NAWILIWILI — Jim Saylor secured the stick aboard Fast Company, and shot to a first finish in the inaugural race of the Nawiliwili Yacht Club Short Series at the Nawiliwili Harbor.
“Most of the skippers love going outside, particularly with bigger waves and wind as they can get their boats surfing,” said Chris Jordan, the skipper aboard OZone who finished the race in fifth place. “But the action is better for the public to see, and for the photographers to take pictures on the inside races.”
Sailing in winds coming in at between 12 and 15 knots out of the east-northeast, Fast Company cleared the start line jam of the race labelled “D-E-A-D” over the 5.62 mile course.
“Fast Company rounded the Kalapaki buoy first, followed by Papa A‘u (she was the best off the start line), Kato, OZone, Double Espresso, and Weatherly,” Jordan said. “But at the G-7 buoy, downwind, it was now Bonjolea II in the lead followed by Fast Company, Papa A‘u, and Kato.”
Saylor plied his time as boats jockeyed for the lead, and excitement bubbled at the Kalapaki buoy.
“There was considerable excitement on Double Espress with the youngest sailors,” Jordan said. “The jib sheet had an override on the winch, and try as they might, it could not be loosened. Double Espresso hove to and was now heading away from the mark in the wrong direction. Uncle Carl Andersson had to take the winch apart in order to free up the trapped line. Later, the 12 to 15 year olds got to experience their first round up downwind under spinnaker — a good learning experience!”
On the lone long course to the Ninini Point Lighthouse, Bonjolea II rounded first followed by Fast Company, Kato, Papa A‘u, Speedy, OZone, and Weatherly.
“But Bonjolea II with Bonnie Tiffany steering developed steering cable problems, and did not fly their spinnaker, downwind,” Jordan said. “Rear Commodore John ross was again the hero when he went below and held onto the cables, eventually getting them fixed, but not until Fast Company was able to take the lead.”
During the final leg, Fast Company gave up the lead to Bonjolea II by having to perform extra tacks on the course, allowing the Sydney 36 to sound the finish horn first on an elapsed sail of 1 hour, 1 minute, 34 seconds. But the corrections saw Bonjolea II slip to fourth place with the 1:06:15 PHRF adjustment.
Fast Company was second in line honors with a 1:03:25 elapsed sail and corrected to 1:03:49 PHRF for overall race honors, followed by Papa A‘u with Jeff Olsen steering to a 1:06:52 elapsed sail and correcting to 1:04:18 PHRF — a full minute behind Kato who crossed at 1:04:36 elapsed and corrected to 1:05:18 PHRF.
Speedy (1:09:20 elapsed) corrected to 1:00:44 Club for top honors in that class followed by Bonjolea II correcting to 1:01:57 Club, and Weatherly (1:09:39 elapsed) correcting to 1:04:52 Club.
The second race of the four-race Short Series unfolds, Thursday 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.
Source: The Garden Island
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