NAWILIWILI — Bonnie Tiffany, behind the big wheel of Bonjolea II, may have sounded the finish horn first during the opening race of the Nawiliwili Yacht Club Wahine Series at Nawiliwili Harbor on Thursday, June 13.
“But the Sydney 36 owes the smaller Olson 30s 36 seconds a mile on handicap,” said Chris Jordan of OZone, one of the Olson 30s. “So OZone took first place by 47 seconds after the handicap was applied with Alison Fornari steering the boat.”
Bonjolea II sounded the finish horn with an elapsed time of 1 hour, 2 minutes, and 29 seconds following the three-lap 6-mile course under winds blowing 14 knots out of the north northeast.
She corrected to 1:06:15, 47 seconds shy of OZone that chalked a 1:05.22 elapsed time and corrected to 1:05:28.
“Fast Company, with Victoria Aiu on the stick, appeared to have the best start at the pin end on starboard, although all the boats were a little late. OZone was just to leeward of Fast Company, and Bonjolea II came down the line on port tack and quickly tacked onto starboard below the other boats,” Jordan said.
“When Bonjolea II tacked back towards the breakwater, they had to duck OZone and Fast Company. But when the fast Bonjolea II tacked back onto starboard nearing the breakwater, the other boats had to duck her and she took the lead.”
Bonjolea II rounded the Ninini buoy in the lead, chased by OZone, Fast Company and Speedy.
“Under spinnaker downwind, OZone tried to ride the wake of Bonjolea II in order to try and keep up,” Jordan said.
“At the entrance to the harbor, OZone pulled its spinnaker pole back and went very low, directly to the G-11 buoy, a shorter distance. Bonjolea II is a boat that like to reach, and they went up higher first, and then gybed back. When they did this, they had to duck OZone’s stern.”
That gave OZone first rounding at the G-11 buoy, chased by Bonjolea II, Fast Company and Speedy.
The order never changed at the finish with Fast Company chalking up third on a 1:12:35 read, and Speedy, with Kristina Chapman on the stick, rounding out the fleet at 1:14:44.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
