NAWILIWILI — Papa au took the final race of the Nawiliwili Yacht Club Junior Invitational Series, but OZone claimed the series title under windy, blustery conditions of 15- to 20-knot winds blowing out of the north-northeast Thursday at Nawiliwili Harbor.
NAWILIWILI — Papa au took the final race of the Nawiliwili Yacht Club Junior Invitational Series, but OZone claimed the series title under windy, blustery conditions of 15- to 20-knot winds blowing out of the north-northeast Thursday at Nawiliwili Harbor.
“It didn’t matter,” said Kevin Arndt, the NYC Rear Commodore. “OZone already has three first places in the shoreline series, and this is the final race so she’s already got everything locked up, because there are no throw-outs in this series, because it is just four races.”
The wind-enhanced chop and wind got the best of the fleet, sending Trinity limping back to its mooring after breaking the tiller off her rudder before the starting gun sent off the fleet.
Papa au was in the best position, clearly ahead of the pack at the horn. Coming in on the first of three legs in the 6.03-mile race course, Papa au was definitely in control before hitting the wind shadow off the leeward side of Kukii Point, more commonly known as the small lighthouse.
The pocket of no-wind switched the order, sending Fast Company and Bonjolea II to battle for the lead coming home on the second leg from the Ninini Point buoy. Spinnaker woes hit Fast Company whose balloon simply collapsed into the water, but the crew responded and after recovering its spinnaker, the Olson 30 cut tight inside the breakwater buoy to maintain in the fight for the lead with Bonjolea II.
Bonjolea II’s lead was not enough to overcome its PHRF correction, and Fast Company claimed first to finish honors, slipping across the line on an elapsed sail of 1 hour, 5 minutes, 2 seconds, correcting to 1:05:08 PHRF and second place.
Papa au, sounding the finish horn in fourth place on a 1:07:24 elapsed sail, corrected to 1:04:31 PHRF for first place in the race.
OZone, leading the series with its three first finishes, crossed on a 1:05:47 elapsed sail, 45 seconds back of Fast Company, and corrected to 1:05:53 PHRF for third place.
Speedy (1:08:50 elapsed, 1:08:56 PHRF), Weatherly (1:10:05 elapsed, 1:10:11 PHRF), and Bonjolea II (1:05:53 elapsed, 1:10:12 PHRF), just one tick behind Weatherly, rounded out the fleet.
Speedy corrected to 1:00:28 Club for top honors in that class followed by Weatherly (1:03:43 Club) and Bonjolea II (1:07:52 Club).
Despite the third place finish, OZone finishes the Junior Invitational Series with six points, three points ahead of Fast Company who posted nine points, just one point ahead of Papa au who ended the series in third place.
Top Club class finisher in the series saw Weatherly claim the trophy on 11 points followed by Speedy at 13 points and Trinity, disabled with a broken tiller for this race, ending at 15 points.
Next on the NYC race calendar is the NYC Horse and Pony Series which starts on Thursday when the first flags fly at 5 p.m.
