Entry fees enjoyed in Thursday rains

The entry fees never tasted so good, and following the steady rain did not last long Thursday.

A bottle of rum is the entry into the Nawiliwili Yacht Club’s Rum Series, and the event, the third of six races, was a mixture of no wind and a constant rain that drenched everyone.

Winds described as variable saw the boats start from inside the harbor for a long spinnaker run out to the Ninini Point lighthouse turnaround, but just as the starting horn sounded, the winds died.

Spinnakers were raised, but there was no ballooning.

As soon as they hit the Kalapaki breakwater, the inside wind was blowing from the south so the boats had to drop their chutes and tack upwind to the G-11 mark.

Throughout the scene, the light drizzle that came with the starting horn increased to a steady rain that didn’t let up until the race was over.

“Fast Company,” like it did last week, jumped to a different tack at the start, and despite its spinnaker slow to fill, was able to hold off “Lelele,” the Wells 30, whose green-and-yellow chute filled first on the outward leg.

In the rain, and through the final gust of wind that blew at 10 knots, the strongest in the entire race, “Fast Company” topped “Lelele” by a mere five seconds in the PHRF corrected times, the Olson 30 drawing a 50:20 PHRF over “Lelele’s” 50:25 PHRF.

“Speedy,” another of the Olson 30s, filled in third place with a PHRF 50:47 followed by OZone, the Olson 30 that is not used to sitting and bobbing in a still-water scene.

She clocked a 51:14 PHRF after sharing the same tack as “Lelele” on the start line.

“Papa‘au,” an Express 27, and “Bonjolea,” an X-342, rounded out the field of soggy sailors on PHRF corrected times of 52:45 and 54:09, respectively.

The Rum Series, Race No. 4 takes place Thursday afternoon starting at about 4:45 p.m.

The public is invited to view the competition from the jetty wall which has been attracting a lot of afternoon anglers.