Alison Scarbo came out on top of the battle in the wind at the Wahine Series, Race No. 2, Thursday. Scarbo, skippering “OZone,” an Olson 30, emerged victorious after “Malihini,” a 35’ cat skippered by Sharon Gibson, was a victim
Alison Scarbo came out on top of the battle in the wind at the Wahine Series, Race No. 2, Thursday.
Scarbo, skippering “OZone,” an Olson 30, emerged victorious after “Malihini,” a 35’ cat skippered by Sharon Gibson, was a victim of the 15-25 knot winds blowing in from the northeast.
“We all looked up to see that our mainsail had ripped from luff to leach about three feet down from the masthead,” Gibson said in an e-mail with the results. “We had to quit the race and take a ‘Did Not Finish.’”
That misfortune gave the lead to “OZone” who completed the 5-mile course in an elapsed time of 54:36 and a corrected time of PHRF 54:41.
Early in the race, Gibson said, “The wind was blowing stink and all I could do was watch the wind angle indicator to keep ‘Malihini’ pointed in the right direction.”
She said the crew was pretty sure they had a good start and were flying with an advantage big enough to compensate for the handicaps over the Olsons.
But that was before tacking at the Col. Regs. marker and the ripped mainsail.
Gibson said with just one more race remaining in the Nawiliwili Yacht Club Wahine Series, it will be hard to catch “OZone.”
“Fast Company,” another of the Olson 30s, finished second on an elapsed sail of 55:12 (55:17 PHRF) followed by “Lelele,” a Wells 30 in third on an elapsed time of 57:54 (57:43 PHRF).
“Papa‘au,” an Express 27, followed (1:03:09 elapsed 1:00:27 PHRF) with “Bonjolea,” an X-342, rounding out the field on a 1:03:25 elapsed (1:00:59 PHRF).
Gibson said following the incident in the wind, the “Malihini” crew plans to take the sail off the boat and try to get it mended by the next race Thursday.
The public is invited to view the final race of the Wahine Series from the jetty wall. First flags fly starting at 5 p.m.
There is no charge to view the races.
