NAWILIWILI — Fast Company capitalized on a water crash to claim the third race of the Nawiliwili Yacht Club Wahine Series Thursday afternoon at Nawiliwili Harbor.
Winds were blowing consistently at 10 knots out of the north-northeast and seas were calm at the start of the race that took place about the same time the land traffic became snarled due to a three-car auto accident that forced the closure of Kuhio Highway in both directions just north of the Aqua Kauai Beach Resort entrance.
“We had a good clear start for all of the eight boats in the fleet,” said Doug Tiffany, the NYC interim vice commodore. “But five boats converged at the windward mark, AKA the Ninini Point Lighthouse turnaround buoy, where a couple of boats went into irons. Speedy, Kato and OZone ended up colliding, but no protests were filed with the NYC Race Committee. There was some damage to OZone, and both boats retired from the race.”
Fast Company was ready, and Tess, the wahine aboard the Olson 30, stirred the crew to a strong lead which they held onto through the finish of the three-leg, 6-nautical-mile course. She sounded the finish horn on an elapsed sail of 1 hour, 8 minutes, 25 seconds and corrected to a 1:08:50 PHRF for top honors in the race.
Weatherly, sailing with Astrid as its wahine, crossed third overall at 1:13:14 and corrected to 1:13:41 PHRF for second-place honors.
Bonjolea II, with Bonnie Tiffany at the wheel, slipped across the finish line third overall at 1:18:46, but following the PHRF correction was posted at sixth of the finishing craft at 1:23:56 PHRF.
Iwa, an Oceanis 41 with Karon as its wahine rep, filled in third (1:21:28 elapsed, 1:19:23 PHRF) followed by Papa A‘u (1:23:15 elapsed, 1:20:24 PHRF), and Speedy (1:20:30 elapsed, 1:21:00 PHRF).
Speedy also corrected to 1:10:25 Club for top honors in that class followed by Papa A‘u (1:15:41 Club), and Bonjolea II (1:18:53 Club).
The next race in the Wahine Series will unfold Thursday and the public is invited to view the competition with the NYC Race Committee 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.
