OZone relished the return of the trades and captured her third straight first finish Thursday, effectively locking up the Nawiliwili Yacht Club’s Junior Invitational Series. Melissa Rapozo, 15, the junior aboard OZone, had her hand on the helm as the
OZone relished the return of the trades and captured her third straight first finish Thursday, effectively locking up the Nawiliwili Yacht Club’s Junior Invitational Series.
Melissa Rapozo, 15, the junior aboard OZone, had her hand on the helm as the Olson 30 slipped across the finish line on a 56:34 elapsed sail and corrected to 56:39 PHRF for the first finish.
The win gives OZone an overall three first finishes for seven points in the standings and first place in the series.
Fast Company, finishing in a tie at 11 points with Papa‘au in the standings, had her hands full, jumping off the start in the lead but having to return to correct her error resulting in her being last off the line.
Despite that setback, the Olson 30 with Sol Trevino, 9, as its junior, worked through the fleet, finishing in second place with a 57:50 elapsed sail, just about a minute back of OZone.
But there were more setbacks as the PHRF correction put her in third place at 57:55 PHRF, just 12 seconds back of Bonjolea who ended in second place on a 1:00:02 elapsed sail, third overall, and a 57:43 PHRF correction.
Sadie Stearns, 9, the granddaughter of Doug and Bonnie Tiffany, the hot dog chefs for the Father’s Day Keiki Fishing Contest, was the Bonjolea junior.
Despite throwing the monkeywrench into Fast Company’s plans on the final race of the series, Bonjolea finished the series in fourth place with 12 points.
Papa‘au, crossing the finish line with Christine Nelson, 18, as its junior, on a 1:00.58 elapsed sail, corrected to 58:22 PHRF, just 27 seconds shy of third place. She corrected to 54:44 Club for top honors in that class. Papa‘au finished tied with Fast Company at 11 points, and settled for giving up the trophy to Fast Company who marked more wins in the series based on the Racing Rules of Sailing.
Speedy, with Victoria Aiu, 15, as its junior, rounded out the field on a 1:02:42 elapsed sail, correcting to 1:02:48 PHRF.
“For the series, OZone had a clear win,” said Sharon Gibson, the NYC scorekeeper. “Fast Company and Papa‘au tied for second in the PHRF with 11 points each and with only five boats racing in the series, there were only two PHRF winners, the rest of the fleet competing in the Club class.”
Bonjolea topped the Club Open class for the series followed by Papa‘au and Speedy, Fast Company and OZone being the PHRF winners.
NYC will take a break until the Offshore race on Saturday, returning on July 5 with the first of the four-race Horse and Pony Series.
The Horse and Pony race involves the big boat — the horse — sailing a course as usual, but returning to the Nawiliwili Small Boat Harbor where one of its crew races a Laser or Topper — the pony — from the small boat harbor entrance to either the Red 6 or Green 5 mark and back. Scores from both races are added for the race score.
“This is a lot of fun for both racers and spectators,” Gibson said.
The public is invited to view the excitement when the first flags fly at 5 p.m. on July 5 at the Nawiliwili Harbor jetty wall area.
Visit www.nawiliwiliyachtclub.org for more information.
