NAWILIWILI — Bonnie Tiffany worked the wheel of Bonjolea II to gain control of the Nawiliwili Yacht Club Invitational Series, Race No. 3 at the Nawiliwili Harbor.
The Sydney 36 worked her way from the pack of the eight-boat race that spanned 6.6 miles under 15- to 18-knot winds with higher gusts blowing out the the east-northeast at the start, and by the midway turn of the first of three legs, Tiffany had the race under control.
“The winds had several of the boats put reefs in their mainsails,” said Chris Jordan, the skipper aboard OZone who finished the race, third overall. “It appeared like the Express 27 Papa A‘u had the best start at the pin end with Andy Evans on the helm. Weatherly may have been over early as they turned around and restarted. Shortly following the starting horn, both Bonjolea II and Weatherly tacked towards the breakwater, and Speedy subsequently followed. Kato was able to pinch up nicely from below OZone and Papa A‘u, and when they had room, they too tacked away.”
“On the way out to the Ninini Lighthouse buoy, Papa A‘u fell down into Speedy’s bad air, and tacked back towards the Timbers Resort,” Jordan said. “When the boats reached the lighthouse buoy, Bonjolea II rounded in the lead tracked by Kato and OZone.”
Bonjolea II maintained the lead through the remainder of the race, sounding the finished horn on an elapsed sail of 59 minutes, 42 seconds for line honors. She corrected to 1:04:15 PHRF to claim the third race by 15 seconds ahead of Kato who had chalked up victories in the previous two races of the series.
Kato marked an elapsed sail of 1:03:48 and corrected to 1:04:30 PHRF, nearly two minutes ahead of OZone who sounded the finish horn on a 1:06:11 elapsed sail and corrected to 1:06:36 PHRF.
Weatherly, with Astrid Andersson at the stick of the all-teen crew, rebounded from its stumbling start to finish fifth overall (and nine ticks back of Fast Company), correcting to 1:05:54 Club for top honors in that class.
Speedy (1:16:38 elapsed, 1:07:08 Club) finished second in the Club class followed by Papa A‘u (1:15:04 elapsed, 1:07:35 Club).
“Guests are very important in the Invitational races,” Jordan said. “Each boat must have a guest on board to promote sailing and racing. Without a guest, the boat is penalized to last place, plus assessed one point. OZone’s guest was Phil Riola, an operating room technician at Wilcox Health who had never sailed before. And, he did not even get seasick in the rougher conditions.”
The fourth, and final race of the NYC Invitational Series takes place, Thursday when the first flags fly at 5 p.m.
•••
Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
