3-way battle for No. 2 Thursday in final Ehrlich race

NAWILIWILI — With just one race remaining in the Nawiliwili Yacht Club Joel Ehrlich Memorial Rum Series, OZone has a solid five-point lead in the standings following the Thursday race.

But the race for second and third is up for grabs as Louie Abrams, at the stick for Papa‘au, pulled off some great moves on the fleet in the final lap to finish in second place on a 1:03:51 elapsed sail and corrected to 1:01:07 PHRF.

The pressure was on Lelele, first out of the pack at the clean start, who chased Papa‘au by just a second on the elapsed finish (1:03:52) but corrected to 1:03:04 PHRF for fourth place.

Bonjolea, second out of the pack, was relegated to fourth place returning from the second lap, a long run to the Ninini Point lighthouse, but following a 1:04:4 elapsed sail, corrected to 1:02:15 PHRF for third place.

Fast Company, returning from the Lipton Cup on O‘ahu, was pushed to fifth place on a 1:04:25 elapsed sail and corrected to 1:04:31.

OZone, in the mix at the start, took the lead and held on for top honors in Race No. 6, crossing on a 1:00:29 elapsed and correcting to 1:00:35 PHRF for her solid seven points and five-point lead in the standings.

Papa‘au is at 12 points for second place, followed by Fast Company with 14 points and Bonjolea with 15 points heading into Thursday’s final race of the series.

Mapuana (1:11:34 elapsed, 1:08:07 PHRF), Rebel (1:25:50 elapsed, 1:10:37 PHRF), Speedy (1:11:12 elapsed, 1:09:10 PHRF) and Coyote (1:16:37 elapsed, 1:10:44 PHRF) rounded out the fleet.

The three-way race for the second and third spots in the standings sets up Thursday at the Nawiliwili Harbor and the public is invited to view the competition from the jetty wall area when the first flags fly at 5 p.m. for the final race in the NYC Joel Ehrlich Memorial Rum Series.

Visit www.nawiliwiliyachtclub.org for more information.