Fast Company takes honors at the 2016 Gene Wells Memorial Series

It was the start of the last race of the last series of the Nawiliwili Yacht Club racing season and Fast Company was poised to capture the series honors with 4 first place bullets against OZone’s 2 first place standings. The previous six races of the Gene Wells Memorial Series had been gusty, and so it was today with wind conditions breezy with 10-15 knot gusts out of the east northeast.

Of the nine boats that started the 6 mile race five were Olson 30’s and they were packed at the starboard end of the line vying for best position. Soon after the start the pack of Olson’s thinned out as skippers tacked off to port seeking clear wind and less traffic. Bonjolea II, a Sydney 36, disregarded the melee of Olson’s and made the lay line to the first mark, the “R2” buoy near Kalapaki Beach, in one tack.

The fleet then turned their bows out to the Lighthouse buoy in a sprint along the Ninini shoreline. It was the 3 series leaders, Fast Company, OZone, and Bonjolea II, in a shower of spray and sails that made the turning buoy first. The fleet then enjoyed a spinnaker-flying sleigh ride back into the harbor.

After the long and windy race series that saw some fierce competition, it was no surprise when the inevitable gear failure showed its ugly head. First Weatherly broke her jib halyard. The crew quickly doused the jib and tried to use the spinnaker halyard in its place but the halyard parted. With no spare halyards left Weatherly dropped out of the race and sailed back to the dock under main sail alone.

Then on the final windward leg, and in the heat of the battle with OZone, Fast Company snapped their jib halyard. They dropped back behind Bonjolea II as OZone sailed across the finish line first. It was OZone with an elapsed time of 0:53:13 (0:53:18 corrected) followed by Bonjolea II at 0:53:21 elapsed time (0:56:51 corrected) and then Fast Company with an elapsed time of 0:53:43 (0:53:48 corrected). It was the closest finish that the yacht club has seen in a long time.

The series final point standing had Fast Company tied with OZone. After applying the tie breaker rule it was Fast Company (10pts.) with the first place trophy, OZone (10pts.) with the second place trophy, and Bonjolea II (16 pts.) with the third place trophy.

`The series Club Open winners are Trinity (11 pts.) with the first place trophy, Weatherly (14 pts.) with the second place trophy, and Speedy (35 pts.) with the third place trophy.

Kevin Arndt – Rear Commodore

Photos by Pam Zirker. Click for more photos by Pam and Charlotte