Victory at sea: Rum Series draws out ‘stiff’ competition

NAWILIWILI — Doug Gibson and the crew aboard the “Malihini,” a catamaran out of Koloa, had mastery of the sea conditions during the Thursday Nawiliwili Yacht Club Rum Series race No. 5.

After time adjustments, Malihini, despite its overall lead throughout the race, was relegated to third place in the PHRF Open Class with an adjusted time of 1:04:12.

This was .06 of a second less than second place finisher “OZone” which crossed at 1:04:06. “OZone” maintained second place throughout the race.

“Papa‘au” topped the PHRF Open Class on a 1:03:35 finish. Sharon Gibson, the NYC secretary who doubles as the race official, noted that the ship had new sails to help its cause.

“It’s state-of-the-art stuff,” said Gibson, whose husband Doug skippered the “Malihini.”

“The spinnaker is new, too. It’s so new, this is one of the first times they’re using it,” Gibson said.

“Bonjolea,” made great moves during the in-harbor leg against “Whitecap,” finishing at the top of the CLUB Open Class on an adjusted time of 0:59:06 with “Coyote” taking second at 1:03:22. Whitecap rounded out the pack at 1:05:39.

Just one more race remains in the Rum Series before the NYC fleet takes on the around-the-island Memorial Day run.

Following that race, Gibson noted that there will be a short summer series of races.

The public is invited to check out the free final race of the Rum Series from the Nawiliwili Harbor jetty wall on Thursday. The first flag goes up at 5 p.m., with the boats having to “pay” a bottle of rum as their entry fee.

The entry fee is then enjoyed at a post-race party at the NYC Clubhouse following the race.

For more information on the NYC as well as their programs, people can log on to their Web site at nyc@hawaiian.net.

• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) and dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com