Fast Company rides home with the Horse and Pony

The series leaders going into the final race of the Horse and Pony Series threw down the gauntlet and dared each other to pull off a risky move right at the start. Fast Company and Bonjolea II took off on a port tack converging with the rest of the fleet that were on starboard tack. Fast Company looked like she was going to make the green light as she came up to the intersection against Kato, but the light turned yellow and Jim Saylor driving Fast Company neatly tacked giving himself a nice lee bow position to Kato. Meanwhile, Bonjolea II was getting up a head of steam as skipper Bonnie Tiffany threaded the needle through the paths of right-of-way boats coming across on starboard.

The race out to the Lighthouse buoy was against competitors and the wind conditions. The wind was playing no favorites as several boats got impressive lifts while nearby boats got confusing headers that set them behind. At the buoy three Olson 30’s lead by OZone, then Fast Company and Kato came up to the mark on port while Bonjolea II came in wide from the starboard side of the course. Have you ever seen too many people try to get into a revolving door? It was something like that but with big boats.

OZone skippered by Dr. Chris Jordan kept his lead all the way to the leeward mark by following the near shore wind and conservatively dousing the spinnaker well before the mark. The other boats sailed a more direct course and kept their spinnakers flying to the last possible moment. OZone well ahead of the fleet and sailing in clear air made it around the next leg without error or gear failure, and finished first. OZone corrected time (PHRF) was 40:28, with Fast Company finishing second with a corrected time of 41:16. Kato finished third with a corrected time of 41:28. Club Class had Speedy finishing first with a corrected time of 39:42, Weatherly finishing second with a 40:02, and Papa a’u finishing third with a corrected time of 41:42.

The Pony race had just has much excitement with Doug Moore (Bonjolea II) leaving the fleet to starboard and sailing through the moored boats before tacking over and sailing back into the channel to cross ahead of the fleet. However, after trading a couple of quick tacks with Jim Saylor, Jim lead and rounded the weather mark first. In the brisk wind, the fleet of Toppers jetted back to the finish line with Jim Saylor finishing first, Doug Moore in second, and Ed Tschupp (Papa a’u) finishing in third.

The Horse and Pony Race Series Open Class finished with Fast Company with the First Place Trophy with 18 points, Bonjolea II with the Second Place Trophy with 26 points, and Papa a’u with the Third Place Trophy with a close 27 points. Club Class ranking in the series had OZone taking First Place with 35 points, Weatherly earning Second Place with 36 points, and Speedy taking Third Place with 38 points.

– Kevin Arndt

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