2000 Kenwood Cup - Day One
by Susan McKeag 1 Aug 2000 08:06 BST
PRACTICE RACES ABANDONED - WEATHER CONTINUES TO KEEP US GUESSING
Honolulu, Hawaii
The two practice races scheduled to open the Royal Hawaiian Ocean Racing
Club's 12th biennial Hawaii International Offshore Series for the Kenwood
Cup had to be abandoned today due to lack of wind. Two years ago we saw
the first ever postponement of and then abandonment of racing here at the
Kenwood Cup. Then it was thanks to the remnants of Tropical Storm Estell
which left a ridge of tropical disturbance blocking off the normally
reliable Trade Winds. This time it is Hurricane Daniel - the first of the
season here in the Pacific. Although officially downgraded to a Tropical
Storm yesterday here on the island of Oahu we are on a Tropical Storm
Warning which means that it is expected to hit within the next 24 hours.
Daniel is one of the largest storms to brush past the Hawaiian Islands
since Hurricane Iniki caused major devastation on Kauai in 1992. For the
moment the storm is certainly keeping Race Director Ken Morrison and his
Race Team on their toes. If current forecasts are correct Daniel will hit
tonight causing very heavy rains, localized flooding, high seas and winds
ranging between 45 and 60 miles per hour with higher gusts. The hope is
that it will all be over by tomorrow morning and racing proper can get
underway with a triangle race in the morning and a windward/leeward course
in the early afternoon.
Six teams will challenge for the Kenwood Cup itself with the United States
fielding a red, blue and white team. Japan and Australia have sent teams
and New Zealand is back in force to defend the title. The USA RED team
includes the new Farr 50 Esmeralda owned by Makoto Uematsu and skippered
by, John Kilroy's 1999 World Champion Farr 40 OD Samba Pa Ti, and
Philippe Kahn's Farr 40 OD Orion. The WHITE team comprises the highly
optimized Sydney 41 Glama! owned by Seth Radow, Scooter Simmons' Cha-Ching,
another Sydney 41, and Zamboni, Doug Taylor's Farr 40 OD. The USA BLUE
team is down to 2 boats owing to the withdrawal of Neil Barth's Growler.
Five boats have come from Australia including the biggest yacht here John
Kahlbetzer's new Sydney 62 Bumblebee 5 which will be the reserve boat for
the Aussie team which comprises Yendys a Farr 49 owned by Geoffrey Ross,
Fruit Machine owned by Neil Whiston and Smile owned by brother Simon
Whiston - both Beneteau 40.7s optimized to the max. The Kiwis are fielding
an extremely strong team once again - Mick Cookson's new Farr 47 Air New
Zealand High 5, Naohiko Sera's new Farr 47 Sea Hawk and Hideo Matsuda's Far
45 Big Apple III. Andrew Taylor's Davidson 55 Andiamo takes up the reserve
spot. The Japanese team comprises Karasu, a Judel/Vrojlk 43 owned by
Yasuo Nanamori, Masato Fujimaki's Farr 40 OD Foundation and Liberte Expres
a new Beneteau Farr 47.7 owned by Yasumasa Kawamura.
Kenwood Cup 2000 runs from August 1 to August 9 and has also been
designated the Pacific Region Championship for the Farr 40 OD class and a
fleet of six J105s is here for the first time from San Francisco and
includes a charter entry from Great Britain by Chris Brown. Racing begins
tomorrow, Tuesday (hopefully) and continues with triangle and
windward/leeward races on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. A 55-mile race
on Thursday and concludes with the 150-mile Molokai race beginning Monday 1
August.
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