NAWILIWILI — Fast Company and OZone had a little contact to add excitement to the final race of the Nawiliwili Yacht Club Junior Series, Thursday.
But that was not the only excitement as Malihini, relishing the 15-25 knot East-Northeasterlies, became victimized by the “Malihini wind” at the start as well.
OZone, protecting herself with a pair of 360s, relinquished the lead to Fast Company, a red flag of protest flying in the brisk trades.
Similarly, Malihini lost more than five minutes trying to correct the back wind situation in the shadow of the Rave, a trimaran anchored near the start.
By the end of the first of three legs covering 7.2 miles, Fast Company had built up a sizeable lead and crossed on a 1:12:31, correcting to a 1:12:38 PHRF for first place.
But overall honors in the four-race series went to OZone, who crossed second on a 1:17:45 elapsed sail, correcting to 1:17:52 PHRF. That second-place finish pushed her to the top of the series with seven points, followed by Fast Company with a dozen points, just a point ahead of Speedy.
Speedy, with Quanah Green at the helm, had a good start, staying in second place until the second leg when she lost her place to OZone, who in turn, lost her position to Malihini, who made up the sizeable gap created by the starting line lag.
Speedy finished on a 1:20:51 elapsed sail and corrected out to 1:20:58 PHRF, a mere 13 seconds back of Coyote, one of whose crew was being cheered on by the Sea Scouts.
The Scouts, taking a break from provisioning the Decisive for a weekend cruise to Hanalei with its Sea Fox, said one of the Coyote’s crew was a ship’s officer for the program so they came to watch the race.
Coyote sailed across the line on a 1:26:13 elapsed sail and corrected to 1:20:45 PHRF and 1:06:57 CLUB for first place in that division.
Coyote finished topping the four-race series at the head of the Club class.
Malihini recovered from her starting line mishap and by the second leg, was in second, a position she held with a 1:17:43 elapsed sail and correcting to 1:19:41 PHRF.
But there was no junior aboard and Malihini was penalized to last place plus a point.
Despite that setback, Malihini finished second overall in the Club class, followed by Papa‘au who had to withdraw from the final race after the brisk trades created gear failure that would not allow her crew to raise its headsail.
Bonjolea, whose owners are in Alaska, did not race in the final race, but finished fourth in the Club class.
The next series will be the Horse and Pony Series, possibly the most exciting because at the end of the Horse race (the bigger boats), a crew member from each horse must race a Laser, the points from each race being added together to determine the horse’s total score for the race.
The public is invited to view this four-race series starting at 5 p.m. on Thursday from the jetty wall area of Nawiliwili Harbor.
Visit www.nawiliwiliyachtclub.org for more information.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com.
