PAPA AU WINS ERIC WING MEMORIAL RACE #4

Roger Cable, one of the crew aboard the Express 27 Papa Au, pronounced “This one is for Eric!” as they crossed the finish line to win the Eric Wing Memorial Race #4. Eric Wing was part of the original crew on Papa Au when Louie Abrams purchased the boat. Other original members included Roger Cable and Andy Nickles. Andy was responsible for naming the boat which had previously been called “Angel Express”. Eric designed the logo on the boat and the distinctive racing shirts worn by the crew. The winning crew for race #4 included Jeff Olsen on the helm, Roger Cable in the pit, Jan Tenbruggencate on the mainsail, Andy Evans on the sheets and Victoria Aiu on foredeck. Bill Peterson just returned to Kauai and he will be racing with the crew again shortly. Papa Au is the smallest boat in the fleet with the Olson 30’s owing her 30 seconds a mile or more and the fact that she was ahead of them for so much of the race is amazing. Both Eric and Louie were obviously with the crew in spirit.

The race itself was course E-A-A with one inside lap to the Kalapaki buoy and two outside laps to the lighthouse buoy over 5.8 miles. The winds were lighter out of the North-northeast at 7-10 knots so the larger jibs were used. The start of the 7 boat race had the race committee calling the Olson 30 Kato over early. They were unaware of that for quite some time so when they turned around to restart it cost them a tremendous amount of time. They had quite an amazing comeback and the results of the race might have been different otherwise.

The wind was so far North that the boats had to tack back towards the breakwater in order to make the Kalapaki buoy. Weatherly tacked first followed by Bonjolea II. Shortly afterwards Fast Company and Ozone tacked. Fast Company passed Bonjolea II clear ahead but Ozone decided to lee bow them which was a mistake (they should have ducked them). Not only did Bonjolea II roll them giving them bad air, but Ozone had to tack twice to make it around the Kalapaki buoy while Bonjolea II scooted around. But it was little Papa Au leading the entire fleet around the buoy!

The crew of Speedy was using Double Espresso while their boat is out for repairs. Dick Olsen steered a masterful race and his crew did 3 great spinnaker sets and drops which kept them up with the leaders. Jeremy and Kristiina were on the foredeck.

At the next mark rounding at the G-11 buoy by the Coast Guard Station Fast Company called an overlap and Ozone reluctantly gave them lots of room which cost them. Fast Company then tacked away early towards the breakwater and Weatherly followed suit. When the boats met up again, Fast Company was now ahead of Speedy and Ozone. And Weatherly had also caught up. Ozone did a quick lee bow maneuver on Weatherly rather than ducking them. But when Ozone’s jib became tangled in the spinnaker halyard, Weatherly easily passed them. The Ozone battle with Weatherly and their junior sailors and Uncle Carl Anderson on the helm (and Elizabeth Biuk on foredeck) continued. After Weatherly passed Ozone, Ozone decided to tack back towards the breakwater where they got a lift. When the 2 boats next met it was Ozone on starboard and Weatherly did the lee bow maneuver rather than duck. This put them a little behind.

Meanwhile, Bonjolea II who had been out in front heading towards the lighthouse appeared to do a penalty turn and they fell back. So Fast Company was the first boat to round the lighthouse buoy followed by Papa Au, Bonjolea II, Double Espresso (Speedy), Ozone and Weatherly. But Kato who had been called over early losing a tremendous amount of time now amazingly came roaring back to threaten.

Downwind on the way to the G-11 buoy Bonjolea II passed Fast Company. And Weatherly was very close on Ozone stern giving them fits. But when Bonjolea II decided to gybe inside the harbor, the lines got all mixed up and they had difficulty recovering. First they headed to the G-5 buoy and then they turned back paralleling the starting line until they could recover. This put them near the back of the fleet. It was painful to see…

So now rounding the G-11 buoy by the Coast Guard station to start heading back upwind it was Fast Company in front followed by Papa Au, Double Espresso (Speedy), Ozone and Weatherly with Bonjolea II and Kato following. At this point Ozone’s large #1 jib came out of the Tuffluff track on the headstay so that the lower half of it was hanging free in the breeze… Jake Bernard on the foredeck ran forward and rather than take down the sail and reset it (which would have allowed Wetherly to pass) he somehow held it in place for the LONG leg back out to the lighthouse. With the sail hanging partway loose, Ozone couldn’t point as high as they usually do and Weatherly was gaining. With each tack the crew worried that the sail would come completely loose and that Weatherly would go flying by. But Jake valiantly held on clutching the sail in place with his now numb fingers. Thank goodness he held on until the spinnaker set! At the last lap around the lighthouse buoy it was Fast Company, Papa Au, Speedy, Ozone, and Weatherly with Bonjolea II and Kato following.

At the finish line it was Papa Au taking first place in the PHRF Class by almost 2 minutes on corrected time over Fast Company who had line honors. Get out the rum for Papa Au! Double Espresso with the Speedy crew took third place. Nice job Dick and crew. Ozone, Weatherly, Kato and Bonjolea II followed on corrected time.

Afterwards at the club the Kauai Sailing Association had a Mark’s Place bento box dinner available while Ray Woolard gave a talk about his 1982 Whitbread around the world race on “Flyer”. At the young age of 17 Ray did all legs of the race from September to April and they won each leg of the race and overall. Amazing story (time to write a book?).

The 5th race of the Eric Wing Memorial Rum Race Series will be held on Thursday 4/29/21 with a 5 pm start. The public is invited to join in the activities with the race committee at 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.