NAWILIWILI — Papa A‘u, the smallest boat of the nine-boat fleet, sounded the finish horn third, but capitalizing on its handicap finished first in the Nawiliwili Yacht Club Wahine Series, Race No. 2 in Nawiliwili Harbor last week.
Victoria Aiu steered the little Express 27 in accordance with the rules of the Wahine Series that state a wahine needs to be at the helm. Coming off the line in the race that unfolded in winds of 12 to 18 knots out of the east-northeast, Papa A‘u found a slot off Weatherly and slingshot the gap to take an early lead over the three-leg, 4.71-mile course.
“OZone rounded first, but Papa A‘u had a tighter rounding,” said Chris Jordan, a crew member aboard OZone. “At the G-7 buoy downwind, Papa A‘u was inside OZone and called for mark room. Bonjolea II had come roaring down and rounded this buoy first, followed by Papa A‘u and OZone.”
By the end of the first of three legs, Bonjolea II, Papa A‘u, Fast Company, Kato, Weatherly, OZone, Double Espresso, Speedy, and Iwa formed the fleet.
Mavis Aiu, Victoria Aiu’s mother, was watching the action from outside the jetty wall parking area, and commented that Victoria Aiu said Papa A‘u had the weight, but the absence of a crew kept Papa A‘u from using its spinnaker because no one could handle the chute.
Bonjolea II continued to lead on the outbound leg to the Ninini Point buoy, followed by Kato and Papa A‘u.
“Fast Company had some adventures during the race with their spinnaker dragging in the water at one point,” Jordan said. “They fouled Papa A‘u at the final turn at the G-11 buoy near the Coast Guard station when they tacked in front of them. Fast Company had to do two penalty turns.”
This pushed Bonjolea II across the finish line first overall at 51 minutes, 3 seconds, but correcting to 54:56 PHRF for third place in the race. Kato followed at 52:45 elapsed sail and corrected to 53:19 PHRF for second place. Papa A‘u sounded the finish horn at 54:48 elapsed and corrected to 52:42 PHRF for top honors, a mere 37 ticks ahead of Kato.
Karen Cole, piloting Iwa, crossed the line at 1:06:20 elapsed and corrected to 51:05 Club for top honors in that class — just 22 ticks ahead of Speedy (58:44 elapsed), which corrected to 51:27 Club.
With the results, both OZone and Papa A‘u now hold first-place finishes in the four-race series. The third race of the NYC Wahine Series takes place Thursday when the first flags fly at 5 p.m. from the Nawiliwili Harbor jetty wall parking area.
