LIHU‘E — Juggling the departure of a cruise ship and a race between seven yachts can be exciting.
The Zaandam, visiting Nawiliwili Harbor for a day trip, Thursday, was scheduled to depart about the time the weekly Nawiliwili Yacht Club’s Minnesota Fats Series, Race No. 5 was underway.
“We had a cruise ship leaving at 5 p.m. so the NYC Race Committee opted for a long course to the lighthouse followed by a short course,” said Sharon Gibson, the NYC scorekeeper, in an e-mail. “It worked perfectly. The ship’s departure was a little late and the boats were coming back into the harbor when the ship was just off the jetty.”
Gibson said the long course had the fleet rounding the No. 2 red can below the Kalapaki bluff at that point, and with the fleet being tight, the ship’s departure was without incident.
Fast Company, the Olson 30 in the midst of the fight for the lead, took advantage of the 5-10 knot trades on calm seas to sew up first place on a 49:49 elapsed sail, corrected to 49:54 PHRF and combined with the post-race pool tourney, 49:54 final.
OZone, another Olson 30, finished third overall on a 51:49 elapsed sail, correcting to 51:54 PHRF below Papa‘au.
The Express 27 finished fourth overall on a 53:52 elapsed sail but corrected out to 51:34 PHRF over OZone to nail the second berth of the finals. Those standings stood as Papa‘au picked up 15 seconds in the post-race pool over OZone’s 20-second correction for a final 51:49 Papa‘au final to OZone’s 52:14 final.
Malihini (51:13 elapsed, 52:31 PHRF, 52:41 final), Speedy (53:58 elapsed, 54:03 PHRF, 52:41 final), Bonjolea (57:17 elapsed, 55:05 PHRF, 55:35 final) and Coyote (59:36 elapsed, 55:49 PHRF, 56:19 final) rounded out the fleet.
Coyote finished with a 46:30 Club correction to take the top slot of that class over Bonjolea (46:30 Club), Malihini (49:07 Club final) and Speedy (49:10 Club final).
One more race remains in this final race series for 2009 and the NYC invites the public to view the competition, Thursday when the first flags fly at 5 p.m.
Following this series, the NYC is planning a Halloween race and party on Oct. 31. First flags for this exciting event fly at 5 p.m. followed by the party once the race is completed.
