Three Wahines tied for First Place

Seven boats skippered by seven women crossed over the start line for the third race of the Nawiliwili Yacht Club Wahine Series. The race started out with blustery conditions with boats heeling over putting their lee rails in the waves. The exciting race out to the lighthouse buoy had several boats sink their bows into green water as the wind chop was confused and steep. It was Bonjolea II that rounded first skipper by Bonnie Tiffany, followed by OZone with Alison Fornari at the helm. A rain squall brought even more wind when it hit the fleet as they made their way back into the harbor to the leeward mark rounding. Then it was back out to the lighthouse buoy for more abuse.

The rest of the 5.80 mile course tested the ability of the crews with several wind shifts where one moment the boat would have wind and in the next the wind would vanish leaving the sails slack with no boat speed. Bonjolea II and OZone kept ahead of the fluky wind and were able maintained their lead on the rest of the fleet. As most of the fleet struggled to round the Kalapaki buoy in light winds, they were rounding the final leeward buoy in a strong wind cell. It was Bonjolea II that crossed the finish line first with an elapsed time of 1 hour, 7 minutes, 44 seconds, corrected to 1:12:10. However, OZone took first place with a corrected time of 1:11:20, 50 seconds ahead giving second place to Bonjolea II. Third place went to Papa a’u skippered by Marcie Millett with a corrected time of 1:23:20. The rest of the fleet places in order are: Fast Company (Tess Moeller), Speedy (Kristina Chapman), Coyote (Karen Cole), and Weatherly (Elizabeth Buick).

Going into the final race of the series has four boats tied for First Place PHRF as OZone, Papa a’u, and Fast Company each have 7 points.

The public is invited to watch the final Wahine race as the women of NYC compete for the series win. Race begins Thursday, 5 p.m. and can be viewed from the Nawiliwili Harbor jetty wall area.

Kevin Arndt – Rear Commodore

Click for results and photos by Charlotte and Pam