BONJOLEA II WINS ERIC WING RACE #2

The second race of the Eric Wing Memorial Rum Race Series was held on 4/8/21 with course C-E-A. This 6 mile course was an outside lap to the lighthouse buoy, an inside lap to the Kalapaki buoy and another outside lap to the lighthouse buoy. Earlier in the afternoon the winds had been very light compared to predictions and Ozone was kicking themselves for leaving their large #1 jib at home in Koloa. But by the 5 pm start the wind had picked up to 10-20 knots out of the North-northeast so that the small #3 jibs were the sail of the day. To the surprise of many, Fast Company was the only boat to put a reef in their main. But it didn’t seem to slow them down. However, at the start Ozone did slow Fast Company down by luffing them up and trying to make them hit or go around the pin end buoy. After a few words were spoken by both boats, the race continued. Kato appeared to have the best start. Because of repairs needed for Speedy the crew sailed on Double Espresso, the Kauai Sailing Association Olson 30. They did use their own sails from Speedy. Weatherly had Astrid Andersson on the helm with the junior sailor crew. Her father Carl Andersson couldn’t sail as he almost cut his thumb off doing some volunteer work. He has stitches in place for at least 2 weeks.

The wind was so far north that it was an early tack out of the harbor to make the lighthouse buoy. Kato tacked first, then Weatherly and Speedy. Ozone was pinned down by Fast Company and couldn’t tack until Fast Company did. Bonjolea II started 6th out of 7 boats and to see their comeback was amazing. With Bonnie Tiffany on the helm helped by her husband Doug as well as Cameron, Gaby and the rest of the crew they worked hard and started passing everyone. First passed was Weatherly, then Papa Au and then Speedy. Ozone fell down into their bad air and lost ground against them and Fast Company as well. At the lighthouse buoy it was Kato around first followed by Bonjolea II who may have over stood a little. Ozone tacked too early for the buoy and had to pinch to make it which allowed Fast Company to overtake them and round ahead. Papa Au was again right in the mix of things and at this point they were probably leading on corrected time. They were followed by Weatherly, Speedy, and Iwa. On the downwind leg under spinnaker both Fast Company and Ozone seemed to hit a lighter patch of air as they went close to the Kukui lighthouse and Papa Au and the other boats seemed to gain on them. In fact, Papa Au at one point rounded the Kalapaki buoy right behind Ozone even though they have a smaller boat and the Olson 30’s are 30 seconds a mile faster than them on handicap. Great job guys (and Victoria Aiu on foredeck).

Bonjolea II was now leading handily followed by Kato, Fast Company, Ozone, Papa Au, Weatherly and Iwa. On the last upwind leg to the lighthouse buoy Papa Au tacked back towards the beach on the left and this move seemed to have cost them a lot of time. Bonjolea II was now WAY out in front and they took line honors easily by about 4 and a half minutes and first place overall in the PHRF Class by 6 seconds on handicap! Meanwhile, Kato rounded the G-11 buoy by the Coast Guard Station and it looked like they would take second place. But they lost a halyard which slowed them down so much that even though they recovered and finished 5 seconds ahead of Fast Company on corrected time Fast Company took second place (by 15 seconds) while Kato had to settle for third. In the Club Class it was Papa Au in first, Ozone in second and Weatherly in third. Finishing off the fleet was Iwa with the crew saying they are quite comfortable bringing up the rear and having a great time.

A delicious bento dinner was obtained from Paradise Grinds (across from Kauai High School) and this was arranged by the Kauai Sailing Association. The extra donations from several folks made it so we not only broke even but made up for the previous week. Many thanks!

John Ross gave a very informative talk on the RaceQ’s application that all the boats use. Personally I really learned a lot from that talk. If you go to the racing page on the NYC website and click on any race where the RaceQ’s is highlighted you can watch the entire race again with all the boats. You can speed it up, go backwards, and calculate all kinds of things I never knew about before. It is truly amazing. The third race of the Eric Wing Memorial Series will be held on Thursday 4/15/21 with a 5 pm start. The public is invited to watch the races from the Nawiliwili mole parking area alongside the race committee and to join in the festivities.

-Chris

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