Winners Decided At The 2023 Sonata National Championship

Published 01:00 on 1 Oct 2023

The 2023 Sonata Class National Championship [their 46^th] came to a close at Parkstone YC, 18 boats travelled to the event with top teams from around the country descending on Poole Harbour from as far afield as Scotland and Newcastle and some more local boats from the Solent, Christchurch and Weymouth.

The first three days of racing provided light variable conditions making life difficult for the race committee who managed to run 9 races out in Poole Bay a mixture of Trapezoid, round the cans and windward leeward races were set.

Besides the great action on the water as ever the Sonata Nationals delivered a vibrant and fun shore side program with a well-attended Dinner and Dance event featuring the brilliant 'Diplomats Band' along with a charity raffle raising money for the Parkstone YC charities.

Back on the water and after 9 races the leading bunch had extended on the fleet and all was to play for to decide the podium places going into the final day.

The results after 9 races:

1^st 8053 Duette Joe Cross 13 points

2^nd 8199 Frankie the Rhino Tony Woods 15 points

3^rd 8426 Joey Willian Smyth 26 points

4^th 8032 Minim Mark Angell 27 points

The final day of racing was scheduled to take place within Poole Harbour in the 'Top Triangle' just West of Brownsea Island. In a very light Northerly breeze a 2 lap Windward Leeward course was set.

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Race 10

Racing underway after a short postponement, race committee flying a U flag to get proceedings underway. A clean start for all but 1 boat 8198 called OCS, the majority of the fleet favouring the top left of the course and continuing on starboard. 8314 'Saraband' making the most of the pressure to take the race win whilst the battle was on behind for the podium spots. 8028 'Aquila' coming in 2^nd and 8032 'MINIM' making up valuable points on 8426 'Joey' who finished in 11^th. Joe Cross onboard 'Duette' took 4^th with 'Frankie The Rhino' down in 7^th.

The results after 10 races:

1^st 8053 Duette Joe Cross 17 points

2^nd 8199 Frankie the Rhino Tony Woods 20 points

3^rd 8032 Minim Mark Angell 30 points

4^th 8426 Joey Willian Smyth 33 points

Race 11

After a long postponement waiting for the wind to make its mind up and the race committee having to shift the course the warning signals were raised on the committee boat. All was to play for with the podium positions to be decided!

Again under a U flag the fleet got away cleanly under super light conditions of just 5 or 6 knots. With the leaders approaching the top mark a large wind shift benefited the boats in the middle of the course with a straight lay through to the windward mark which was promptly followed by a shut down in the breeze with the majority of the fleet rounding the top mark together.

Eventually a few veins of wind got everyone round the windward mark and reaching back to the leeward gate with 'Frankie the Rhino' and 'Joey' making the most of the pressure. With the large wind shift the race committee decided to shorten the course at the leeward gate however 8053 'Duette' and 8032 'MINIM' had been overwhelmed by the fleet at the windward mark shut down and so the leaderboard had been flipped 'Frankie The Rhino' winning the Nationals on countback.

Final results after 11 Races

1^st 8199 Frankie the Rhino Tony Woods 21 points

2^nd 8053 Duette Joe Cross 21 points

3^rd 8426 Joey Willian Smyth 36 points

4^th 8032 Minim Mark Angell 37 points

5^th 8028 Aquila Nick Holt 37 Point

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Thank you to our event sponsor AXent Workwear and also to our Nationals supporters: Goacher Sails, Marlow Ropes, North Sails, Quay West Chandlers and B&G

Last updated 14:48 on 26 October 2023