Papa‘au picked up its second straight win, Thursday before a nice crowd under settled weather and wind. Finishing third overall at the seven-race Nawiliwili Yacht Club Gene Wells Memorial Series, the Express 27 corrected to 49:33 PHRF to claim the
Papa‘au picked up its second straight win, Thursday before a nice crowd under settled weather and wind.
Finishing third overall at the seven-race Nawiliwili Yacht Club Gene Wells Memorial Series, the Express 27 corrected to 49:33 PHRF to claim the crown a mere five seconds ahead of OZone, the first overall finisher.
“I knew that Papa‘au would correct in front of Fast Company, crossing second overall, but was surprised to see that she corrected in front of OZone, too,” said Sharon Gibson, the NYC scorekeeper. “It was a fun race.”
Papa‘au, crossing the line of the 3.1-mile course on a 51:46 elapsed sail, corrected to 49:33 PHRF for top honors for the second time.
OZone, slipping across the line on a 49:33 elapsed sail, corrected to 49:38 PHRF for second place with Fast Company, crossing on a 51:19 elapsed sail, correcting to 51:24 PHRF for third place.
“This race started in flat water with about a 10-knot breeze out of the North-Northeast,” Gibson said. “While the fleet was outside on the first lap, our flag at the jetty started blowing from the West-Southwest. We could see the boats sailing in and their wind was still from the North.”
But the fleet hit the spot between the two opposing winds and fell into what NYC Race Committee describes as a hole.
“The front boats slowed and the back boats caught up, but no one could make any headway,” Gibson said. “Then, as the Kona wind reached them, they began tacking into the bay, making their way around the inside buoys.”
Making the turn at the west end of Nawiliwili Harbor, the boats set their spinnakers, or chutes, to get to the start of Lap 2, a short, inside course.
At that point, OZone was clearly in the lead with Fast Company following and Papa‘au not very far behind.
Following the leaders, Bonjolea crossed on a 56:36 elapsed sail and corrected to 54:25 PHRF for fourth place. She also corrected to 47:17 Club for top honors in that class.
Bonjolea was followed by Speedy (56:52 elapsed, 56:57 PHRF), Coyote (1:01:15 elapsed, 57:22 PHRF), Malolo (57:37 elapsed, 57:58 PHRF) and Weatherly (1:01:57 elapsed, 1:02:03 PHRF) to round out the fleet.
The NYC Gene Wells Memorial Series continues Thursday and spectators are welcome to view the competition at no charge from the Nawiliwili Harbor jetty wall area when the first flags fly at 5 p.m.
Visit www.nawiliwiliyachtclub.org for more information.
