NAWILIWILI — Skipper Bonnie Tiffany and the crew aboard Bonjolea II outfoxed Speedy to take the seventh, and final race of the Nawiliwili Yacht Club Gene Wells Memorial Series that played out on Oct. 12 at Nawiliwili Harbor.
“Speedy had a great start on port tack by the Race Committee,” said OZone skipper Chris Jordan. “Not only was this the favored tack, Speedy made it outside of the harbor beyond the breakwater in one tack.”
Sailing in winds of 10 knots blowing out of the north, the four-boat fleet battled through the 4.46-mile course that was broken down into three legs.
“As Speedy very nicely made it out of the harbor on one tack, the larger and faster Bonjolea II was able to catch up to them, and tacked on top of them to windward giving them bad air,” Jordan said. “And Bonjolea II took off.”
That left the three remaining Olson 30s — OZone, Weatherly, and Speedy — to duke it out.
After OZone had taken over after catching Speedy and Weatherly, on the way to the G-9 buoy, Weatherly was able to catch and pass Speedy.
“But then, disaster struck Weatherly as they went around the G-9 buoy the wrong way, leaving it to port rather than to starboard,” Jordan said. “At first, it appeared like they were trying to unwind and correct their mistake, but then Skipper Carl Andersson decided to continue the chase to stay in the race. He did notify the Race Committee, knowing that they would be scored ‘Did Not Finish.’”
At the finish line, Bonjolea II took line honors in an elapsed time of 54 minutes, 21 seconds, and correcting to 57:31 for the first finish, her fifth in seven races. That was enough to give Bonjolea II the first place in the series with seven points.
“OZone was second place in the race, 38 seconds behind Bonjolea II, and took second place in the seven-race series with 11 points,” Jordan said. “Speedy took third place in the race, and third place for the series with 17 points.”
There is no race scheduled for Oct. 19.
Instead, Jordan said, “The Halloween Race will be held on Oct. 26, so think about costumes. Rumor has it that Jim Saylor may be back from the mainland to race, and that OZone’s skipper Chris Jordan is so nervous about Jim’s return that he is heading to the mainland. Chris has asked Thor Temme to skipper OZone, and to take on Fast Company and Jim Saylor. It could be a zoo!”
