KATO WINS AGAIN IN WAHINE RACE #3

Emily Martin sailed the Olson 30 Kato to their second win to take the Wahine Series lead in the five race series. Nine sailboats competed on 9/17/20 with winds out of the Northeast at 8-10 knots. Fast Company and Kato had their smaller #3 jibs up in the lighter air and they seem to point better while Ozone had their large #1 up for more horsepower. The course was A-D-B with two outside laps to the Ninini lighthouse buoy and a middle inside lap to the Kalapaki buoy.

The start had Papa Au over early and after the race the crew seemed a little annoyed at how long it took them to find that fact out as they didn’t turn back for over 40 seconds. It took them over a minute and a half to restart, costing them a lot of time. Bonjolea II fell off parallel to the starting line at the start so as not to be over early resulting in some yelling from the other boats but no protest. Fast Company was a little late to the start and Double Espresso was even later. Fast Company and Double Espresso tacked early towards the breakwater in order to take advantage of the lift in there. Bonjolea II tacked onto port to get out of the harbor and Kato and Ozone also tacked. But Fast Company was coming on fast with rights on starboard and Bonjolea II had to tack back away from them. This forced Ozone to also tack back and they fell into Bonjolea II’s bad air for quite a while. Kato looked good leading out of the harbor and they were the first boat to tack back in towards the beach beyond Running Waters and Ozone soon followed them to get the lift in there. At the Ninini lighthouse buoy it was Bonjolea II around first followed by Kato, Fast Company and Ozone. Weatherly and Double Espresso were in the mix followed by Speedy who was being challenged by Papa Au. Iwa followed the rest of the fleet.

On the upwind leg from the G-11 buoy towards the race committee on the mole Kato lost their lead to Fast Company and had to duck them on the next tack. But Ozone had a better lift on this tack and caught up so that both Fast Company and Kato had to duck Ozone.

The next leg of the race went to the Kalapaki buoy and Kato tacked early while Fast Company and Ozone took it all the way in to the breakwater before tacking to avoid the fluky air and header while approaching the Kalapaki buoy. But this early tack paid off for Kato as they sailed a shorter distance to the buoy and they now lead the other 5 Olson 30’s. Bonjolea II was still in front of the Olson 30’s with their faster speed, but with their 42 seconds a mile handicap for the 6.03 mile distance, the race was close.

At the finish line it was Bonjolea II with Bonnie Tiffany on the helm taking line honors, but with their handicap it was Kato with Emily Martin steering who took first place in the PHRF class for the second race in a row. Ozone was 22 seconds behind Kato taking second place with Alison Fornari steering and Bonjolea II corrected on handicap to third place 31 seconds behind Ozone.

In the Club class it was the teenage crew on Weatherly taking first place with Astrid Andersson steering. Second place was Speedy with Kristiina Chapman steering and in third place was Fast Company with Lydia Lintermans on the helm. Papa Au with Victoria Aiu steering suffered from being over early at the start. The crew says that Victoria has been driving the boat very well. Double Espresso had Elizabeth Biuk-Aghai steering and if a certain Swede could get his RaceQ’s to work (instead of stopping as they headed out of the harbor on the first lap) I could tell you more about how they sailed. The elegant 41 foot Iwa was skippered by Karen Cole. We have missed Pam Zirker on Iwa and Charlotte Ross on the mole for their great photography the last few races (so I won’t have any pictures for next month’s edition of the Hawaii Boats and Yachts magazine).

The 4th race of the Wahine Series is scheduled for Thursday 9/25/20 with a 5pm start with more wind predicted. The public is invited to watch the races from the Nawiliwili mole parking area.

-Chris

Click here for access to complete results and the RaceQs replay on the racing page.