Tess Moeller on Fast Company wins Wahine Series

The women skippering the boats were challenged with variable winds for the final race of the Wahine Series. A fleet of six boats had just a slight breeze at the start with crews searching for favorable wind lines. What wind there was had a northerly component and a few boats favored the port tack. The port tackers that didn’t get lucky with a few puffs of wind had to duck below the sterns of the stbd tackers. The wind freshened a bit as the fleet left the confines of the harbor with Bonjolea II (Bonnie Tiffany) and Fast Company (Tess Moeller) in the lead. Unfortunately on this windward leg, Speedy (Kristina Chapman) had their jib zipper out of the headstay foil and lost valuable time as they sorted things out under main alone. With chutes flying the boats made it into the harbor where the wind was shifted slightly to the north giving them the opportunity to sail directly to the leeward mark without jibing.

The race finished with 10 knots of breeze as Bonjolea II crossed the finish line first but corrected out 17 seconds behind Fast Company that took first place PHRF. Ozone (Alison Fornari) took third place PHRF.
The final results of the series are:

PHRF
1st Place (8 pts.) – Fast Company with Tess Moeller
2nd Place (10 pts.) – OZone with Alison Fornari
3rd Place (11 pts.) – Papa a’u with Marcie Millett

Club Class
1st Place (14 pts.) – Speedy with Kristina Chapman
2nd Place (15 pts. Tie breaker rule A8.1) – Coyote with Karen Cole
3rd Place (15 pts.) – Bonjolea II with Bonnie Tiffany

Kevin Arndt

Click here for photos by Charlotte and Pam