What a fantastic weekend of sailing. Our friends from Maui -- Doug Peacock, Barnacle Bill Crockett, Ajmal White, and his wife Sharina joined us to the delight of all. Young, strong, and talented sailors Laura and Nick joined us for the first time. Mark Petriz returned after last racing the 2006 Waikiki Offshores to the delight of all. Beautiful weather, clear skies, flat water and 8-21 knot trades prevailed over the weekend. The scenery was great, I sometimes forget how beautiful Oahu looks from the water. Everybody on the crew was steady and new folks really picked-up their jobs and learned them well. Each day saw different conditions, and while everybody contributed a lot to sailing the boat, each day saw some folks step-up and do exceptional things: Day #1 was saved by Jim Donovan who took over steering the weather legs of the course while figuring out how to trim the new sails (that turned out to be really fast) with Jesse Winterbottom. Jimmy was steady on the foredeck and Mike Winterbottom totally gave up his body on a headsail change. His knees were bleeding, but he proceeded to simply rip away at a halyard to get the #1 headsail up during an outside headsail change (simply determined and undaunted by pain... The biggest "he-man" display ever on Kai Mana!) We were the first boat to finish after a long beat, a medium reach and a nice but short run. We beat the fleet on corrected time over Boomerang by a mere but all important 6 seconds!
Day #2 started off very well as we could hold our Asym spinnaker closer to the wind and longer than any boat in the fleet, spanking the fleet out the channel. Jimmy did a peel that happened without any tangles when shifting gears from the ayso the masthead spinnaker off of Kahuku. Mark Petriz trimmed hard all day on the kites and made a lot of great tactical calls. Barnacle Bill (MBYC) was rock-steady on the mast all weekend long. Jeff Davis did a great job running the pit for the first time, and Ajmal was simply everywhere, doing runners, grinding, pumping the main, proving that a alkalarian lifestyle is key to great health. Again we were the first boat to finish, but the offwind ratings still need to be tweaked.
Day #3 was the day of dominance.. We were down on crew and Ajmal invited 4 friends to be ballast technicians. Having 14 folks on the rail that hiked very hard allowed us to carry a #2 headsail well into the 20 knot range, and Kai Mana was blistering fast. Sailing to weather about 1/4 knot faster than ever! Nick came into his own and has found a solid spot on the runners; and Laura was showing some real endurance (nothing replaces being young, strong, and healthy.)
Jeff Davis and Ajmal did a great job trimming the headsails and escorting folks to the high side rail on tacks, while Doug Peacock and Nick worked the runners a lot -- making many changes in tension to adjust for wind speed. Doug also gave me a lot of really good information on wind speed changes- puffs-lifts and headers. Jimmy saved the day with a great headsail change to a #1 which allowed us to thump Boomerang when the wind was shifty and light. And the ballast technicians really kept the boat trimmed. Special thanks go to Jesse Winterbottom who trimmed a really fast mainsail, helped with strategy and tactics, and kept my head in the game. Jesse also did a lot of work organizing the crew for this very successful regatta. On day #3, simply put "WE RULED!" Nobody was faster, and we simply horizoned the fleet, beating Boomerang by over 4-minutes! Simply Spectacular!
Our next race will be the Kaulakaua Cup over 4th of July weekend (distance race from Waikiki to Kaneohe , can-bashing on day 2, and a distance race back to Waikiki on day #3.) This will be followed by the Kauai Channel Race on the 8th of August, The Lahaina Offshores on August 20th, the Lahaina Return on September first and Fall Ko'olina in October. You are _ALL_ invited to join in on the fun, and Lipton folks from Maui might consider talking to Doug Peacock about his experience this weekend, as MORE Maui Boat & Yacht Club members are welcomed!
Best of all, the 2008 D.J. Johnson 3-Day Around the Island Regatta was won by Kai Mana who entered and sailed under the MAUI BOAT AND YACHT CLUB!
Aloha, John
Link to Kai Mana Boat Website for boat details and photos
