NAWILIWILI — Nine seconds separated the first two finishers Thursday when the Nawiliwili Yacht Club opened its shoreline Junior Invitational Series races at the Nawiliwili Yacht Harbor.
“This series is designed to expand the opportunities for younger sailors to participate in big boat races,” said NYC Vice Commodore William Georgi. “As such, there is a requirement for all participating boats to have at least one junior (up to age 18) on board during the race.”
The appearance of the junior sailors was verified by the NYC Race Committee prior to the start horn. Georgi noted that Weatherly had an adult skipper with an all-junior crew.
Sailing under moderate trade winds blowing 10 to 15 knots out of the northeast, Bonjolea II, a Sydney 36, stayed the course and sounded the finish horn in the midst of a battle between four Olson 30s over the 6.1-mile, three-leg course. She stayed out of the four-way fray between the smaller boats to sound the horn at 1 hour, 6 minutes, 28 seconds, sandwiched between Fast Company who crossed the line on a 1:06:19 elapsed sail, Kato (1:07:24 elapsed), and OZone (1:07:26 elapsed).
“But boat for boat doesn’t tell the full story,” Georgi said. “Handicaps are applied to even up the competition, and when the smoke cleared, Kato, who was first off the nine-boat fleet, finished third in the PHRF class.”
Fast Company topped the three-way battle of Olson 30s, correcting to 1:06:44 PHRF to finish first, a little more than a minute over OZone who corrected to 1:07:51 PHRF, and Kato (1:08:08 PHRF). Bonjolea II filled in the fifth spot on a 1:10.50 PHRF — just four seconds back of Weatherly to crossed at 1:10:20 elapsed and corrected to 1:10:46 PHRF for fourth place.
Other boats in the Thursday battle included Lelele (1:16:15 elapsed, 1:16:22 PHRF), Speedy (1:18.33 elapsed, 1:19:02 PHRF), Papa au (1:22:43 elapsed, 1:19:53 PHRF), and Iwa, an Oceanis 41.
“The ninth boat, Iwa, was late to start, but chose to do two of the three laps of the course,” Georgi said. “As such, they finished with a Did Not Finish.”
Weatherly corrected to 1:04.02 Club for top honors in that class followed by Bonjolea II (1:06:34 Club) and Lelele (1:06:59 Club).
The Junior Series takes a break from racing Thursday as the NYC prepares for its open ocean race Saturday from the Nawiliwili Small Boat Harbor starting at 10 a.m. with the course set Saturday morning. The Junior Series resumes May 31 when the first flags fly at 5 p.m.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
