Fast Company broke the stalemate in the standings of the Nawiliwili Yacht Club Junior Invitational Series with an exciting win Thursday afternoon in 6- to 10-knot northerly winds.
“OZone and Fast Company were tied for first place going into the third race of the four-race series which has no throw-outs,” said NYC Rear Commodore Kevin Arndt. “But it was Weatherly who got the best start, clearing the start line with clean wind. Boats stacked behind Weatherly, and sailing in her dirty air, either lived with it, or tacked over as soon as possible.”
Rounding the Ninini Lighthouse buoy, Bonjolea II, with spinnaker flying, took the lead with Fast Company and OZone in pursuit. The lead stood until the leeward mark rounding when Bonjolea II ran into trouble with her spinnaker halyard, resulting in a slight delay in dousing her sail and giving the lead to Fast Company and OZone.
The second trip to the lighthouse buoy had Fast Company building its lead while Kato in third place closed in on OZone.
“Equally matched downwind, the trio of Olson 30s kept their spacing,” Arndt said. “Coming around the leeward mark for the second time, Kato, flying a large No. 1 jib, passed OZone. Fast Company continued to pull further ahead even though they were using their No. 3 jib — what they lost in sail area, they gained with the ability to tack faster by using a smaller jib.”
Fast Company held on at the finish horn, crossing at 1 hour, 11 minutes, 51 seconds and correcting to 1:11:58 PHRF to take the race and the overall lead.
Kato (1:13:52 elapsed, 1:13:59 PHRF) stayed ahead of OZone (1:14:05 elapsed, 1:14:12 PHRF) by just 13 ticks, and Weatherly (1:14:54 elapsed, 115:01 PHRF) filled in the No. 4 spot giving Olson 30s the first four spots in the 10-boat fleet.
Weatherly corrected to 1:08:11 Club to place first in that class followed by Speedy (1:21:39 elapsed) correcting to 1:11:56 Club, and Bonjolea II (1:15:38 elapsed) correcting to 1:17:33 Club.
The final race of the NYC Junior Invitational Series takes place Thursday when the first flags fly at 5 p.m. at the Nawiliwili Harbor.
