The 2022 Invitational Race Series Race #3 was held in relatively light 6-12 knot winds blowing from NE to ENE. The swell was very light, less than 4 ft, coming in from the SE with no wind waves. Four boats participated, Bonjolea II, Ozone, Speedy and Weatherly. The course, BAD, consisted of 3 legs, 2 long with Ninini Pt buoy being the windward mark, and one short with the Kalapaki #4 can the windward mark. Ozone, with Dr. Danny Judd at the helm, did the honors of laying down the buoy at the starboard end of the starting line. Thanks Dr. Judd!!!
At the start, Bonjolea II, with Bonnie Tiffany at the Helm, crossed 1st a few feet from the buoy shutting out Ozone who had to fall off at last second to come behind mere inches from Bonjolea IIs stern. This caused Speedy to also make a hard correction to avoid being hit by Ozone. Weatherly, with Carl Andersson at the helm, wisely started a couple boat lengths lower on the starting line and had a clear start, 2nd across the line. Ozone crossed 3rd and Speedy, with Dick Olson at the helm crossed 4th.
Bonjolea, Ozone and Weatherly raced neck and neck to the Kalapaki #2 can which was the next rounding. Bonjolea II overstood that mark by 3-4 boat lengths before turning out towards the windward mark in 1st . Weatherly attempted an early port tack to the mark but ended up having to give way to Ozone who had right of way. Ozone ended up rounding 2nd, Weatherly 3rd and Speedy in 4th place. The rest of the 1st leg saw Ozone, Weatherly, and Speedy all tack over towards Timbers Resort to gain height on the Windward mark but Bonjolea II held her course rounding the Windward mark 1st. Ozone rounded 2nd, Weatherly in 3rd and Speedy a close 4th.
From there Bonjolea II continued to further her lead for the rest of the race. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th spots, however, remained a horse race, with Ozone, Weatherly, Speedy all within a couple boat lengths of one another.
On the 2nd leg Bonjolea II and Weatherly held their course on the run out to the Windward mark but Ozone and Speedy tacked over towards Timbers Resort. Bonjolea II rounded 1st, Ozone 2nd,, Weatherly 3rd and Speedy 4th.
While Bonjolea II finished Leg 3, and the race, with a commanding lead, the battle of the Olson 30s raged on. Between G7 and G11, Weatherly finally overtook Ozone and rounded G11 in 2nd. Ozone then took a quick tack to get out of bad air and stayed on a low line, while Weatherly and Speedy headed towards the cruise ship before tacking back towards the finish line. Weatherly had 2nd place all but locked up, but it wasn’t until the final 30 seconds before it became clear that Ozone would take 3rd and Speedy 4th.
At the finish, Bonjolea II finished with Line Honors, 6 minutes and 59 seconds ahead of Weatherly, with a corrected time of 1:20:17 and a 1st place PHRF Class. Weatherly finished 2nd PHRF Class with a corrected time of 1:23:17. Ozone finished #3 PHRF Class with a corrected time of 1:23:32 and Speedy was 1st in Club Class with a corrected time of 1:23:48.
The fourth and final race of the Invitational Series will be held on Thursday June 16th with a 5 pm start. The public is invited to watch the races from the Nawiliwili mole parking area.
-Doug Tiffany
Click here for results on the racing page and a link to the raceQs replay.