Rounding Moku-o-loe (Coconut) Island: The Junior El Toro fleet sails the Hawaii Bullship Race on Kaneohe Bay
By Tom Burden
Photos: Kenneth Fitzgerald-Case
Photos: Kenneth Fitzgerald-Case
El Toro Sailing with the Aloha Spirit
Kaneohe Yacht Club (KYC), on Oahu’s Windward Shore, and Richmond Yacht Club, on San Francisco Bay, are sister organizations. They share sponsorship of the Pacific Cup yacht race, and also happen to be two hot spots for racing devotees of the El Toro, an eight-foot hard chined one-design pram.
The last weekend of July represented a gathering of the El Toro faithful–both Hawaiians and mainlanders–with Saturday’s Hawaii State Championships, and Sunday’s 69th running of the annual Hawaii Bullship Race. California sailors shipped a Matson container full of 17 El Toros from Oakland for a full race week including the North American Championships (August 1-4).
The Bullship race included a junior division for age 18 and under, which blasted off at 10:00 am, and a senior fleet for age 19 and up starting at 1:30. This allowed the lighter-weight juniors to escape the full Trade Wind blast of the afternoon, and allowed kids and adults to share the same boat. With the El Toro being a true “lifetime” race boat, ages among Bullshippers ranged from 11 to 74 years.
The last weekend of July represented a gathering of the El Toro faithful–both Hawaiians and mainlanders–with Saturday’s Hawaii State Championships, and Sunday’s 69th running of the annual Hawaii Bullship Race. California sailors shipped a Matson container full of 17 El Toros from Oakland for a full race week including the North American Championships (August 1-4).
The Bullship race included a junior division for age 18 and under, which blasted off at 10:00 am, and a senior fleet for age 19 and up starting at 1:30. This allowed the lighter-weight juniors to escape the full Trade Wind blast of the afternoon, and allowed kids and adults to share the same boat. With the El Toro being a true “lifetime” race boat, ages among Bullshippers ranged from 11 to 74 years.
The Junior Fleet exits the KYC Harbor with Tamzen Lim in the lead.
A downwind, in-the-harbor start provided great spectating for parents and Mai Tai-drinking loungers watching from the KYC pool and clubhouse. The fleet of 32 youngsters exited the harbor packed rail-to-rail. Threading an obstacle course of coral heads, the Toros headed downwind for a rounding of Moku-o-loe (Coconut) Island, including a terrifying jibe in 20-knot gusts, followed by a full-hiking upwind slog back to KYC.
Young Makani Andrews hikes hard in a boat that's much older than he is, as he leads the Junior Fleet back to KYC.
Budding Rockstar Makani Andrews (age 11) set a blistering pace, planing into the lead to finish 50 yards in front of Tamzen Lim at the KYC bulkhead, and earning an invitation to join the adults and try for a Bullship sweep. Kiley Freitas, Morgan Vodzak, and Cameron Barra rounded out the top five youths.
The senior division start was staggered by weight with the heaviest “Clydesdale” skippers (over 210 pounds) starting at the harbor entrance. Next, 20 yards back, followed the Heavyweights (180 to 209), behind them the Middleweights (150-179), and finally the Lightweights (under 150) in front of the Bulkhead.
El Toro sailors in almost all weight ranges can compete fairly equally, which is remarkable for a tiny pram (sharing the same basic hull as the Sabot, found in Southern California and Australia). Lightweights run flexible carbon masts, and bigger folks can use fuller sails and stiff spars. Interior seats, flotation tanks and decking can also be customized. Hawaii boats, built by the Lim brothers, feature seat tanks, while Ron Moore Toros have rolled tanks like a 505, and Gordy Nash boats have big, open cockpits and an extended deck. Whatever your size and weight, there’s an El Toro for you. The exterior hull design, tweaked long ago by naval architect Gary Mull, is identical for Moore and Lim boats. This makes for extremely close, tactical racing.
This writer missed the Heavyweight cutoff by less than a pound (179.2 pounds), so started back in the third row. Ahead were Heavies Vaughn Seifers and Fred Paxton, past North American Champions and my mainland arch-rivals. In my start were reigning NA Champ Patrick Tara, along with boatbuilder Yal Lim and Jesse Andrews (Makani’s dad, KYC Sailing Director, Hawaii super-coach and Toro guru). Behind were Yal’s brother Kui (Hall-of-Fame Toro sailor with nine NA titles, and Tamzen Lim’s dad) plus the aforementioned Makani. A loaded fleet of 38 Toros!
Big Kahunas: Mainlanders Vaughn Seifers and Fred Paxton, in the Heavyweight group, are pushing aside plenty of water. All Senior competitors submitted to a weigh-in to determine starting order.
A lumpy reach followed our crowded start and exit from the coral head channel. Makani Andrews sailed right up my wake, planing right over me, and was soon hundreds of yards ahead. Kui Lim followed, and I waved “buh-bye” as he passed, streaking through the fleet in pursuit of the kid (179-pound Toro sailors like me do not plane, EVER).
Although we were allowed to round the island in both directions, the majority of the fleet rounded to port, which proved faster. We sailed as close as possible to the coral head behind Coconut Island, periodically ducking “wrong way” Starboard tackers. Hawaii racing is remarkably polite, at least to this mainlander–that Aloha point of view, I guess.
The one-legged beat to the KYC harbor was full-hike, hit-the-straps with lots of kinetics to get through the chop. Tough work! Those boats that stayed high did not need to make an extra tack, which made the difference in lost places. In the end, the Hall-of-Famer overcame the talented junior, as Kui Lim outsailed Makani Andrews inside the harbor, passing him close to the finish to steal the victory.
Boatbuilder and all-time El Toro great Kui Lim covers Junior Fleet winner Makani Andrews as they near the finish line.
Back onshore after a refreshing dip in the club pool, we watched Yal Lim, the consummate Master of Ceremonies, hand out many awards for the Bullshippers. These included perpetual trophies with bull’s horns for the victors, a bull’s tail for “Tail-End Charlie,” awards for top doublehanded teams, most hulis (capsizes) and others. Yal himself presented a somewhat bizarre appearance, a Hawaiian/Chinese American wearing a huge Sombrero, holding a gold-plated shovel with the word “TORO” on the blade. Yal the cheerleader led many loud “Toro! Toro! Toro!” chants, with his shovel proudly raised to the sky. (The shovel mimics the shovel insignia on Toro sails.)
Toro Evangelist: Yal Lim leads a spirited round of "Toro! Toro! Toro!" cheers.
Winners (left to right): Tori Thompson (Third Place), Makani Andrews (Junior Bullship Champion) and Kui Lim (Senior Bullship Champion).
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