NAWILIWILI — While Kauai worried about Tropical Storm Olivia, crews aboard the eight boats participating in the Nawiliwili Yacht Club Gene Wells Memorial Series Race No. 2 wrangled with the conditions Thursday at Nawiliwili Harbor.
Sea winds blew in from the east/east-northeast at 20 to 25 knots, generated by Olivia.
“It was gusting to almost 30 knots for the entire race,” said Doug Tiffany, the interim NYC vice commodore. “Seas were from the east at 1.8 to 2.8 meters, and there were a couple large and steep rollers out by the windward mark, the Ninini Point buoy.”
These weather conditions, blanketed by a variety of weather advisories, could not stop the fleet, which braved the seas and saw Kato and OZone flying off the line in precision with the stop clock.
“The gusty high winds were proving to be a challenge for all boats,” Tiffany said. “All boats with the exception of Papa A‘u had reefed mains, and a small headsail because of the winds. All boats were taking a lot of green water over the bow and heeling over quite dramatically.”
OZone, Kato, Bonjolea II and Fast Company were in a right group on a starboard tack heading out of the harbor on the first leg of the 4.8-mile course. Weatherly, Papa A‘u and Speedy were in the second grouping with Iwa, an Oceanis 41, bringing up the rear.
Halfway to the Ninini Point turnaround, the fleet made a turn to a port tack, which gave Bonjolea II a window to the lead over OZone and Kato.
Returning to the harbor, Kato, flying a spinnaker over Bonjolea II’s option of staying safe, grabbed the lead to the leeward mark on the far side of the harbor. The seesaw tipped and Bonjolea II regained the lead heading to the second and final leg of the race.
During the second leg return to the harbor, OZone developed spinnaker problems, the balloon ending up in the water and the boat being dragged towards the breakwater with no control.
“Recognizing OZone’s plight, Papa A‘u changed course to assist the struggling Olson 30, whose crew was struggling to keep from over-running the spinnaker, fouling the rudder, and losing complete control and running aground on the breakwater,” Tiffany said. “OZone’s crew solved the problem and got the boat back on track and out of danger at the last minute ahead of disaster.”
The incident caused OZone to fall far behind the leaders, giving the race to Fast Company, which closed in on Bonjolea II and sounded the finish horn on an elapsed sail of 56 minutes, 03 seconds in the turbulence. She corrected to 56:24 PHRF for the first finish.
Bonjolea II, although crossing nine seconds ahead of Fast Company at 55:54 elapsed sail, was relegated to fourth place after the PHRF correction was applied to give her a 59:34 PHRF sail.
“This was, by all accounts, one of the most exciting and challenging races of the 2018 season,” Tiffany said.
Other finishers included Weatherly (59:10 elapsed, 59:32 PHRF), Bonjolea II, Iwa (1:06:36 elapsed, 1:05:04 PHRF), Speedy (1:04:58 elapsed, 1:05:22 PHRF), Papa A‘u (1:08:03 elapsed, 1:05:43 PHRF), and OZone (1:08:33 elapsed, 1:08:58 PHRF).
Bonjolea II corrected to 55:59 Club for top honors in that class followed by Speedy (56:50 Club), and Papa A‘u (1:01:52 Club).
The next race in the NYC Gene Wells Memorial Series will take place Thursday when the first flags from the NYC Race Committee fly at 5 p.m. at the Nawiliwili Harbor jetty wall parking area. The race is open to spectators at no charge.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
