NAWILIWILI — Nina Peterson said there are just two more races remaining in the Nawiliwili Yacht Club Pete Peterson Memorial Rum Series. The public is invited to view the competition from the jetty wall area of Nawiliwili Harbor, Thursday when
NAWILIWILI — Nina Peterson said there are just two more races remaining in the Nawiliwili Yacht Club Pete Peterson Memorial Rum Series.
The public is invited to view the competition from the jetty wall area of Nawiliwili Harbor, Thursday when the first flags fly at 5 p.m.
Nina, the widow of Pete Peterson, has been at every race of the series since it started five races ago, and last week, was given the honor of starting the race.
“Normally, I have a beer, but you can’t drink until after you start the race, so I had to wait until after the race started to have a beer,” Nina said, obviously thrilled to be part of the NYC Race Committee.
OZone and Speedy, two of the Olson 30s in the race, cut the start close, getting off to a clean start and Speedy nosing ahead, early.
Fast Company, normally in the fray at the start line, was absent from last week’s race due to sailing over to O‘ahu.
“Jim Saylor and Carl Andersson left Wednesday afternoon for the Ala Wai to race in the Lipton 1 Cup,” Sharon Gibson, the NYC starter, said in an email. “The cup is held by the Waikiki Yacht Club and Fast Company will represent Nawiliwili Yacht Club in the race.”
Gibson said the Lipton 1 Cup features eight sailboats from eight different Hawai‘i Yacht Clubs, competing in a series of races to try and win the cup for their club.
Joining Saylor and Andersson in the race are Bruce Raymond, Ron Wagner, Thor Temme and Kevin Millett, leaving one of their female members to watch the race from her pickup truck, bundling against the 10-15 knot winds blowing out of the northeast.
OZone, picking up the lead early after being No. 3 at the horn, held on for the duration of the 6-mile, three-leg course, crossing on an elapsed sail of 1:05:49 and correcting to 1:05:55 PHRF for first place.
Speedy, taking the lead off the line against the challenge of Papa‘au, slipped to second, challenging OZone until the close of the first leg when she was detained at the final turn, OZone and Malihini, a 35-foot catamaran, capitalized to increase her lead, Malihini overtaking Speedy to take control of second place.
Malihini crossed on a 1:06:19 elapsed sail and corrected to 1:07:59 PHRF followed by Bonjolea, crossing fourth overall at 1:12:27 elapsed sail and correcting to 1:09:40 PHRF for third place.
The correction overtook Speedy who crossed third overall at 1:10:04 elapsed, but corrected to 1:10:10 PHRF for fourth place.
Papa‘au, an Express 27, crossed at 1:14:05 elapsed and correced to 1:10:55 PHRF, missing fourth place by less than a minute.
Windspan, a Catalina 38, (1:16:22 elapsed, 1:14:25 PHRF) and Coyote, a C&C 38, (1:19:31 elapsed, 1:14:29 PHRF) rounded out the fleet standing. Coyote also corrected to 1:04:36 Club for top honors in that class.
There are two more races in the NYC Pete Peterson Memorial Rum Series, including the Thursday race. Following the series, the NYC boats will sail to Hanalei on Saturday of the Memorial Day weekend in the third of the Offshore Series Races.
The Hanalei sail is the first leg of an Around-The-Island race with the second leg leaving Hanalei for Port Allen, Sunday and the third leg leaving Monday from Port Allen to Nawiliwili Harbor.
Visit www.nawiliwiliyachtclub.org for more information.
