly were having a little duel but both of them didn’t quite dare to follow Fast Company’s path so close to the rocks and they each did two more tacks that set them back.

Fast Company pointed well upwind and was able to come from below and get in front of Bonjolea II. Meanwhile, Kato was still in the lead to weather of them. Kato rounded the Ninini lighthouse buoy first followed closely by Fast Company. Ozone was next followed by Bonjolea II, Weatherly and Double Espresso. Downwind there was a battle between Kato and Fast Company and another battle with Ozone, Weatherly and Bonjolea II. Bonjolea II does well reaching with their asymmetrical spinnaker and they took Ozone up high which allowed Weatherly to get ahead. After rounding the G-11 buoy by the Coast Guard Station, the upwind leg had Bonjolea II passing Weatherly. But disaster struck at the Green #5 buoy (the far end of the finish line). Kato, who was in the lead on this upwind leg, went outside the buoy rather than inside the start-finish line as required by the rules (in case the race committee has to shorten the race). Fast Company magnanimously let them know and Kato turned back and re-rounded properly. However, Fast Company now had a substantial lead.

The next lap was around the Kalapaki buoy and as one approaches it their is usually a pretty big header. So you think you are going to make it around the buoy at first, but then you can’t get there without 2 more tacks. Ozone could see that they weren’t going to make it and tacked away early. Weatherly continued on and tacked later. When they next crossed tacks, Weatherly had to duck and go behind Ozone.

On the upwind leg to the finish line it was Fast Company in first place followed by Kato in second (behind by about the same distance they gave up by having to re-round the G-5 buoy). Weatherly was in the bad air of Ozone and tacked away early on the final upwind leg hoping for a better wind shift that never came. Bonjolea II crossed third but corrected to fifth place. Ozone grabbed the third place spot followed by Weatherly in fourth and Double Espresso with the young Kauai Sailing Association kids took sixth place.

RACE #2

The second race was course C out to the lighthouse buoy and back over 2.6 miles. Ozone’s race timer broke confusing the skipper and they ended up with a fairly late start half way down the line. The wind appeared to shift more to the east and the boats could make it far beyond the end of the breakwater on one tack. Kato again took the lead battling Fast Company. Ozone tacked back in towards the Timbers resort on the upwind leg and got lifted enough to gain on Fast Company. At the lighthouse buoy rounding it was Kato, Fast Company, Ozone, Bonjolea II and Weatherly. I think Double Espresso was next. At the finish line it was Kato in first, Fast Company in second, Ozone in third, Weatherly in 4th, Bonjolea in 5th and Double Espresso in 6th.

RACE #3

The third and final race was a short course E over 1 mile. This went to the Kalapaki buoy and stayed inside the harbor. The very youngest kids on Double Espresso had a fabulous start and made their Kauai Sailing Association folks proud. Fast Company took Bonjolea II up hard at the pin end of the starting line and Ozone just above them had to come up hard and flog their sails so as not to pass the buoy on the wrong side. Fast Company thus left Bonjolea II and Ozone in the dust…

Weatherly had a clean start further down the line and they were able to get in front of Fast Company before rounding the Kalapaki buoy. And the kids on Double Espresso were doing FANTASTIC! Bonjolea II came roaring downwind and the boats were all bunched together at the G-11 buoy by the Coast Guard Station. Bonjolea II rounded inside followed slightly wider by Fast Company and then Weatherly. Kato unfortunately had some gear issues at this buoy and they essentially parked the boat. At the finish line it was Bonjolea II taking line honors but on corrected time they were second behind Fast Company who took first place once again. Ozone struggled to catch Weatherly, but it was in vain as Weatherly took 3rd place 13 seconds ahead of Ozone in fourth. Kato took an uncharacteristic 5th place and Double Espresso was 6th.

So for Opening Day for the three races Fast Company won first place overall, Kato was second, and Ozone third. Kudos to Fred Styer for setting up the tent on the grass in front of the clubhouse for the after race party and for cooking hamburgers and hot dogs. John Sawyer also helped a lot. Everyone had a great time.

-Chris