NAWILIWILI — Sharon Gibson rebounded from her slow finish last week to hold off a four-boat field en route to taking the final race of the Nawiliwili Yacht Club’s Wahine Series, Thursday. Racing in steady 15-20 knot East-Northeasterly trade, the
NAWILIWILI — Sharon Gibson rebounded from her slow finish last week to hold off a four-boat field en route to taking the final race of the Nawiliwili Yacht Club’s Wahine Series, Thursday.
Racing in steady 15-20 knot East-Northeasterly trade, the Malihini, under the skippering of Gibson, slipped out of a tight start and held her lead through the entire race, sliding past the line-of-sight finish with an elapsed time of 41.42, more than a minute ahead of Speedy.
“Did you see the start?” Gibson asked in an e-mail. “Boy, was that scary — we were all so close together.”
But the 35-foot catamaran secured the early lead and held off challenges throughout the race for the victory.
With the PHRF corrected time, Malihini topped the Open class at 42.45, still well ahead of Speedy whose final attempt came at the can outside the harbor where dead air slowed the yachts. Speedy, captained by Marty Ellis, crossed at 42.57 elapsed, 43.13 PHRF followed by OZone (45.14, 45.31 PHRF), and Papa‘au (48.22, 46.18 PHRF).
In the monohull competition, Speedy topped the field followed by OZone, captained by Susan LeHoven, and Papa‘au. Speedy also topped the Club Open class (39.16) Club), followed by Malihini (40.49 Club), OZone (44.05 Club) and Papa‘au (44.59 Club).
The close start was not the only excitement of the day as the three boats following the Malihini ballooned their spinnakers coming into the harbor off the Kalapaki Bay can.
That gave the monohulls an extra boost in the winds, but Papa‘au, an Express 27, had issues coming off the far can near the breakwater wall. The boat, skippered by Sue Little, dipped her mast dangerously close to the water, as the spinnaker billowed out of control.
Once, twice, and three times. But Papa‘au was able to recover and finish without incident in the calmer harbor waters.
Sharon’s victory is the second in the series for the Malihini who took the opening race three weeks ago. The win also gave her the series by two points overall. Second place in the series went to Papa‘au.
MaryAnn Holden said with the completion of the NYC Wahine Series, the next race will be the Kaua‘i Channel Race which takes place next Friday.
The finish line of the Ko Olina, O‘ahu, to Kaua‘i race will be at the cans at the corner of the jetty wall and the public is invited to watch the finish which is expected to take place around 4 p.m.
Holden said there will be six sailboats from Kaua‘i joining at least another six other sailboats in the 78-mile race which starts at 7 a.m.
The post-race party will take place Saturday at the NYC Clubhouse.
Tickets are $55 for the catered buffet.
Doors open at 5 p.m. with a no-host bar. Dinner service begins at 6 p.m. and will feature prime rib and vegetarian pasta primavera.
Awards will be presented at 7:30 p.m. and the T&G Groove Daddies will play dance tunes from 8 to 11 p.m. Additionally, a silent auction will be going on from 5 to 9 p.m. along with a 50/50 raffle.
For more details, call Sharon at 742-2512, or visit the NYC Web site at www.nawiliwiliyachtclub.org.
