Regatta Week:

Festivities kicked off Saturday with a ten mile race to Beachcomber Island with eight aboard Po'o Ina Roa - a Peterson 44. The trip down was a little gnarly with winds in the upper twenty-thirty range... all from aft the beam, so life is good. We were ferried ashore in longboats and attacked on the beach by water balloon wielding Brigands.

Captured sailors were unceremoniously roped together by the neck and led through the gates to the bar where we were required to belt down a shot of Bounty over proof rum in one gulp before regaining our freedom to make a run on the bar. Much madness ensued until lunch. Thoroughly sotted and sated, the sail back in easing winds as the sun sank into the Pacific was the perfect end to a great day.

Sunday morning and elimination trials for the Hobie Cat series came a bit early for some of Friday's celebrants but everyone made it to their race on time. Liz was sure we weren't going to make it into the next round but the young couple on Baikal made on more giant #^%*!#$^(# than we did - moving us ahead to the semi-finals on Tuesday. (No, we don't go to work Monday morning. We're all on permanent vacation, remember?)

Semifinals for Hobie saw us with a nice lead at the end of the first lap, but we blew a tack and finally hooked the mark anchor rode with the rudder to finish us off. Jens and Paul finished one leg in the lead. Even without us muffing the mark rounding, they'd have slipped by us on the beat and would have taken the honors anyway.

The race to the Sandbank got a little out of hand once the boats finished. We motored out in our dinghy along with half of the 86 boats in the regatta.
Musket Cove catered the lunch. There was tug of war with the US losing to Oz, with a couple of Kiwi ringers on their team and one twelve year old helping them outlast 'the old guys'. Next was a hairy chest contest followed by a wet T-shirt contest; the Kiwi's winning both. Liz was surprised by the number of womed unabashed as showing more than Methodists would allow. I, as a matter of self interest, refused comment.

Tuesday was more Hobie semi-finals. Musket Cove again catered the evening madness featuring the Island Princes contest with catagories for the youngsters followd by the men with the women following a distant third. Sorry girls. The boys were completely off the hook. Tough act to follow.

Wedensday was the day I was waiting for. The Around Malolo Classic Race; Chris, RIchelle and Grand from WInd Dancer crewing. The forcast 25 knots never materializedand winds in the eight to eleven predominated. Not good for over weight cruising boats.

The start line was complete mayhem. It was a close reach start with the favored end dictated by reefs rather than wind. Argonaut is freshly painted so we chose to start a little farther down the line to avoid the scrapes and downright collisions on the favored end. The wind immediatly clocked on us and we had to throw in a couple of extra tacks to clear the course dangers. It seemed more like golf with all the sand traps and water hazards.

We were well behind, although by no means DFL as we rounded Castaway Island and set the kite. Off wind is a Cal 40 specialty and we expected to make some hay. We did, but it would have served us better to get the damned spinnaker sorted the day before. Forget the fire drill of trying to get the what hooked to the where, we managed to reverse the tack and clew. No matter. It was twisted so bad the sock only went up three quarters of the way. We still improved our position; reeling in most of the big catamarans and some of the back markers in the monohull fleet.

The big bonus was rounding Black Rocks on the final leg to see the entire fleet parked in a wind hole. Before we fell into it with them, we managed to put more than half the boats behind us. We'd have finished even better but some **** Kiwi insisted on sailing below his line after we were abeam to leeward. No protests allowed, so we ate it and sprinted for the finish on the new wind shift. Big party on the beach along with a few arguments between the racer boys who just can't lighten up and have fun. Since this is no handicap- boat for boat racing with only the first three places counting... we don't need no stinkin' rules! Well... the International Collision Regulations. but that's it.

Thursday say the finals of the Hobie Cats with finishing Australia #1, US #2 and France #3. The pig roast / awards dinner is the grand finale. The Pig was awful, the rest ok and the price too much for what we got, but the party was great. It's been a fun week. This is why I sail... The cruiser fun as much as the adventure of foerign landfalls in Paradise... Now if we could get the weather to cooperate...?

I'll be adding pics for a week so check back now and again.