May 20, 2023, Saturday Race – NYC Opening Day Make Up Series – Bonjolea II Sweeps the Series!
A Light E-ESE breeze of 6-8 knots with a small swell in a similar direction greeted the 3 boats that came out for this series of races. This was a make up series since the 2023 Opening Day series was canceled due to weather.
Papa Au, Speedy and Bonjolea II faced off against each other in this 3-race series that featured absolutely beautiful, albeit slow, racing conditions.
Race 1 was a 2-leg 3.4-mile course, A-E, with the first leg going out to the Ninini Pt. Lighthouse buoy. It was slow going with multiple tacks getting out to the first windward mark. Starboard tack was favored due to the swell being parallel to the direction the boats had to take, & due to the positive wind shift from off the land mass at Ninini point. Bonjolea II took the early lead, followed by Speedy then Papa Au, & the boats rounded the windward mark in that order. All flew their spinnakers on downwind legs, which was challenging due to light winds, so trim was constant & important. The order of the boats never changed, but Bonjolea II extended their lead & crossed the line 1st followed by Speedy, then Papa Au. The corrected times placed the boats in the same order, Bonjolea II, 1st, corrected to 1:02:24, Speedy, 2nd, corrected to 1:08:14 & Papa Au corrected to 1:18:13 for 3rd.
Race 2 was a 1 leg course, E, at 1.0 miles. As Bonnie Tiffany, the skipper of Bonjolea II, described it, it was short & sweet. Spinnaker trim was again important. The results were similar to Race 1, with Bonjolea II taking 1st with a corrected time of 0:14:34, Speedy taking 2nd corrected to 16:43 & Papa Au taking 3rd, corrected to 19:53. It was interesting to note that several jets flew overhead as they landed at Lihue Airport, & the turbulence from their winglets created several small waterspouts!! Their passage overhead also disturbed the air enough for the boats to feel the pressure changes.
Race 3 was a 2-leg 2.11-mile course, D-E, all were inside courses. By this third race, crews were getting a bit uncomfortable as the light winds combined with the full sun, made for a hot cockpit. As before Bonjolea II took the lead early & maintained the lead to the finish. The corrected results were: Bonjolea II, 1st at 0:27:36; Speedy 2nd at 0:29:19 & Papa Au 3rd at 0:35:54.
Race officials Rhan Honjo, Hu & Stevy Mast did a superb job of race management & all had a great time. Afterwards a well-attended NYC General Meeting took place on the grassy area in front of the KSA building.