FAST COMPANY TAKES THE GENE WELLS RACE #10, BUT OZONE TAKES THE SERIES

The 10th and final race of the Gene Wells Series was held on 10/17/19 with 12-17 knot trade winds out of the northeast over a 5 mile two lap course (A-C). Ozone with skipper Chris Jordan on the helm, fouled Fast Company badly at the start. After doing their 2 penalty turns Ozone was in the back of the fleet and not a factor. Good thing the series has 2 throw outs! Although Papa Au was hoping this would hurt Fast Company as they were tied for points, it never seemed to slow Fast Company down as they took the lead and held on to it. Meanwhile Bonjolea II fouled Papa Au on a port-starboard situation. When they did their 2 penalty turns while heading out to the lighthouse Fast Company altered course and ducked them (were they thinking that Bonjolea II was tacking onto starboard with right of way or were they worried about hitting them?) The RaceQs for this race is very interesting!

Weatherly had co-owner Elizabeth Biuk on board with Skipper Carl Andersson and their up and coming young sailors (usually Astrid, Lexi, Zooey, Nate and more. Double Espresso was in the heat of things with Charlie, Matt, the two lovely Emily’s, and others. On Ozone, Jake brought along some “beautiful rail meat” which turned out to be an accurate assessment of his girlfriend Dom. During the second lap the LPG tanker “Pertusola” came through the middle of the fleet causing boats to make multiple tacks to stay clear and to stay out of the bad air from the towering ship. After rounding the G-11 buoy very far ahead on the last leg of the race, Fast Company decided to do 2 penalty turns as Ozone was protesting them. But Ozone dropped the protest when RaceQ’s and Charlotte Ross’ photos showed that skipper Chris Jordan was clearly in the wrong. I just hate it when Jim is right!!!

Fast Company took line honors by 6 seconds over Bonjolea II and first place in this 10th race with a PHRF corrected time of 1:04:07. Papa Au was second with a time of 1:06:04 and Double Espresso was third at 1:06:44. Bonjolea II was next, followed by Ozone and Weatherly. Kato didn’t race and neither did Speedy (although Dick Olson jumped a ride with Bonjolea II). Iwa had taken out a charter in the morning and they broke their roller furling so that they couldn’t race (but the $5 delicious chicken pot pies and salad that they provided for dinner were the best deal of the year).

The 10 race Gene Wells Series enables you to throw out your 2 worst races. Ozone took first place in the series with 16 points and Fast Company was a close second with 17 points. Papa Au followed in third with 18.5 points. The sailing was tight and the results could have been very different if the helmsmen Jim Saylor on Fast Company and Jeff Olson on Papa Au had not missed some of the races. Or if Kato had done all of the races.

The final race of the year is the Halloween Costume Race on 10/24/19. Don’t miss it! This is great fun with a short race in costume followed by dinner catered by Mark’s Place. Win a boat trophy for your costumes!!! (OK, a bottle of wine…). The music will be provided by the famous DJ Chris Fink, brought in all the way from Asheville, North Carolina (OK, we were best friends in High School and his main job was in retail but he does have his own radio show). Some of you may remember Chris Fink as the Tin Man on Ozone about 3 years ago.

The public is invited to watch the Halloween Costume Race on Thursday 10/24/19 with a 5 pm start. Parking is available at the Nawiliwili breakwater parking area.

-Chris Jordan

Click here for complete results on the racing page and more photos by Charlotte Ross.