NAWILIWILI — OZone has no room for a tie, this coming Thursday night. Having entered the Nawiliwili Harbor with a two-point overall lead over Fast Company, the battle of the two Olson 30s gave spectators a treat in the hard-fought
NAWILIWILI — OZone has no room for a tie, this coming Thursday night.
Having entered the Nawiliwili Harbor with a two-point overall lead over Fast Company, the battle of the two Olson 30s gave spectators a treat in the hard-fought jockeying for top spot in the Nawiliwili Yacht Club Rum Series, Race No. 6, Thursday.
The excitement was created by the arrival of a squall and heightened by the departure of the Holland America Line Zaandam cruise ship.
Winds whipped up to at least the 20-knot range creating whitecaps in the harbor and whipping raindrops onto spectators lining the jetty wall during the passage of the squall.
At the start, there were surprises as Fast Company battled with Coyote and Speedy for the lead. The middle pack had OZone, Lelele and Papa‘au battling while Malihini, overshooting the line at the final horn, had to come from the back with Bonjolea.
But the strong winds from the squall proved to be an asset to Fast Company, whose small size and quick maneuvering moved her to the lead spot, and despite the use of a spinnaker by Speedy, Fast Company was able to hold the lead heading out to the Ninini Point Lighthouse mark.
She maintained the lead on the return leg, this time battling the challenge of OZone, who rose from her fourth finish, Lelele and Malihini.
Fast Company was able to hold off the challenges and crossed on a 1:03:42, correcting to a 1:03:48 PHRF for top honors in the sixth of the seven-race series.
OZone followed with a full load of riders at 1:04:18 elapsed, correcting to a 1:04:24 PHRF for second place.
The tight race situation proved itself as Lelele finished on a 1:04:43 elapsed, just 35 seconds back of OZone, and corrected to 1:04:31 PHRF, just seven seconds back.
Speedy dropped from her early second-place spot to finish fourth on a 1:07:05 elapsed, correcting to 1:07:11 PHRF, just 42 seconds ahead of Malihini (1:07:47 elapsed, 1:09:30 PHRF).
Papa‘au (1:12:50 elapsed, 1:09:43PHRF), Coyote (1:16:33 elapsed, 1:11:42 PHRF) and Bonjolea (1:16:58 elapsed, 1:14:00 PHRF) rounded out the field.
Coyote corrected to a 59:27 Club for first in the Club Open class, followed by Speedy correcting to 1:00:59, Papa‘au (1:04:25 Club), Bonjolea (1:04:43 Club) and Malihini (1:06:03 Club).
Thursday is the final race of the Rum Series and OZone holds a one-point lead over Fast Company, who missed a race due to participating in the Lipton Cup on O‘ahu.
Add to that the race where Fast Company was challenged with spinnaker woes to finish in sixth place and Thursday’s race puts the pressure on both boats.
Sharon Gibson, the NYC scorekeeper, said OZone faces a must-win situation. A loss to Fast Company will result in a tie with the tie-breaker leaning in Fast Company’s favor due to her winning more first places in the series.
The public is invited to view the races with the first flags flying at 5 p.m.
Visit www.nawiliwiliyachtclub.org for more information and to view the gallery of photos from this and previous races.
