‘Lelele’ opens Rum Series with a win

“Lelele,” a Wells 30, carried the momentum from her first finish overall in the Dick Becker Memorial Series to top the first race of the Rum Series, Thursday afternoon.

Hosted by the Nawiliwili Yacht Club, the first race of the series was cut short due to wispy winds out of the North-northeast and the piddly rain that hung heavy over the harbor.

This cut the normal two-leg race down to a single short leg to create more intensity at the start where the five-boat pack clustered at the horn.

“Lelele” and “OZone,” one of three Olson 30s in the race field, shot out of the pack.

According to NYC scorekeeper Sharon Gibson who made the start of the race after directly deplaning at Lihu‘e Airport, “Lelele” wrangled the lead off the first mark and held on for the remainder of the race, crossing the finish on an elapsed sail of 25:40.

“OZone,” a consistent strong competitor, crossed less than two minutes later on an elapsed time of 27:17.

A two-second mark was the margin of victory for “Papa‘au,” an Express 27, that bested “Fast Company,” another Olson 30, on the home stretch at 29:09 and 29:11 elapsed, respectively.

“Speedy,” the third Olson 30, rounded out the field at 31:30 elapsed.

With the PHRF corrections, “Lelele” was awarded the top finish on an adjusted sail of 25:35 followed by “OZone” at 27:20.

“Papa‘au,” “Fast Company” and “Speedy” rounded out the field on sails of 27:54, 29:14 and 31:33 PHRF, respectively.

The series continues Thursday at the Nawiliwili Harbor and the public is invited to view the competition which features a bottle of rum as the entry fee for the boat captains.

Gibson said, “The skippers have become very creative with the labels on their rum bottle entries, and maybe we should have a separate contest for that.”

The public is invited to view the races and join the crews in a post-race get-together at the NYC clubhouse at no charge.

First flag for the event flies at 4:45 p.m.