Tuesday, August 4, 1998
Anchors aweigh:
Kenwood Cup
sets sail
First two races of the
By Ray Pendleton
series are completed
off Waikiki
Special to the Star-BulletinRacing the winds of paradise lived up to its reputation on the first day of the Kenwood Cup International Racing Series.
The first two races offshore of Waikiki -- an ocean triangle and a windward-leeward course -- were favored by clear skies, 20- to 30-knot trade winds and six- to eight-foot seas.
Taking part were some of the world's top yacht racers -- skippers such as John Kolius, Dawn Riley, Peter Gilmour, Syd Fisher and John Kostecki, and five national teams -- Australia, Japan, New Zealand, USA Red and USA White.
Local favorites, like Zamboni, Doug Taylor's Farr 40, Skip Winterbottom's Lidgard 35, Desperado, and Les Vasconcellos' J35, Urban Renewal, battled 26 other ocean racers for class, fleet and team points.
Of special interest were the OneDesign 48 yachts, being used by several America's Cup challenger team hopefuls as training platforms for the big one in New Zealand in 1999-2000.
Among them were Waikiki Yacht Club's Abracadabra, owned by Dr. Jim Andrews; America True, chartered by San Francisco Yacht Club's Dawn Riley; G-Shock, chartered by Kazuaki Shibagami of the Nippon Yacht Club; illbruck-Pinta, chartered by Germany's Thomas Michaelsen; Starlight, owned by Jay Ecklund of the Minnetonka Yacht Club in Minnesota; and Windquest, owned by Doug Devos.
The biggest boat entered in the race -- Charles Burnett's Davidson 72, Cassiopeia, had no trouble getting around both courses to finish long before the rest of the fleet.
In the hotly contested OneDesign 48-class, illbruck-Pinta had to drop out in the first race with rudder control difficulties. In the second race, Starlight appeared to suffer the loss of a spinnaker halyard and pulled out.
The second series starts today at 11 a.m., also off Waikiki.
Kenwood Cup schedule
Today (off Waikiki)
Race 3: Triangle, 11 a.m.
Race 4: Windward/Leeward, 1:30 p.m.
Race 5: Oahu to Molokai-return, 6 p.m. start
Race 6: Triangle, 11 a.m.
Race 7: Windward/Leeward, 1:30 p.m.
Race 8: Triangle, 11 a.m.
Race 9: Windward/Leeward, 1:30 p.m.
Race 10: Oahu to Maui to Kauai to Oahu, noon start
