2/22/99
The Windbag Regatta 1999 was held on what seemed like ideal conditions. The tide was peaking at about 8:00 AM and NOAA was announcing small craft advisories or 15 to 30 mph winds with higher gusts. The entrants planted their kayaks at the Hawaii Kai boat ramp and carefully eyed each other’s riggings. At the start there were three people sailing a kayak sail, and two people flying kites. Linda, one of the kite flyers was unaware that the "Windbag Regatta" meant we were racing. Alan was the other kite flyer and he seemed torn between sailing and fishing. " I can race outside the reef too right?" But the serious racers were the sails Norm, Doug and myself.
Before long, the Regatta was on as Norm, Doug, Alan, and Linda took off leaving me behind to struggle with my rigging. Norm took and early lead as he rounded Paiko Point. But soon I was able to raise my sail and caught some Tradewind juice and passed the other contestants. The kites were having a problem keeping up in the gusty wind and were constantly crashing into the water. By the time I was at Kawaikui, Norm was almost 1/4 of a mile behind. But the wind was dying, and the waves just before Wailupe were slowing down my progress to a snail’s pace. When I looked back, Norm had made up all the water that he had lost earlier. He was paddling now, and it looked to me that he was about to overtake me. The Offstein Sail is a piece of engineering wonder. It uses PVC mountings and a "hurricane proof" umbrella. The advantage of the Offstein Sail is that it allows paddling while under sail, and Norm was now doing a lot of that. If Norm passed me the only chance I would have would be to drop sail and paddle hard to the finish line, and with the sail helping his progress, winning would be a long shot for me. Just after Wailupe, the wind started to pick up and I started to accelerate past Norm. Then I started to pull away, sailing all the way to the finish at Kahala Beach.
"It was a moral victory for me! I don’t feel bad at all!" declared Norm as he pulled his kayak up the beach. "I knew that I would have a hard time against the "America’s Cup" style of kayak sailing..." implying that I had bought my way to victory by purchasing superior technology. Before long Doug came sailing in and the first annual Windbag Regatta had come to an end, since none of the kites could finish. I was declared Hui Wa’a Kaukahi’s Windbag of the year for 1999.
(c) 2003 Hui Waa Kaukahi
Times:
1. Kevin K.L. Ching 52 minutes
2. Norm Offstein 55 minutes
3 Doug Tanaka 80 minutes