Kai's Aloha Sail
Voyage 7, Marina del Rey, August 9, 2003
From what I remember of my trips to Kauai, the word aloha can be used as both hello and goodbye. In this case it meant goodbye, as a friend of mine I had known both from Rhythm and Hues and Digital Domain was leaving to return to his home in Hawaii. Kai advised me the week before that his wish was to go for a sail before he left. And since our common friends, Oscar and Ram, had never been over to my boat (despite many promises from me to arrange it), we both decided that it we should make it happen. And it happened on Saturday August 9th.
The time was set for 3pm, a late start but it avoids the true heat of the day when the sun is at its worst. The crew assembled was Ron, Kai, Oscar, Ram, John and myself—all Cinesite alumni except for Ron. We downed a few drinks while prepping the boat, and then Ron gave me a push and we were off. Maneuvering out of the slip was again flawless (although my fears remain). We entered the main channel and started the cruise out. With light winds, we put up the main while still in the basin. It was a warm afternoon and the air on the water was not much cooler. We jockeyed with a sail and a power boat heading to the fuel dock before we passed them and had the entrance to the harbor all to ourselves. Turning the corner we left by the North entry.
While going through shutting down the engine and locking the transmission, one of the guys exclaimed ' look at the mass of boats out today.' It was race day for one of the yacht clubs, there had to be at least 100 sailboats out. Hearing the horns and cannon shots, there was no doubt it was a race. Seeing this, we decided to stay on port tack until we could clear the breakwater and then tack back to the south, away from the race. While cruising along the shore we spotted a couple of paddle boarders and a pod of dolphins to our starboard side. The only problem of the day cropped up about this time. The furler would not unfurl all the way, so Ron went forward to coax it out. After a few minutes of uneventful sailing we tacked to port and started south. The sail was pretty uneventful, a few beers and bunch of talk. The only strange thing we saw the rest of the cruise was another sailboat towing a women in a tube (while she was drinking a beer). I’ll have to see if anyone wants to try that on my boat!
Anyway, after a jibe to port, we entered the south entry and headed up the channel. The water inside the breakwater was nearly as flat as it was outside. Ron even remarked that today was one of the flattest days he has seen. We sailed up the channel, tacking a couple of times. The wind was coming from a little further North than normal, so the V was not an option. We fired up the engine and brought the boat in smoothly.
It was a great sail. Everyone wanted to come back and for an encore. To which I said to Kai, we will definitely do it again next time you are in town! The other guys will be back out soon as I can fit them on board.