OZone, one of five Olson 30s in the Nawiliwili Yacht Club John Bertrand Memorial Rum Race Series, outran the fleet to claim the first race of the series Thursday under light northerly winds.
Sailing over a 5.8-nautical mile course covering three legs, the fleet contended with the temporary mark near the Ninini Point turnaround after the outer buoy is still on the rocks, said NYC Vice Commodore William Georgi.
“Some yacht club members are quite proficient in placing a temporary mark near the original position,” Georgi said. “The fleet of nine boats sailed off under a light 8 to 10-knot northerly wind.”
Following the start, the pack of five Olson 30s took the lead with OZone and Kato waging the fight for the lead throughout the course.
OZone sounded the finish horn a mere nine ticks ahead of Kato and crossed the line on an elapsed sail of 1 hour, 6 minutes and 12 seconds, and then corrected to 1:06:37 PHRF to take the opening race over Kato (1:06:21 elapsed, 1:07:04 PHRF).
Fast Company (1:08:11 elapsed, 1:08:36 PHRF), Weatherly (1:09:07 elapsed, 1:09:33 PHRF) and Speedy (1:10:32 elapsed, 1:10:58 PHRF) filled in the Olson 30 fleet.
“Trinity, an F-28 trimaran, surged to finish fourth in overall (1:08:43), but has a severe handicap in the PHRF, landing ninth at 1:18:38 PHRF,” Georgi said. “In club category, however, Trinity’s handicap was enough to push her into third place (1:03.11 Club).”
Speedy corrected to 1:1:42 Club for top honors in that class, followed by Weatherly (1:02:55 Club) and Trinity.
Other boats in the race included Lelele, a Wells 30 (1:12:36 elapsed, 1:12:43 PHRF), Papa a‘u, an Express 27, (1:15:36 elapsed, 1:13:01 PHRF) and Bonjolea II, a Sydney 36 (1:11.22 elapsed, 1:16:03 PHRF).
NYC hosts an off-shore race Saturday starting at 9 a.m. The next John Mertrand Series race is Thursday starting at 5 p.m.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
