NAWILIWILI — Kato, with Kevin Millet on the stick, tried to break the Fast Company winning streak Thursday during the Nawiliwili Yacht Club Shakedown Series, Race No. 3.
Jim Saylor and the crew aboard Fast Company have captured the pennant from the opening of the NYC calendar earlier in February and sit atop the winning peak, including the first two races of the Shakedown Series over the efforts of challengers.
Racing in winds topping 18 knots and blowing hard from the east-northeast, Kato was joined by Papa A‘u and Weatherly in challenging the field with a port tack off the start amidst the vocalizations that pierced the strong winds. This maneuver in the clean start put the trio of boats ahead of the pack that included Fast Company, OZone, Bonjolea II and Speedy coming off a starboard tack.
Fast Company established the pace at the first turnaround at the Ninini Point Lighthouse, closely challenged by Kato, Bonjolea II, OZone, Weatherly, Papa A‘u and Speedy.
“The second leg to the lighthouse had the boats rounding in the same order, but back at the leeward G-11, Double Espresso had spinnaker-take-down problems that put them way back,” said Chris Jordan, skipper aboard OZone. “On the third and final short lap inside the harbor, Kato was able to wrestle the lead following a nice battle with Fast Company — Saylor saying that Fast Company had a block-and-halyards issue.”
OZone and Weatherly with Carl Andersson waged their own battle before OZone tacked away to give Weatherly the satisfaction of beating OZone.
At the finish horn, Kato slipped across the plane on an elapsed sail of 1 hour, 5 minutes, and 13 seconds — just 13 ticks ahead of Fast Company, which sounded the horn at 1:05:26.
“But with their three-seconds-a-mile handicap due to the custom rudder, Kato relinquished first place in the PHRF class to Fast Company by six seconds,” Jordan said. The posted results had Fast Company in first on a 1:05:50 PHRF, with Kato chasing 1:05:56 PHRF.
Papa A‘u, finishing sixth overall on a 1:09:02 elapsed, filled in third place on a 1:06:23 PHRF.
Weatherly, crossing 34 seconds ahead of OZone, topped the Club class on a 1:01:32 Club, followed by Speedy (1:01:59 Club) and Bonjolea II (1:05:45 Club).
The public is invited to watch the Shakedown Series, Race No. 4, Thursday when the first flags fly at 5 p.m. at the Nawiliwili breakwater parking area for the fourth race.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
