NAWILIWILI — Out of nowhere, a red spinnaker exploded onto the water off the Ninini Point lighthouse Friday. After scanning the horizon for agonizingly long minutes following an expected arrival time of 3 to 3:30, the red spinnaker popped into
NAWILIWILI — Out of nowhere, a red spinnaker exploded onto the water off the Ninini Point lighthouse Friday.
After scanning the horizon for agonizingly long minutes following an expected arrival time of 3 to 3:30, the red spinnaker popped into view from the behind the lighthouse, superseding Heartbeat’s red spinnaker.
Despite the appearance of Heartbeat coming down the channel, and Funnelweb challenging, Locomotion’s appearance put her well ahead of Heartbeat, shortly before 5 p.m.
She sailed into Nawiliwili Harbor on an elapsed sail of 9:40:24 and corrected to 10:27:28 PHRF.
The time was not enough to claim top honors as Heartbeat, crossing on an elapsed sail of 9:55:32, corrected to 10:26:53 PHRF for top honors in Class A, less than a minute ahead of Locomotion.
Funnelweb, finishing third overall on a 10:07:34 elapsed sail, corrected to 11:10:25 PHRF for a fourth finish, three minutes behind Trois Amis, crossing on a 10:37:50 elapsed sail and correcting to 11:07:01 PHRF for third place and rounding out the Class A leaderboard.
Bonjolea II, a Nawiliwili Yacht Club boat skippered by the Tiffany ohana, crossed on an 11:46:03 elapsed sail and corrected to 10:27:36 PHRF for runner up honors in the Class B after being bested by Wind Dancer, which crossed on a 14:30:34 elapsed sail and corrected to 10:13:37 PHRF for top honors in Class B.
Urban Renewal (12:25:16 elapsed, 10:41:05 PHRF), Stardust (11:07:31 elapsed, 10:43:23 PHRF), and Epaint Hawaii (12:02:50 elapsed, 11:32:32 PHRF) rounded out the leaderboard for Class B.
Manu Kai crossed on an 11:21:38 elapsed sail to top Class C followed by Serenity (12:40:49) and Kama Hele (14:01:29).
“The interesting thing about this race is the last boat to finish, Wind Dancer, corrected to finish over every other boat in the fleet,” said Sharon Gibson, the NYC scorekeeper. “We created a ‘special’ trophy just for them as this is a pretty unusual occurrence.”
Following the race, more than 100 people celebrated the event at the Saturday Awards Dinner and Dance catered by Mark’s Place and Contemporary Flavors Catering with music provided by The Lost Pelican Band.
“We expect to see them all back next year for the Kauai Channel Race, a Hawaii Yacht Racing Association event, sponsored by the Nawiliwili Yacht Club,” Gibson said.
The public is invited to view the opening race of the Wahine Series Thursday when all participating boats must have a female on its helm from the second flag through the race.
First flag flies at 5 p.m.
Visit www.nawiliwiliyachtclub.org for more information.
