Ch 5: A Whale, a Pack of Sharks and a Pod of Dolphins

Ch 6: A Gold Medal and Sponsorship

Ch 7: Island Politics

Ch 8: H.A.W.A.I.I. Makes Waves

Ch 9: Fast Racers, Slow Boat

Ch 10: More Racing, Less Boat

Ch 11: Maui No Ka Oi

Ch 12: Honors I'll Always Appreciate

Chapter 10: More Racing, Less Boat

Kailua, Oahu: Early 1991. Interest in windsurfing competition was increasing so we expanded the racing program and for the next two years, H.A.W.A.I.I. was the most active windsurfing association in the U.S.B.A. (which changed it name in early 1990 to U.S.W.A. (United States Windsurfing Association). H.A.W.A.I.I. scheduled a Saturday Race Day every other week year round plus the Aloha State Games and the Hawaii Pacific Games Windsurfing Events. I continued on as President/Race Coordinator/Race Director/Newsletter Editor. H.A.W.A.I.I. also implemented a new policy regarding wind minimums: All Slalom Races would be converted to Course Races should the wind minimums not be met and should the Course Racing wind minimum not be met, they would convert to Fun Races. This resulted in less canceled races and more time racing for everyone ... except those of course who chose not to bring course boards. H.A.W.A.I.I.'s busy schedule effectively ended my own competition career but it helped launch a new "career" in U.S.W.A. as a National Director, a position I would hold for seven years. My first task was to chair a committee to revise the 1991 U.S.W.A. Event Guidelines with the goal of making them less ambiguous and easier to understand.

Kailua, Oahu: Early 1992. H.A.W.A.I.I continued scheduling a Saturday Race Day every other week year round plus the Aloha State Games Windsurfing Event. After two major regattas back to back in 1990 and 1991, I decided never to do that again. Meanwhile, some Oahu windsurfers were moving to Maui for better wind and less expensive housing.

Diamond Head, Oahu: August, 1992. H.A.W.A.I.I.'s little white and orange pride and joy continued its erratic behavior patterns and it seemed to me, was just "an accident looking for a place to happen". During the Aloha State Games Windsurfing Event, the P-14 Race Committee Boat decided to be charitable for once and contribute to the needs of the tropical reef population at Diamond Head. During a Wave-Slalom race, an especially strong gust coming around Black Point hit the P-14 and it made a donation of its orange fiberglassed plywood enclosure which promptly sank in about 10M of water. As far as I know, it's still providing shelter to many of Hawaii's brightly colored reef fish. Then after the Regatta, when our Marine Corp. skipper and crew member Graham Boltz was taking the "convertible-ized" P-14 around Black Point, it apparently decided a holiday on Figi might be fun. It was late afternoon when the crew reported engine failure and we asked the Coast Guard for assistance. Regretfully, they were committed to another rescue and for some unknown reason, directed the crew not to drop anchor. While Bernie Boltz, Graham's dad, was making arrangements for a private rescue, strong Trades pushed the P-14 from its location just off Black Point to three and a half miles out in the open ocean which was running 18-20 foot seas. We lost visible contact after sunset but fortunately maintained radio contact the entire time and we directed the rescue boat to the vicinity of the disabled Race Committee boat. It was dark by then so we directed the boat crew to send up flares. The rescue boat never saw the first two but fortunately, spotted the third (and last) flare and found the disabled boat. Both crew members were in good shape but extremely wet, cold and seasick.