NAWILIWILI — Marcie Millett’s good spinnaker work pulled Papa‘au into the winner’s circle in the final race of the Nawiliwili Yacht Club Wahine Series, Thursday.
Papa‘au, an Express 27 with Millett at the helm, was the fifth of five boats to slip past the finish line within a minute’s time, but with the PHRF correction, was catapaulted into the No. 1 position.
Those close finishes resulted in ties in both the PHRF Open and PHRF Monohull classes once the adjustments were set.
Millett played her cards right and was in the right position to take the lead at the start, closely challenged by OZone and Fast Company.
That lead diminished when Malihini, starting out in the fifth spot and working to its fullest in the light air following the heavy rainstorm that hit the area less than an hour before the start, and Lelele, another casualty of the start, joined the fray for the lead spot following the long leg out to the Ninini Point Lighthouse buoy.
But Papa‘au was in the mix throughout, nursing her spot that ranged from the No. 2 position to the No. 4 position as the wahine skippers selected their respective tacks to cope with the winds that languished in the 5-10 knot range over the 3.4-mile course.
Protests and dead air at the No. 2 can during the short course added to the excitement as boats made turns to correct for errors.
Lelele was one of the casualties of that, her penalty turns costing more more than the nine seconds that cost her the finish.
Fast Company was first to cross on a 48:26 elapsed time, but the PHRF adjustment (48:30 PHRF) moved her to second place below Papa‘au’s 49:20 elapsed (47:14 PHRF) sail.
Malihini followed second in elapsed time (48:43; 49:57 PHRF) followed five seconds later by Lelele (48:48; 48:39 PHRF). OZone followed Lelele four seconds later (48:52 elapsed; 48:57 PHRF) sending Race Committee members scrambling to keep records of the order of finish.
Speedy (51:15 elapsed; 51:20 PHRF) and Bonjolea (57:15 elapsed; 55:03 PHRF) rounded out the field.
Lelele’s finish at Thursday’s event moved her to the top slot of the PHRF Open overall standings with seven points. Malihini and Fast Company both finished in a tie to second place that was broken by Malihini’s No. 1 finish in the first race of the three-race series. Fast Company ended the series with two second-place finishes and a fourth place finish.
The NYC Race Committee invites people to view the finish of the Kaua‘i Channel Race next Friday from either the jetty wall finish line, or from the Ninini Point Lighthouse.
Boats will leave the Ko‘Olina Marina and Resort on O‘ahu Friday morning at 7 and are expected to reach Nawiliwili Harbor some time Friday afternoon, depending on weather conditions.
For more information, visit the NYC Web site at www.nawiliwiliyachtclub.org.
