OZONE WINS IN KONA WINDS

Race 6 of the Gene Wells Memorial Series was held on 10/15/20 with rare Kona winds out of the Southwest at 8-12 knots. With Kona winds the start is atypical heading towards the mountain. This was an unusual 2 lap course (U-V) over 4.45 miles. Although rain showers were forecast they fortunately didn’t show up. Virtually all of the racing sailboats have upwind slips for our usual trade winds out of the East. But with the opposite Kona winds it made it hard to get out of these slips for the 5 racing sailboats that did not use an engine. Papa Au got out of their slip early and put up a jib and with some maneuvering they were able to get things under control. Kato on the other hand ended up having to be pushed off other boats closer in on the dock by fellow sailors, but eventually they got out intact. Ozone saw all this and had 2 crew members paddle the boat out before they put up their main and they got away easily. Fast Company as last one out was not so fortunate. Having some difficulty in the flukey Kona winds and with their jib up they crashed into a concrete piling at the end of their dock, causing significant damage and breaking their spinnaker pole into pieces. No one like to see boats hurt.

The upwind start to the G-7 buoy had Ozone and Kato near the pin end and all the other boats were down by the race committee on starboard tack. Papa Au had an aggressive start that unfortunately had them over early and it took them over 2 minutes to restart which really hurt them. Kato took the lead rounding the G-7 buoy and Fast Company was next with Ozone close behind. Ozone was quite surprised when Fast Company did not put up their spinnaker to head out towards the Ninini Lighthouse buoy (not knowing about their broken spinnaker pole). However Fast Company not only kept up with Ozone but gained on them with just the jib. So halfway out to the lighthouse Ozone took down their spinnaker and put their jib back up, which allowed Fast Company to gain even more. At the Ninini Lighthouse buoy Kato rounded in first with a substantial lead, followed by Fast Company. At this buoy Bonjolea II was able to pass Ozone. Papa Au in spite of having to restart was doing amazingly well and they were catching up.

The second lap after rounding the Ninini Lighthouse buoy was an upwind run in the Kona winds rather than our usual downwind spinnaker run. Bonjolea II was doing remarkably well in the lighter air and they eventually took over the lead. Ozone realized that they would never catch Kato or Fast Company by following them and looked around for more wind
which appeared to be off to the left towards the mountain and so they tacked. On the next header they tacked back and they got a very nice lift and being on the inside of this lift they were gaining substantially on Kato and Fast Company. Meanwhile, Fast Company had caught up and was very close to Kato as well. The finish line was truly a photo finish as the 3 Olson 30’s finished within 6 seconds of one another. When the PHRF handicaps were applied it was Ozone in first place by 4 seconds over Fast Company in second and Kato in third.

Bonjolea II took line honors and corrected to first place in the Club Class with Papa Au in second and Weatherly in third. Iwa wisely decided not to finish in the dark and called it a night. Speedy and Double Espresso didn’t compete in this race and they were missed. The Gene Wells Series has 7 races with one throwout. Fast Company has 3 firsts and 3 seconds and so they are unbeatable and they don’t even need to race the final race. However, we all expect the very competitive skipper Jim Saylor on Fast Company to be out there.

The 7th and final race of the Gene Wells Memorial Series will be held on 10/22/20 with a 5 pm start. The public is invited to watch the race from the Nawiliwili mole parking area.

-Chris

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