Fast Company wins by 2 seconds!

To quote a Seinfeld episode, “The sea was angry that day, my friends”. After a week of strong trade winds, the ocean was in a turmoil at the start of the third race of the Spring Shakedown Series. So much so that the entrance buoy had broken its anchor and was sitting on top of the breakwater. Jim Saylor and crew anchored a temporary rounding mark prior to the start of the race.

The race was on with 9 boats at the start line – some were conservative and had reefed sails while others flew full sails with boastful impunity. The winds were straight out of the east blowing at over 20 knots. The first leg of the course sent the fleet out into the maelstrom outside the breakwater. The wave train was coming from 2 different directions – one train from thousands of miles of open ocean and the other from the reflective wave coming from the cliffs on Kauai’s shoreline.

On the return leg the boats surfed down the faces of the waves sometimes passing multiple competitors on a single wave. It wasn’t the ten-foot swell alone that gave all the excitement, it was the 4-foot breaking chop on top of the swell that made the race absolutely thrilling. Trinity, a F-28 trimaran, was in her element with rooster tail flying as she screamed well into the lead. The Olson 30’s Fast Company, Kato, and OZone were next in line as they flew around the course.

The end of the 4 mile long coarse had Fast Company correcting out in first (0:41:58), 2 seconds ahead of Kato (0:42:00). Third place went to OZone with a corrected time of 0:43:24. Club Class had Trinity in first place with a corrected time of 0:36:39. Second place Club Class went to Lelele (0:39:36) and Speedy took third place (0:40:42).

The six-race Spring Shakedown Series continues Thursday and the public is invited to view the competition with the NYC Race Committee from the jetty wall area of the Nawiliwili Harbor. First flags fly at 5 p.m.

Click here for results
and Photos by Charlotte Ross and Pam Zirker and a Video by Tim Perry