Maui Boat & Yacht Club April 4th Cruise & Raft-Up off of Launiupoko Beach Park
TWO CREW MEMOS FROM KAI MANA SKIPPER JOHN MYHRE
The Inside Scoop from Kai Mana
5/11/09
Ahoy Team Kai Mana:
BOATSPEED, BOATSPEED where did the BOATSPEED go? What a difference a week and a bunch of tinkering
makes! The old Flash Gordon 2 (1600 lbs lighter, gutted interior and greater righting moment) was a true CAN-
BASHER, nimble, lighting-quick-generally first to finish. Flash Gordon 2 launched in 1995 ruled the IMS / ILC 40 fleets
for a long time and was National Boat of the Year in 1996!
Kai Mana the 2008 winner of the All-Island Trophy was a distance winner that was in transition to become awkward!
Water maker, Cushions, spare rudder, highly upgraded electronics, plumbing, ceramic tile floors, oak cabinets, laminate
floors sound system and general party-animal made Kai Mana a much different boat than it used to be.
During the Lipton Cup, Ev Flanders from MBYC and Lipton Skipper of Kai Mana and I had several discussions about
where Flash Gordon Turbo's boatspeed went because we were seriously hurting for boatspeed during the Lipton
Cup!!!! I also consulted with the designer and looked closely at sail trim to give us a outside opinion and review of the
Kai Mana situation no matter how much it hurt...
History Reveals:
From Farr Yachts...The secret of Flash Gordon's incredible boatspeed was a medium displacement boat that was
designed to displace 14,130 lbs (to sail on its lines) with better than 8900 lbs of the boat-weight in Keel and internal
ballast. Flash was also designed as an offshore racer to do well in choppy and heavy seas, (carbon hull with lots of
rocker) and excel in light air. In the light airs of Seattle Flash was wickedly fast as Flash had a huge sail area for the
displacement of the boat. The Seattle technical PHRF rating of +7 of Flash Gordon 2 would be impossible to sail in
Hawaii. (We have all seen Kai Mana ghost along in light-airs as if we have a motor and the other boats have anchors!)
In Hawaii Flash Gordon 2 should have been rated at PHRF +12... With the 17 knot average prevailing Trade Winds in
Hawaii there are very few opportunities to ghost along in races (except for Lahaina where we seem to routinely win.)
Enter Mike Rothwell, Ev Flanders, Fuzz Foster and Jim Donovan, Buddha and the rest of the pro's and when Flash first
came to Hawaii, she was extremely well-sailed and won in PHRF and Americap II. Most of that is attributed to nearly
flawless sailing, the rest of it was Mike Rothwell and I plotting to make Flash faster.
In 2005 Farr yachts was commissioned to re-ballast Flash, opting to drop the displacement from 14130 lbs to 13,200
lbs which was inclusive of adding 500 lbs to the keel. The lighter displacement helped us off the wind as we were only
flying tiny fractional kites, and the increased weight in the keel helped us spank Boomerang (a Sydney 41) to weather.
With our fractional kites we had to reach off the wind on downwind runs while Boomerang could run really deep
generally killing us on offwind VPP. We'd sail faster, but had to sail so much farther we lost nearly every downwind leg
to Boomerang over the 2005-06 seasons. In the early days we were killing Boomerang very badly upwind causing them
to make radical changes to their boat. They got rid of all the internal ballast and added about 600 lbs to their keel.
Coupled with their light carbon mast, their righting moment skyrocketed and their rig transferred the power of every puff
to the hull. Boomerang became devastatingly faster! (Scout a Sydney 41 much like Boomerang currently rates a -6 in
the Great Lakes!)
Bad made worse! Americap was introduced by US Sailing by stating "bring us ANY boat and we will level the playing
field" (be able to more fairly rate it) than PHRF and you can get rid of PHRF politics forever! Appealing... Then
suddenly Americap changed to Americap II and changed again to ORR, and so did their VPP! Flash Gordon 2, (all of
the IMS boats, Mumm 36's and Desperado) were penalized into oblivion and the Sydney's and J-35 were gifted with a
rating crutch. Things became so stilted that these boats would win races before leaving the dock. What happened? US
Sailing lost its bearing and the egg-head technocrats in their zeal to write a "better VPP" actually wrote a more
"discriminating VPP" and propagated one of the worst lies ever inflicted upon the sport of sailing. While their motives
seemed pure enough, I don't think they could have intentionally done more damage to sailing in the USA and all
accomplished in the name of "fairness." Fleets were split into boats with and without ORR certificates and any disabled
geriatric could coast a rating-gifted shit-box to podium finishes. NOT MY IDEA OF COMPETITION. Born was the 2008
KING 40, (The relative fastest boat with the best rating under ORR and IRC we are ever likely to find.
Enter Jim Donovan in 2006, and he plugged up where Flash bleeded in boatspeed off the wind by designing and
building a carbon topmast for masthead spinnakers... Flash Gordon 2 was suddenly a winner under PHRF with a
heavier keel and a lighter 13,200 pound displacement. Add Jim's ability to keep a boat perfectly trimmed, some decent
steering, an untangled foredeck and Jim's horse sense for going the right way and we had a Winner in Flash Gordon
Turbo! Flash Gordon Turbo really needed to be sailed with professional crew, as the boat beat us up every time we
sailed it (large sail area and very high loads in a breeze.)
In 2007 I was determined to make a kinder-gentler Flash Gordon Turbo! With Jim Donovan as an advisor- Lyn, Jimmy
(others) and I rebuilt Flash Gordon Turbo-winch sizes and rope diameters increased (so we would be less beaten up
by the boat.) The interior while heavy increased the boat displacement to 13,980 lbs. With a bright red hull, Kai Mana
was born and so was a new adventure into sailing. At less than her design weight Kai Mana was kinder-gentler with
vastly improved creature comforts and still blazingly fast.
Along came the notion to do Transpac in 2009, and Kai Man was again upgraded. The 24 battery became a 27, the (2)-
27's became (2)-30's and a huge 245 Amp 140 lb AGM battery was added. A 90lb life raft was added, a 72 lb spare
rudder was added, 240 lbs of counter-balance lead due to the no list rule was added, electronics were added, and Kai
Mana became "ready" to race the Transpac...?????
Ev and I were looking for boatspeed in the Lipton Cup... And it wasn't there.. Kai Mana was slow and we were hurting
badly on Friday nights... Kai Mana needed help!
Enter previous dialog from Farr Yachts: Jim Schmicker their senior naval architect and one of the original designers of
Flash Gordon 2, informed me that the boat was designed to sail on its hull lines at 14,130 lbs ... Kai Mana was too fat, it
seriously needed to go on a diet as it is a high-drag hull that was displacing (and thereby pushing) too much water!
Enter Georgia the Farr 43 sister ship of Kai Mana. Georgia has the exact hull and rig of Kai Mana. Georgia had very
little bilge ballast and a full interior. Kai Mana ex Flash Gordon 2 proved to be the faster boat but lost the 1996
Kenwood Cup to Georgia which rated better under IMS with the Interior that had the displacement weight diffused all
across the hull as opposed to Flash Gordon 2 which centered the weight below the waterline in the bilge... Hummm???
After the naval architect calcs we removed 720 lbs of bilge ballast from Kai Mana this week. The cost would be righting
moment , and in a blow this could be really bad, but the benefit would be that Kai Mana would be able to sail on it's
designed waterline displacing 14,080 lbs, instead of 14,800 lbs...! There would be a problem! The righting moment as
compared to Boomerang would not be as efficient in converting wind puffs into boatspeed to weather... But Kai Mana
would again be fleet of foot!!!!
Order #2 from Jim Donovan is to re-fare the keel to make our underwater sail be fully efficient so we can VMG to
weather with maximum lift and speed... (Jim will likely do the keel-work at the next summer haul-out.)
Enter EP Sails: The still photographs from the Lipton Cup revealed huge rig/sail shape problems and boat handling
and trim errors that needed improvement. Photographs were painful. From the sail maker: Fractional rig boats must
be sailed with a lot of twist in the sails! Too much mast rake with the sails too strapped causes the boatspeed to
CHOKE and CROAK!
We were largely strapping the mainsail and over-trimming the jib to weather. NOT ANYBODY'S FAULT! Kai Mana was
slow, and during the Lipton Cup everybody was desperately trying to make things better, endlessly trying different sail,
trim and rake combinations. We were looking for the magical combination to give us the boatspeed needed to win the
Lipton- however, that would be impossible to obtain as the boat was just too heavy. In looking at the photos, I'm fired
on the runner-I didn't downshift enough. The runner was perpetually too tight choking the overly raked rig with even
more rig-rake! The mainsail was over sheeted to weather to the point of having diagonal rifts in the lower 2/3rd of the
sail... The solution: Less runner, way more checkstay and less sheet with more traveler up and TWIST, TWIST,
TWSIT... Off the wind the vang was over sheeted. To loose a vang and the mainsail is inefficient as the upper leach is
too open and ineffective, too tight and deploy the flaps for landing as the leach hooks! We also had a case of offwind
landing flaps during the Lipton.. The jib would be set OK but the wind was so puffy and then light then puffy, that the jib
was often over sheeted in the light spots...
Enter Rig Tune UP: We weren't going to weather... Possible solution was to rake the rig aft.... WRONG! I'M FIRED
AGAIN! Raking the mast back (really works well on cats and sailboards) was stupid as the jibs didn't sheet in like they
were supposed to (impossible to clean-up the leech without over strapping the sail.)
Enter the Lipton Video: And our seasoned crew's boat handling was revealed, spin sets/drops, jib sets/drops, bow-
dancing (Lyn was injured) and mark rounding’s and again my bad (over standing the weather mark-perpetually and not
protecting the shoreline on day 1...) Yes, there were moments where most everybody on the boat was famous at least
once!
All in all, I'm really glad we did the Lipton Cup and was really honored to have Ev join us...
The weather was beautiful and the racing was a LOT of FUN! Although we didn't get the result we hoped for, we were
clearly able to use this experience to learn a lot and RADICALLY change the prospects for our upcoming season! 1
week later EURIKA... KAI MANA IS BACK IN THE HUNT!
Aloha,
John
NEWS FLASH! NEWS FLASH! NEWS FLASH! NEWS FLASH!
KAI MANA WINS THE 2009 RABBIT ISLAND REGATTA!
...Spadaro's Boomerang gets passed at Rabbit Island-AND it is caught on camera!
(Don't worry John, the passing took 10 seconds...The photographs will live-on forever!)
...Kai Mana crew revels in needed win!
...Laura wins her heat in the Laser Series!
THE GOOD GUYS ARE WINNERS-AGAIN!
THERE IS REALLY NOTHING LIKE WINNING!!!!!!!
The 2009 Rabbit Island Regatta was a time for change! Kai Mana did NOT enter ORR for Rabbit Island Regatta
because our brand new ORR certificate was AGAIN invalid! 720 pounds lighter, miles faster, would Kai Mana go to
weather? This was answered off the start on the first weather leg to Diamond Head... We got a better start than either
Boomerang or Heartbeat as their line to the weather mark was too low, and they had to tack to avoid the Atlantis
submarine obstruction to the weather mark. At the first tack we cleared Boomerang who was on starboard tack.
However, Heartbeat is so much faster to weather they were able to easily cross us, tack and sit on our air. Tacking Kai
Mana didn't make any sense as we were already on the lay line to Diamond Head, and before long Heartbeat simply
sailed away like they are supposed to and cleared our air... The horse race was between Boomerang and us. Nobody
except Jesse knew we were back to an ideal displacement. (The Lipton tape revealed that we need to hike harder as a
crew...Just like the Boomerang guys do!!!) Jesse was twisting the mainsail, and the runners were at 2 metric tons in
the 16 knot breezes. We were on the #2 headsail, and we beat Boomerang to Diamond Head by 20 feet. They tacked
in to cover the shore and we played the outside for several more minutes. The seas were choppy, the ride felt bad and
we tacked in for smoother waters. The ride-in felt good and we were hitting our numbers and were clear ahead of
Boomerang. The next tack I covered the inside and we lost our jib sheet (snap shackle came undone). Boomerang
gained many boat lengths on the outside. I thought it was because we lost or jib sheet, when in fact it was a 1-2 knot
current on the outside that was pushing Boomerang toward Kokohead in the desired direction-a current we did NOT
have on the inside. The flatter seas, and the inside lifts were irresistible! It felt good and it felt we were making big
gains on Boomerang.. On the outside off of Kahala and Hawaii Kai Boomerang was actually making bigger gains due
to the current. At Kokohead they had a 2 football field lead on us, mostly because I was stupid. When in the lead, you
stay in the lead by covering, and not by chasing flat water and irresistible wind shifts along the shoreline. (Please
remember this crew and nail me on it the next time I'm not thinking clearly!)
At Kokohead and up the Molokai channel to Makapuu Lighthouse fortunes changed. Outside the seas were
moderately-choppy and the sailing felt really bad. Boomerang ducked in for the flatter water off of Sandy Beach. I took
us offshore to get into the current. Again, the sailing felt bad, the VMG paddlewheel suggested we were only going 6.4
knots (when we should be going 7.2 to 7.4 knots.) But the GPS said we were going 8 knots over ground! The seas
were choppy and the swells were tight, causing the boat to bounce and pound on three occasions. The crew became
restless and asked where we were going, and I said "to Molokai." It felt like it, but what I was actually working toward
was the lay line to Makapuu. When we tacked, folks commented that we can't seem to hit our numbers But the GPS
still was reading around 8 knots speed over ground. (Lots of current on the stern.) When the boats converged at
Makapuu to Boomerang's horror we were now 100 feet from his stern and gaining. Heartbeat got caught too close to
Makapuu and the seas and lighter winds were sucking him into the cliffs. He had to tack back outside toward lay line to
clear the Makapuu cliffs. And magic, there he was, the little yellow boat in the distance was suddenly the big yellow
boat back to join the party. To Rabbit Island the boats paced with each other in order Heartbeat in the Lead, followed by
Boomerang that was hotly followed by Kai Mana. When we got in the channel we gained even more on Boomerang,
and in the lee of Rabbit Island we got on to Boomerang's wind. He tried to head us up, but we had the boatspeed and
we passed in a matter of seconds (caught on camera-will last in infamy-couldn't happen to a better Joe!) We sailed a
better and tighter line around Rabbit Island (Jeff ever watching to keep us off the rocks.) Behind Rabbit Island we set
our reaching Ayso Spinnaker and started blazing. Boomerang set their AP spinnaker and they couldn't hold it...
Collapsing and slow. What is the matter boys? Haven't been on EBay lately? Didn't get yourself a code 3A reaching
kite?
Sometime later we cut away to Big Red our masthead symmetrical spinnaker. The peel was picture perfect and Adam
solved our set problems. He hoist huge kites up a 65 foot mast like they are dinghy sails! We played the middle of the
course, gave Heartbeat fits, simply dispensed with Boomerang as we ghosted along Kokohead Point doing 8 knots.
The seas were calm so we passed the point within 100 feet of the towering rock ledges. I called for a jibe, and the
boatspeed increased a lot as we found a wind line. Jibing back toward Diamond Head Buoy still very far in the
distance, we were in a nice wind line. I wanted to do the wrong thing twice and jibe. Instead the crew talked me into
sailing like the offwind masthead boat that we are, pole back boom out and sail 170 degrees DDW. It proved to be very
fast. Kai Mana had her boatspeed back and was very nimble off the wind. Just before Diamond Head, Jimmy was in
his harness in 15 feet in the air and at the end of the spinnaker pole to clear a fractional halyard. Lyn told me to just
drive. Photo opps of "America's Cup Foredeck Jimmy" were taken as he cleared the halyard. (To this point in the day,
Jeff only had to tell me twice to "take a Valium" which really means "Shut up John-volume too loud."
After Diamond Head heading to the finish it was magic. The foredeck work could not have been better. Lyn was backing
up Jimmy on the bow and when we could no longer carry big red (our huge masthead symmetrical spinnaker), we
peeled away to our 3A Ayso reacher. In case the wind were to shift to the stern the foredeck had big blue (the
masthead Asyo) ready to hoist and had the #1 ready to hoist. For several hundred yards we hit 38 to 40 degrees
apparent wind and almost cut away to the headsail. By bearing away from the mark 10 degrees we kept the kite up with
good boatspeed. Finally we got lifted and carried the kite across the finish. We were all very happy, we had sailed very
hard and we did very well. I left to take Ajmal back to the airport, when I first got a call from Jeff and then shortly from
Peter, we did it! Kai Mana is back in the saddle! We found our boatspeed, we sailed well, and found Gold! Now let's go
back after the All Island Trophy... It is mostly all downwind sailing!!!!
Jeff will you be sending photos to everybody on the mailing list to go with the adventure...??? (This one was for Doug
Peacock who got stuck on Maui this weekend.)
Aloha,
John
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Rabbit Island Race Photos
Editor’s Note: Kai Mana was
formerly named Flash Gordon 2
