Dear Sonata Class Members,
Well done to past Chair Joe. Great example of leading from the front, having taken part in every Nationals and area champs during his tenure, culminating in the recent Nationals at Strangford Lough, a great venue but not that easy or cheap to accomplish, given the ferry crossing and drive from other parts of the UK. Nevertheless, we had a great turn-out of 18 boats, of which 11 were visitors demonstrating without a doubt that Sonatas are very much alive and well.
At the NSA AGM, we voted to ease the financial burden at least by increasing the bursary to £200 for Irish Sea crossings in either direction. We hope this will mean we will see our Irish friends more often and in four or so year’s time, have an even bigger number of us travelling to them. The full minutes will be posted shortly together with the 2016–2017 Accounts for all to see, rather than exclusively in the closed “Committee” forum for several good reasons which will become apparent in a post I have made in the Forum.
You will see, amongst other items, that Steve Goacher is now our technical rep, replacing Martin Hartley, who has done a magnificent job over many years and been responsible for guarding the ‘One Design’ ethos of our Class in times of considerable change. Thank you, Martin. The Class is indebted to you for your hard work. Steve, I am sure, will protect our status too, and who better to have a grip on the technical side of Sonatas.
You will also see that I, Chris Bentley, have become your Chair for the second time. I hasten to add that this is not a power complex of mine, simply that Joe needed to leave and no-one else at Strangford wanted to apply. I agreed, on the basis of a temporary one-year tenure only, basically, to fill in until the Class can properly select another. However, given a year, I will do my best to guide the Class forward. There are some issues, in my estimation and I want us to present your next Chair in a year’s time with a positive situation. To this end I have posted a rather lengthy text in the Forum. You will see that I have put some ideas forward for you to comment on. Please do. Without feedback I will be working in the dark. Please also post your own suggestions.
Chris Bentley
BFG GBR8114