BOB HAMBY MEMORIAL SERIES RACE #1

Bob Hamby was a great water color artist and sculptor who died last year and this series is named in his honor. He was a partner with Marty Ellis for about 20 years and they were regulars at the yacht club. Marty flew back to Kauai and handed out leis to the racing boats to be tossed into the ocean near the Ninini Lighthouse buoy where Bob’s ashes had been placed.

The wind for this race was extremely light and boats could be seen paddling and rocking back and forth to get out to the start line (as only Bonjolea II had an engine). Initially the race committee planned to do an outside lap to the lighthouse buoy and an inside lap to the Kalapaki buoy. However, later they had to shorten the course as the wind was so light and it was getting dark. Course A was raced over a distance of 2.4 miles. The wind speed was a VERY light 3 knots out of the east.

At the start, Ozone thought they had Double Espresso easily by taking them over the starting line early. But Ozone made the mistake of gybing around which was incredibly slow in the light air resulting in Ozone starting last. Meanwhile, Double Espresso just had to duck back down below the starting line and they had a pretty good start (although not as good as Fast Company who crossed right at the pin end of the starting line). Fast Company could see that Double Espresso, who was below them, was getting headed and so they tacked back towards the breakwater and they were followed by Double Espresso. When Weatherly tacked back they had to lee bow Ozone. Fast Company led heading out of the harbor followed by Bonjolea II, Double Espresso and Weatherly. On the upwind leg to the lighthouse Ozone tacked back towards the Timbers resort and they got a big lift. When they next crossed with Bonjolea II, Ozone was slightly ahead.

Everyone tacked back towards the Timbers resort but Ozone kept going trying to avoid two extra tacks but they lost a huge distance. Meanwhile Weatherly had caught up to Fast Company. Ozone tacked too early for the Ninini buoy in the light air and ended up below it which required 2 more tacks. After rounding the Ninini Lighthouse buoy the leis were tossed into the ocean and there were some good remembrances of Bob.

Downwind in the very light air Bonjolea II was reaching up higher with their asymmetrical spinnaker but this makes them cover more distance and they fell back behind Ozone as they came into the harbor. But Ozone’s skipper should have gybed the spinnaker to head into the G-11 buoy by the Coast Guard Station. Instead he put up the large #1 headsail and took down the chute. But the pole prevented the sail from filling properly and he parked the boat and Bonjolea II came flying by.

Fast Company still had a nice lead and they finished first. This seems to be routine now for Jim Saylor and his crew. Bonjolea II crossed the finish line next but with their handicap and the length of this race in the light air they corrected to fifth place. Weatherly took second place. Ozone rounded the final buoy in last place and they tried to gain on Double Espresso by tacking away early upwind towards the breakwater. Ozone planned to try to shut out Double Espresso by being on starboard and cutting them off at the red buoy at the finish line. But Double Espresso lee bowed Ozone giving them bad air and they came up enough at the end to finish ahead without hitting the buoy. A magnificent job by the youngest Kauai Sailing Association kids. Unfortunately their rating is 93 compared to Ozone’s 96 so that Ozone corrected over them taking third place while the kids took fourth. Not fair! Time to pay the extra $$ to get them certified with the same rating.

The boats SLOWLY came back to their slips in the dark. A very different day from our usual racing. Watch for strong trade winds next Thursday.

-Chris

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