PAPA A`U WINS THE GENE WELLS RACE #3

With a great start and by playing the wind shifts, Papa A`u the Express 27 helmed by Jeff Olson, showed the rest of the fleet how to win. They stayed in front of the 6 Olson 30’s for much of the 4.82 mile race even though the Olson’s are 30 seconds a mile faster on handicap. The wind was 8-10 knots and more northerly than usual. Ozone tried a port tack start which didn’t pay off when they had to duck Speedy and Fast Company who had the starboard tack right of way. Speedy later faded when they blew up another spinnaker on the downwind leg. Fast Company with Bill Evslin steering had a nice battle going back and forth with Ozone. After rounding the #7 buoy the large Beneteau 41 Iwa made a wind shadow that slowed Ozone down and Fast Company caught up. But when Fast Company’s spinnaker touched Ozone’s backstay they had to do their penalty turns which cost them time. Double Espresso also caught up and tried going between Ozone and Iwa in the tight quarters. The Double Espresso crew was happy when they passed Ozone.

The race results showed Papa A`u winning with a PHRF corrected time of 57:57. Kato was second at 1:00:30 and Ozone was third at 1:02:54. Although Double Espresso crossed the finish line 9 seconds before Ozone, on handicap they were 9 seconds behind. It is time for Double Espresso to get their handicap rating changed from 93 to 96!!!
In the Club Class it was Speedy in first place, Double Espresso in second and Fast Company in third. Bonjolea II didn’t race and they were missed.

A potluck dinner was held after the race with ribs, hot dogs, potato salad, malasadas and more.

There is no race next Thursday 8/29/19 due to the Labor Day weekend race up to Hanalei on Saturday and back on Monday. The Gene Wells Race #4 will be held on Thursday 9/5/19 with a 5 pm start and the public is invited to watch the race from the Nawiliwili mole parking area.

-Chris Jordan

Click for complete results and more photos by Charlotte and Pam