NAWILIWILI – Bonjolea II, with Bonnie Tiffany behind the Ferris wheel, scored its second victory Thursday in the Nawiliwili Yacht Club Invitational Series, Race No. 2 at Nawiliwili Port.
“The Sydney 36 never looked back to the four Olson 30s that made up the rest of the fleet,” said Chris Jordan, the skipper aboard OZone who crossed the finish line in second place. “Bonjolea II now has two bullets for the first two races of the Invitational Series after winning the first race by more than seven minutes ahead of OZone.”
Running in winds between 10 and 12 knots from the northeast, the Sydney 30 negotiated the three-leg, 6.03-mile course to sound the finishing horn in an elapsed time of 1 hour, 11 minutes, 55 seconds, and corrected to 1:15:53 PHRF to claim his second victory in the Invitational Series.
OZone, overcoming the course which included two long runs to Point Ninini and an inside route, crossed the finish in an elapsed time of 1:18:57 and corrected to 1:19:04 PHRF for the second slot.
“Just before the start, Weatherly with Lily on the control was coming in on starboard tack while port tack OZone was planning to tack just below them,” Jordan said. “But Jordan, holding the tiller, had the tiller extension jammed against the side of the cockpit, preventing him from tacking until the last minute, missing Weatherly by inches.”
Bonjolea II had the best position from the clean start and first rounded the Kalapaki buoy to starboard when leaving the port. OZone, Weatherly, Speedy and Double Espresso followed.
The inner leg planned to round the Kalapaki buoy on the port side.
“As the buoy approached, the winds suddenly became very light and unstable,” Jordan said. “We could see Bonjolea II tack several times to round the buoy, and the rest of the fleet thought they had a chance to catch up with them. But that was not to be the case because all the other boats encountered the same conditions light and fluy wind, and after several changes of tack, everyone found themselves grouped around the buoy of Kalapaki.
Bonjolea II continued to edge the fleet and took line honors and first place in the PHRF class, followed by OZone seven minutes behind Sydney 36.
“But now there was a big battle for third place,” Jordan said. “Weatherly rounded buoy G-11 near the Coast Guard station ahead of Speedy. Weatherly veered early towards the breakwater as Speedy continued to head towards the docked cruise ship. When Speedy finally veered towards the finish line, they took a huge lift and veered just ahead of Weatherly to cross the finish line 15 seconds ahead of them for third place.
In the Club class, the Kaua’i Sailing Association’s youngest kids with Stella Fornari, 12, on the Double Espresso stick, took first place on a corrected Club of 1:15:27. Weatherly took second place on a corrected Club of 1:15:39.
Race three of the NYC Invitational Series takes place on Thursday when the first flags fly at 5 p.m. from the NYC Race Committee.
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Denis Fujimotowriter and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
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