It was a gorgeous day for sailing with a nice 14 knot wind out of the North northeast. The course was A-C-E with 2 laps out to the Ninini Lighthouse buoy and one lap inside the harbor around the Kalapaki buoy over a distance of 6 miles. Bonnie Tiffany was on the helm of Bonjolea II, Alison Fornari on Ozone, Victoria Aiu on Fast Company and Kristiina Chapman on Speedy.
Fast Company 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. 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 as they approached the breakwater the other boats had to duck her and she took the lead.
Bonjolea II tacked out of the harbor in a good spot but Ozone tacked out a little early and they barely made it out of the harbor at the end of the breakwater. Fast Company went a little further before tacking and so Ozone was able to gain some on them.
Bonjolea II was moving quickly and they rounded the Ninini Lighthouse buoy first followed by Ozone, Fast Company and Speedy. And while under spinnaker downwind Ozone tried to ride the wake of Bonjolea II in order to try to keep up. At the entrance to the harbor Ozone pulled their spinnaker pole back and went very low directly towards the G-11 buoy, a shorter distance. Meanwhile, Bonjolea II is a boat that likes to reach and they went up higher first and then gybed back and when they did this they had to duck Ozone’s stern.
Ozone rounded the G-11 buoy by the Coast Guard Station in the lead followed closely by Bonjolea II and then Fast Company and Speedy. Bonjolea II upwind tacked back towards the breakwater early, probably trying to get out of Ozone’s bad air. And when Bonjolea II came back onto starboard they stayed inside the G-5 buoy as required and Ozone now had to duck their stern.
After the next rounding of the Ninini Lighthouse buoy the boats stayed up high towards the airport when they set their spinnakers in order to make it to the Kalapaki buoy. After that rounding the boats headed to the G-7 buoy and then on to the G-11 buoy again before heading back upwind to the Kalapaki buoy for the 3rd and final lap. Then it was back down to the G-11 buoy by the Coast Guard Station before heading back upwind to the finish line.
And at the finish line it was Bonjolea II with Bonnie Tiffany on the helm taking line honors. But the Sydney 36 owes the smaller Olson 30’s 36 seconds a mile on handicap. And so Ozone took first place by 47 seconds after the handicap was applied with Alison Fornari steering the boat. Fast Company came in third place with Victoria Aiu steering. And Speedy rounded out the fleet with Kristiina Chapman on the helm.
The second race of the Wahine Series takes place on Thursday 6/20/24 with a 5pm start. The public is invited to watch the race from the Nawiliwili mole parking area.
Around 6:45pm after the race a potluck dinner will be supplemented by the Ozone crew with some Chinese food of chicken with snow peas, beef with bok choy, won tons and white rice. The KSA educational speaker will be Chris Jordan talking about his recent 140 mile Swiftsure race on a 77 footer out of Victoria, Canada.
-Chris
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