NAWILIWILI — Bonjolea II, with Bonnie Tiffany behind the big wheel, won the final race of the Shorts Series and the overall series last week during the Nawiliwili Yacht Club shoreline series of races at Nawiliwili Harbor.
Sailing under light 8 and 9 knots out of the east/northeast, the Sydney 36 had the advantage of winning the opening race of the four-race series, and needed the win over the four-lap course that measured out to 4.22 miles.
Bolting from its traditional near the back of the pack at the starting line, Bonjolea II overcame two challenges within the thirst two laps, and held on to secure the win on an elapsed time that broke the one-hour mark. Captain Tiffany drove Bonjolea II over the finish horn at 59 minutes and 21 seconds, and corrected to 1:01.52 PHRF.
That finish amounted to winning by just one second over OZone who sounded the finish horn at 1:01:48 elapsed, and corrected to 1:01:53 PHRF. OZone was followed by Fiasco, the winner of the third race of the four-race series, marking a 1:01:55 elapsed time, and correcting to 1:02:00 PHRF.
“We gave it to them,” said Fiasco skipper Jim Saylor. “We had the race, but there were a couple of mistakes.”
One of those involved a spinnaker hiccup that worked OZone into the No. 2 spot behind Bonjolea II. Fiasco could not recover from the mistakes, and settled for No. 3.
Overall, Bonjolea II wins the Shorts Series with two first place wins followed by Fiasco and OZone getting one first finish apiece.
Off the start line, the battle for the lead belonged to Fiasco and OZone with Bonjolea II having to climb past OZone and Fiasco to take the lead. But the race was not done as the battle for second place raged between Fiasco and OZone.
With the Shorts Series complete, the Nawiliwili Yacht Club starts the Gene Wells Memorial Series today when the first flags fly at 5 p.m. The public is invited to join the NYC Race Committee in viewing the races.
Source: The Garden Island