NAWILIWILI — Bonnie Tiffany and her crew aboard the 36-foot Bonjolea II wheeled the big boat ahead of the competitive pack to win the Nawiliwili Yacht Club’s Short Series Race No. 2 before a nice-sized audience that overflowed the Nawiliwili Harbor jetty parking area.
“You would think that four short inside laps around the Kalapaki buoy might slow the big Bonjolea II down,” said Chris Jordan, skippering OZone to a third overall finish in the race that saw Speedy stay out of the competition. “Not so.”
The Sydney 36 crossed the finish line with top honors on an elapsed sail of 55 minutes flat and corrected to 59:11 PHRF for top honors in winds blowing about 11 knots out of the northeast.
“The 4.22-mile course labeled ‘D-E-E-D’ had a lighter wind so most of the boats had their larger No. 1 sails up,” Jordan said. “Because the wind was more northerly, a port tack start was not out of the question rather than our usual favored pin end start on starboard tack.”
Bonjolea II capitalized on the dilemma and shot out from the pin end while Papa A‘u and OZone battled on port, gliding past the NYC Race Committee with Jeff Olsen aboard Papa A‘u egging Jordan to an over-early.
Tiffany wheeled the big boat ahead of the seven-boat fleet, rounding the first Kalapaki buoy ahead of OZone, Papa A‘u, Weatherly, Double Espresso and Fast Company, which was working to make up for a late start because of new hands on its spinnaker.
Bonjolea II used the remaining three legs to build its gap over the fleet, sounding the finish horn more than seven minutes ahead of OZone, which was second in line honors on a 1:02:33 elapsed sail. However, the antics of Papa A‘u skipper Olsen aboard the 27-foot Express through the D-E-E-D layout saw Papa A‘u finish third in line competition at a 1:03:41 elapsed sail, and correcting to 1:01:14 PHRF for second place over the Olson 30’s 1:02:56 PHRF correction.
“On the downwind first leg to the G-7 buoy, OZone’s snapshackle on the spinnaker halyard opened up and the spinnaker came tumbling down into the water,” Jordan said. “All the boats caught up to them. OZone now came into the G-7 gybe mark on starboard tack under jib. Weatherly, on port tack, reached the 3-boat length circle at the same time and called for room at the gybe mark, which they are entitled to. OZone reluctantly went wider than they would’ve liked to. Papa A‘u was just in front of them and rounded sharply, Double Espresso hitting their stern quarter — it was a learning experience for the youngest junior sailors.”
In the Club class competition, Weatherly with Astrid Andersson on the stick for the last race before heading to college in Monterey, California, corrected to 59:24 Club (1:03:47 elapsed) for top honors in that competition followed by Double Espresso (1:05:56 elapsed sail) correcting to 1:02:18 Club, and Kato (1:04:43 elapsed, 1:04:13 Club).
In consideration of the current COVID-19 restrictions, the post-race educational discussions and dinner were called off.
“Unfortunately, because of COVID, all after-race dinners and educational talks have been canceled indefinitely,” Jordan said.
The third of the four-race series will get underway Thursday when the first flags fly at 5 p.m. at the Nawiliwili Harbor jetty parking area.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
