ALOHA RACES 1-3 August 9
Suuny skies, 8 knots from the south, music from the Newport Jazz Fest to serenade us as we ran down from Hammersmith in a gentle flood, seven boats, tight racing, a super committee, and a relaxed, non-spinnaker format which means you can bring newbies along for a taste of classic keel boat racing in one of the world’s most scenic sailing venues – this is what Aloha racing is all about!
3 boats won races: Jay Gowell on Fox, Charlie Shoemaker on Hawk, and Tom Derecktor on Gosling. Race 1 ended with the top four boats overlapped (We on Grace, with apologies to Agent 86, missed it by that much, taking 4th). But the big winner of the day was the Navy’s own Ron Oord, sailing Icea, taking honors for the day with finishes of 2,3,2. Ron had blazing speed downwind, sailed smart, and made no mistakes as far as I could tell. Hats off to him and his crew.
Hats off to Ian (PRO), Dick (Ida driver) and Andy for filling in at the last minute to do the RC duties. Thanks, guys!
The Aloha Series continues on Saturdays August 23 and September 6. Come on out! If you cannot sail, please volunteer to help run the races.
Reed