NAWILIWILI — The Northeast winds blowing in the 18-25 mph range almost claimed a victim, Thursday. “Bonjolea,” an X-342, had a sizable lead coming in from the opening long course at the Nawiliwili Yacht Club’s Gene Wells Memorial Series, Race
NAWILIWILI — The Northeast winds blowing in the 18-25 mph range almost claimed a victim, Thursday.
“Bonjolea,” an X-342, had a sizable lead coming in from the opening long course at the Nawiliwili Yacht Club’s Gene Wells Memorial Series, Race No. 2.
A new green and yellow spinnaker made its debut, replacing the familiar orange sail spectators had come to see, and with the wind at her back, the spinnaker bloomed in the No. 3 spot entering the harbor.
“Malihini,” a 35-foot cat, plowed through the wind-swept chops followed by “Speedy,” an Olson 30 that opted to keep its spinnaker stored, and “Bonjolea.” Off on a left tack, “Papa‘au” played lone sheep when the wind got a hold of “Bonjolea’s” balloon and pulled hard.
The X-342 floundered in the chop as its crew fought to regain control, the interaction between “Bonjolea” and the elements extracting screams from Sharon Gibson, the NYC scorekeeper who caught the action from the corner of her eye.
“That was pretty exciting,” she said. “I’m exhausted! Everyone is really enjoying the close competition.”
That incident did little to affect the lead, based on a corrected time, but the day was not over as heading into the inland turn, a miscalculation on when to pull in the spinnaker sent sprays of water into the air as “Bonjolea” once again became victimized by the wind.
When the excitement settled, “Malihini” was tops in the multi-hull with a PHRF sail of 50:48. “Meshach” and “Trinity” did not finish the event.
“Speedy” stayed out of the traffic and finished first with a PHRF sail of 51:50 followed by “OZone” taking second place with a 51:57 PHRF time.
The battle for third place was separated by a mere two seconds as “Lelele,” a Wells 30 claimed the spot on a 52:27 PHRF sail over the efforts of “Papa‘au” at 52:29 PHRF.
“Bonjolea” and “Coyote” rounded out the field with PHRF sails of 55:17 and 57:44, respectively.
The NYC Gene Wells Memorial, Race No. 3 continues Thursday and the public is invited to view the competition from the jetty wall vantage point.
First flag flies at 5 p.m.
