FAST COMPANY TAKES THEM ALL

The trade winds were back for Thursday’s seventh and final race in the Nawiliwili Yacht Club Rum Race Series. The flat water and good breeze made for great sailing conditions. Although Fast Company had sealed up the series win in last week’s race, they won this last race and in doing so completed a perfect series with all wins. Jim Saylor, skipper of Fast Company, dedicated the series to his father Dick Saylor, also an avid sailor, who passed away this year at 92.

Fewer boats participated in this race with sailors of Weatherly and Double Expresso being on Oahu attending Sailing Instructor Certification classes. The absent competitors were missed in the racing, but the community will benefit from the additional instructors available for teaching sailing classes with Kauai Sailing Association.

Papa Au was first off the start, but it was Fast Company who led for most of the 3 lap Race. Bonjolea II caught up and passed them on the last downwind leg when Fast Company held off setting their spinnaker. However, Bonjolea II’s lead at the finish wasn’t enough once the PHRF handicapping corrections were applied and the resulting finish order in the PHRF class was Fast Company 1st (01:06:05), Papa Au 2nd (01:07:52) and Bonjolea II 3rd (01:08:52). Speedy was 1st in the Club Class (01:04:43).

Top 3 finish places for the overall series PHRF Class are Fast Company 1st (6 PTS), Kato 2nd (13 PTS), and Papa Au Third (19 PTS). The Club Class points were very close with Ozone 1st (29 PTS), Bonjolea II 2nd (31 PTS), and Weatherly 3rd (33 PTS). Weatherly and Speedy were tied for 3rd with Weatherly scoring better on the tie-breaker calculations.

The crew of Iwa hosted a wonderful meal after the race of ”Idaho Bakers” – baked potatoes with all the toppings.

Note that there is no racing on this Thursday, May 23. There will be an Offshore race on Saturday, May 25th and the next race series is the Invitational Series which starts on Thursday, May 30th. For this series, each boat is required have an invited guest on board to help get more people exposed to sailboat racing.

The public is invited to watch the racing from the Mole looking over Kalapaki Bay and the Nawiliwili harbor.

-John Ross, Rear Commodore

Click for complete results and for more photos