NAWILIWILI — Fast Company, with Jim Saylor on the stick, beat out Bonjolea II by one minute to claim the win at the Nawiliwili Yacht Club’s Roger Cable Memorial Series, Race No. 7 at Nawiliwili Harbor.
The win, which came despite Fast Company experiencing spinnaker problems in the first leg of the 6.3-mile course, improved Saylor’s win record to 13 consecutive first place finishes since the NYC inaugurated its 2023 sailing calendar.
Sailing in what Chris Jordan aboard OZone described as “lighter winds at about 7 knots out of the east over the B-A-D course totalling 6.3 miles,” Fast Company got into spinnaker trouble after rounding the G-11 can near the Coast Guard station in the first leg.
“Fast Company had some spinnaker takedown issues and they performed a maneuver we call ‘shrimping’ where the spinnaker goes down into the water and gets dragged behind the boat like a sea anchor,” Jordan said. “They went very wide and slow for quite a while.”
This widened the gap between Fast Company and Bonjolea II, which had earlier taken the lead rounding the Kalapaki buoy at the end of the starting straightaway.
“While Bonjolea II was in the lead with Bonnie Tiffany at the wheel, folks were wondering if Fast Company was close enough to win on handicap,” Jordan said. “At the finish line, it was Bonjolea II taking line honors with an elapsed time of 1 hour, 17 minutes, and 3 seconds. Fast Company followed with an elapsed time of 1:20:35.”
“But on the corrected handicap time, it was Fast Company correcting to 1:20:42, PHRF followed by Bonjolea II at 1:21:42 PHRF,” Jordan said. “An unbelievable 13 wins in a row!”
OZone, collecting an elapsed time of 1:24:58 and correcting to 1:25:04 PHRF, took third place followed a mere 19 seconds later by Speedy with Dick Olsen driving to a 1:25:15 elapsed time and correcting to 1:235:23 PHRF.
“Since there is one throwout race in the series, Fast Company with all first places doesn’t event need to race the next race in order to win the series. But, somehow, I don’t think Jim Saylor will go for that,” Jordan said.
“Following Fast Company with six points in the series, Bonjolea II has 14 points, and OZone with 15 points. This could be a battle for second place in the eighth and final race that takes (place), Thursday. Watch out, Bonnie!”
The first flags fly at 5 p.m. on Thursday for the NYC Roger Cable Memorial Series.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
Source: The Garden Island
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