NAWILIWILI — Bonjolea II, a Sydney 36, topped the field of 15 boats during the 2024 Kaua‘i Channel Race that wrapped up on Aug. 10 at Nawiliwili Small Boat Harbor.
Bonjolea II was first over the line when the race started under the auspices of the Kaneohe Yacht Club at the K Buoy located at the northwest end of Kaneohe Bay where the main shipping channel starts, said Doug Tiffany, a crew aboard Bonjolea II.
“The start was clean with no early-overs,” Tiffany said. “But following very closely was Wasabi, a Sydney 41.”
Dragon Fly, a Formula 40 Catamaran from the Nawiliwili Yacht Club took the lead and was quickly far ahead of Wasabi, Locomotion II, a TP52, and Bonjolea II.
“The pack of boats split soon afterwards, many heading on a more northwesterly route in search of heavier winds,” Tiffany said. “Bonjolea II put up their A2.5 combination Reacher/Runner Spinnaker, and their Spinnaker Staysail and continued with the rest of the pack, basically hugging the coach of O‘ahu until they reached Kahuku Point, the northernmost point on O‘ahu.”
At this point, several of the boats turned to the southwest, hoping to get a lift as they sailed toward Kaena Point.
“Bonjolea II put up their A2 downwind spinnaker and, in combination with their Spinnaker Staysail, plotted a course that went more or less straight across the channel towards Kaua‘i and the finish line at the entrance to Nawiliwili Harbor,” Tiffany said.
Sleeping Dragon, a Hobie 33 from the Kaneohe Yacht Club, caught up and passed Bonjolea II in pursuit of Wasabi. Stardust, a Wylie 46, was going faster than Bonjolea II and inched past about two-thirds of the way across the channel.
“Interestingly, 12 or 13 of the boats were always in sight of each other for the entire race, indicating how close the race would be,” Tiffany said. “Bonjolea II continued towards Nawiliwili Bay, but soon Bravura, a Farr 44, and Flying Tiger, the other Hobie 33 from the Kaneohe Yacht Club, came slowly up from the south, and Le‘ale‘a, a J100, came down from the north.”
NYC Rear Commodore Hu Mast and Race Official Stevie Mast, and race photographer Charlotte Ross manned the finish line where Dragonfly was first across at 2:57:23 p.m. from the 7 a.m. start time. Locomotion II followed an hour later at 3:56:05 p.m. Both of these boats had no correction factors, giving Dragonfly the First Boat to Finish perpetual trophy, and the First to Finish Multihull. Locomotion won the First to Finish Monohull perpetual trophy.
Wasabi crossed third overall and corrected to 9 hours, 47 minutes, 24 seconds for second place in the X class. She was followed by Sleeping Dragon crossing fourth and correcting to 9:44:59 besting Wasabi by three minutes for first place in the X class. Flying Tiger crossed at 6:31:56 p.m., nearly 30 minutes back of Flying Tiger. She corrected to 9:56:16 for third place in the X class.
Stardust gybed in front of Le‘ale‘a about a mile from the Ninini Point Lighthouse buoy and sailed to a sixth finish on a corrected time of 10:13:38 for a fourth place in the X class. Le‘ale‘a crossed seventh and corrected to 9:22:16 for first place in the A class.
Twenty-one seconds later, Bonjolea II crossed the line at 6:30:20 p.m. and corrected to 9:11:21 for first place in the B class.
“The last boat finished at 7:04:33 p.m., showing how close a race this was,” Tiffany said. “In the end, however, following the corrections being applied, Bonjolea II easily won their B class and corrected out 10 minutes, 57 seconds ahead of the 13 other monohulls to garner the coveted First Place Corrected-Monohull, and a spot on the perpetual trophy.”
The Kaua‘i Channel Race was started by the now defunct Hanalei Bay Yacht Club in 1973 as the Honolulu to Hanalei race. In 1978, the Nawiliwili Yacht Club was started and became a co-sponsor of the race. In 1983, NYC became a full sponsor when the Hanalei Bay Yacht Club closed its doors.
“So, this race has been run almost every year for about 51 years,” Tiffany said. “The race is one of the few actual downwind races conducted in Hawai‘i. It involves approximately 100 miles of open ocean with spinnakers flying most of the way.”
What happened to the Yacht Club boat that sunk? That would have been an interesting side story for this article…
The story doesn’t describe the perfect sailing conditions for crossing the channel. The conditions resulted in excellent sailing angles and lots of surfing the swell for many boats, under clear, sunny skies.
A really fun race