Cal20 Pig beating windward.

 

Several weekends ago was a 20 hour LeMans style race of the CAL 20s.  This boat class is old (produced 1961-1975), short (20ft long), beamy (aka fat) and they don’t go as fast as modern planning boats so they have been known as “pigs’ for decades.  With the annual race season coming to a close, the woman running the fleet this year suggested that we mix it up and join forces with the annual BBQ Competition raising money for the Hawaii Youth Sailing Foundation.  So in honor of the famous 24 road race we did a 20 hour sail race of the Cal20’s inside Kanehoe Bay.

 

The LeMans road race starts with the drivers running to their cars, starting them and driving off.  Our race started with one of the six crew members swimming a lap in the pool and running to the boat to tag it before the crew could raise sails and head out.  The boats were manned by 1-3 people at a time and the crews switched off according to each boat’s schedule.  The course started at the bulkhead with a turning buoy a few yards offshore, went out the harbor and the north channel towards the middle of “K-Bay” to a floating marker, then towards the bottom of the bay to another marker and then back up the bay, through the south channel and up the marina to the bulkhead turning buoy to complete one lap.  The race was for the greatest number of completed laps by the designated end time with each lap taking roughly an hour.

 

Cal20s racing in the LeMans course area during daylight.

 

The north channel is bounded by coral and there are some sticks along the left side marking the edge of the channel.  Farther out are two private unlit green buoys.  The south channel is also bounded by even more coral and has red and green flashing buoys marking the entrance. After that the channel has unlit sticks on both sides and two range marks up by the bulkhead.  The two turn markers were 5 foot high three sided floats with some chem lights taped to them.  There were sufficient marks, but the return channel was going to be tricky because you were going to be tacking back and forth trying not to find the reefs. Luckily most of the crews had sailed these channels for years, but some crews were from elsewhere in the state and  not as full of local knowledge.

 

Onshore the BBQ contestants had their smokers and grills working as we prepped for the race and would be working them all night.  For everybody’s entertainment there was a projector and screen playing movies.  They went through “Wind”, “Captain Ron”, “What About Bob?”, “Jaws” and others.  Since almost everybody knew the lines,  was lubricated, or just punch drunk from a lack of sleep, there was much crowd participation.  The BBQ competitors were circulating after midnight handing out samples to the sailors waiting their turn on the water.  I asked one “Pit Master”about “burnt tips” and since he had some time in KC he knew what I was asking for.  When I got off the boat at around 0100hrs he had some ready for us.  He said he liked them but they were not popular in Hawaii so we were doing him a favor by eating them.  They had just the right amount of crunch so I enjoyed the altruism of helping him in his hour of need.

 

We switched out crews about every three hours, but every boat did their switches by their own schedule.  I wish I had a video of the procedure.  As the boats tacked their way up the harbor crews tried to identify their boat as the boats emerged from the darkness.  If a boat was going to do a swap when it rounded the buoy completing the lap, it then sailed parallel close to the bulkhead and kept on moving.  People jumped on and off the moving boat, the sails were adjusted and the boat headed back out into the night.  Of course there was a crowd watching the entire thing.  One person mistimed their step ashore and went into the drink to loud cheers.  After they made it out of the water a friend presented them with a beer in a cozzie that looked like a life vest.

 

Our boat and two others were dueling for first place.  From day and into the night we all arrived at the channel around the same time, had a tacking duel up to the turning mark by the bulkhead and then sailed downwind back into K-Bay.  Through laps, hours, and crew shifts we battled on.  The boats had to have navigation lights, but nothing said we had to make them easy to see at a distance. CAL20’s have no electrical system and legally all we needed was a flashlight to illuminate the sail to avoid collision so the red and green lights were small and low to the water and the white light to the rear was “forget”.  In the main part of the bay different boats set out on differing courses to try and maximize the wind so the boats would frequently be stretched well apart.  Once the sun set and darkness settled in it became a challenge to spot the other boats. We would basically be trying to see an eclipse of the lights ashore to spot each other until we were close to each other and the red/green navigation lights would appear. Each lap we spent much time not visible to each other.  But on every lap as we closed in on the flashing red and green buoys marking the start of the channel the other two boats would appear through the gloaming.  Then we would have a tacking duel between the coral reefs on the channel edges and up the harbor to round the mark, sound off with the boat name and head back into the dark.  By midnight the fleet had devolved into the lead three boats, two boats consistently 5-10 minutes back, a significant gap to the next four boats, and then three boats scattered and well back from each other.   When we were coming in the channel around 2330 hrs we heard urgent discussions and saw a white light aimed at the water but not moving anywhere.  As we passed the light we saw that a boat had found the reef at the edge of the channel and now had to work itself free.  (We asked if they needed help, but they said they were fine.) Later in the evening two crews that should have known better found the reefs as well.

 

The view around wasn’t much, but with a late rising moon the night sky was a treat.

 

At around 0100hrs my partner and I made the bulkhead turn in first place by about one boat length and swapped out with the next crew.  We had some BBQ burnt tips and went to rest on a couple of chairs.  At 0200ish the boat owner found us and told us the jib halyard had failed on our boat mid lap.  We were going to have to make a quick repair to keep the boat in the race.  We saw our two competitors sweep past the buoy, then several other boats, finally our cripple appeared with the jib on the deck and slowly making way.  When it reached the bulkhead we scrambled aboard and saw the jib halyard shackle had exploded. (Translation- The metal piece that held the top of the forward sail failed, so the sail fell to the deck but the halyard was still at the top of the mast.)  We sent our young strong male up the mask to retrieve the halyard and when he made it back down we placed a new shackle on, replaced the crew with a stronger pair, raised the sails and set them back out.  We were now back in 8th or 9th place.  My race partner and I went back to try and get some rest.  Sleep was sparse with the party, the grilling meat and chants along the bulkhead. We decided to apply the Scottish climbers’ well known method of avoiding a hangover- don’t stop drinking and don’t go to sleep.  Early in the morning the Southern Cross was visible before it went behind the mountains.  (Always a treat.)

 

The Southern Cross constellation.

 

At 0500ish we were ready to swap out, but when the boat came in with the two owners they said wanted one more lap and headed back out.  By now we were in well into the second pack in sixth place. The lead boat managed to open up a good gap on the second boat and was in a comfortable position by about 10 minutes.  I had some more BBQ venison sausage and an apple for breakfast in the dark. We swapped stories with other sailors waiting to get on their boats and waited to start the anchor leg of the race.  Finally our boat appeared and the crew was still in 6th but had worked us into a close 6th.  We ran alongside the boat, jumped on and headed out.  We blanketed the boats ahead of us jibe for jibe slowly gaining space as we worked out of the harbor. (AKA we kept close behind them while staying between the wind and them thereby taking their “power”.)  One thing to understand is that this CAL20 fleet has been racing against each other for decades.  I am a relative newcomer because I have been racing in this fleet for just under a decade.  We all know each other’s boat and each skipper’s strengths and weaknesses.    We figured with the two skippers ahead of us if we stayed aggressive we could pass these two boats in the remaining three hours.  The remaining night was turning into day around us as we “sped” on at 3-4 knots.  We continually kept working the other two boats up away from the mark by staying below them from the wind and using our right of way to make them move. Around the halfway point had gained a spot and headed south.  Around the south bay mark we closed to around 200 meters of the good crew and we tacked hard into toward the middle of the bay while they kept a southerly course. In the darkness we kept our sail trim by sound and feel. As our two boats closed into the mouth of the channel we saw that we had closed even more on them.  Mid channel the wind was taking them towards the coral and they tacked.  By the time we got to that spot the wind had shifted just enough that we could plow on with the coral just a few feet off our starboard side.  Entering the harbor we saw the third place boat heading out.  The crew right in front of us were trying to keep us back but we tacked a bit sharper and my helmsman was really good.  They beat us to the mark with us right on their stern.  Then we executed the turn inside them and were side by side heading out.

 

Our two boats kept battling but we were working the wind shifts better.  By the north mark we were in front by 50 meters or so.  Heading to the next mark we noticed the 3rd place boat was about 300 meters in front of us.  We rounded the south mark and tacked hard into the middle of the bay.  The third place boat stayed southerly and our close competitor followed us.  Finally they tacked, but we kept going.  The winds shifted in our favor and we rode it for another 300-400 meters, then tacked and headed for the green buoy on the left side of the channel.  By tacking before us the same wind shift that helped us, hurt them.  As we entered the channel they were far enough behind us that we had them for good.  Surprisingly our northerly route was so much better than the southern route that the 3rd place boat was close enough for us to target them.   Throughout the lap we stayed aggressive and kept to the northern line while they took the southern. By the time we were back to the channel we were right behind them. We shaved close by the left coral reef but the other boat had to tack to clear the right side coral then passed in front of us and tacked and we both “sped” toward the harbor.  We dueled up the harbor tack after tack on light winds.  About 100 yards from the finish the bow of a large power boat stuck out from its slip.  The 3rd place boat wasn’t clearing it so had to tack and they quickly tacked back.  We kept just up on the wind enough to barely clear the bow and kept going on.  But that was enough.  We turned the mark 4 seconds in front of them to close out the race back in 3rd place.

 

After putting the boat away I went home, showered and napped.  It was a fun event which, between the race and the BBQ competition, made enough money to gift a significant donation to the youth sailing association .

 

The sailing at night in Kanahoe Bay is beautiful, just stay off the coral.

 

[Editor’s Note: Ron’s Daily Stoic column will return next week.]