Fast Company, with Jim Saylor behind the stick, had an opportunity to blow open the Nawiliwili Yacht Club Junior Invitational Series on Thursday. Holding low point honors at five points, Fast Company was challenged by OZone (seven points) and Kato
Fast Company, with Jim Saylor behind the stick, had an opportunity to blow open the Nawiliwili Yacht Club Junior Invitational Series on Thursday.
Holding low point honors at five points, Fast Company was challenged by OZone (seven points) and Kato (eight points) entering the final race of the four-race series with no throw-outs, which meant every race counted.
But the weather coughed up Bonjolea II-type winds, inconsistent from the north-northeast at 5 to 10 knots to give the Bonnie Tiffany skippered Sydney 36 the edge off the start line.
Papa a‘u, Kato, OZone, Fast Company, Weatherly and Speedy followed close in Bonjolea’s wake. The inconsistent wind pulled Kato into the lead coming off the first leg of the 6.11-mile course, but was victimized by dead air at the Kalapaki Bay buoy giving the lead back to Bonjolea.
The pack of Trinity, OZone, Fast Company and Papa a‘u followed.
Bonjolea, battling the challenge from Kato through the remainder of the race, held on to sound the finish horn first overall on an elapsed sail of 1 hour, 16 minutes, 50 seconds, but corrected to 1:21:52 PHRF and settled for fifth-place honors.
Kato slipped across on a 1:17:40 elapsed sail and corrected to 1:17:47 PHRF to take top honors in the Junior Series final race. Papa a‘u followed (1:23:51 elapsed, 1:20:45 PHRF) in the second spot with OZone coming in third on a 1:20:45 elapsed sail and correcting to 1:20:52 PHRF, about a minute ahead of Fast Company who settled for fourth place at 1:21:10 elapsed sail and correcting to 1:21:18 PHRF.
The results put Kato and Fast Company in a tie for the lead at nine points apiece, but the final positioning was settled by a tie-breaker with Fast Company holding two first finishes while Kato only had the Thursday win.
OZone finished third overall at 10 points to round out the leaderboard in the PHRF Open and Monohull classes.
Weatherly (1:22:49 elapsed sail) corrected to 1:15:24 Club for top honors in that class, her second one in the series, giving her a series total of 10 points and the first-place trophy.
Speedy (1:27:07 elapsed sail) corrected to 1:16:44 Club for second place in the race, and 15 points in the series for second place.
Bonjolea II finished third in the Club class on a 1:18:46 Club correction, but finished the series out of the running. Third-place honors in the series was awarded to Papa a‘u who finished with 20 points for the trophy.
Following today’s Father’s Day Keiki Fishing Tournament, the next Shoreline Series race will see the first race of the Horse and Pony Race Series take off Thursday when the first flags fly at 5 p.m.
