Event Documentation

Sample Documents

The following documents are intended as a rough guide or starting point for anyone who needs to draw up the documentation for National or Area Championships. They are taken from the 2023 National Championships at Parkstone Yacht Club and will need to be updated and modified for local conditions.

Sonata Nationals - Notice of Race - (Poole 2023).pdf

Sonata Nationals - Sailing Instructions - (Poole 2023).pdf

Championship Guidelines

Version 1.1

These guidelines supplement the provisions of the Class Rules. As they can be easily modified with a minimum of bureaucratic hassle, they are a particularly useful way to ensure the best features of our championships are carried forward and any problems eliminated.

Venue

The venue should ideally be on waters open enough to set good windward legs in all wind directions. The tides should be predictable and offer no unreasonable advantage to local boats. There should be an active local fleet of boats, who ideally belong to the hosting club. Berthing and launching should be available locally at reasonable price. Ideally, all the competing boats, (including the local ones) should be berthed or moored in the same area, to enhance the atmosphere and social dimension of the event.

The venue should be decided at the AGM a year in advance of the event to allow sufficient time for both the booking of the ideal dates with the hosting club and to allow the best chance of raising sponsorship. (Companies' budgets are set in the preceding financial year). The venue will be rotated between clubs on the south coast of England and the east coast of England to foster good attendance. Other areas (North England, Wales, Scotland, SW England, etc) can be added if fleets develop sufficiently. The championship should be independent of other regattas and events to ensure the race committee is solely focused on running our races .

Timing and length

The championship should be run over 4 days typically this has been racing from Sunday to Wednesday allowing the Saturday for launching and preparation. The date for the championships is to be determined by the organisers with due regard to the following:

the dates of other events that would complement the Championships. (or compete, such as Cowes)
the need to avoid trailing boats (and sailing) on a bank holiday.

Makeup of races

The majority of races at a National Championship will be set as windward/leewards with the intention of maximising the number of races available to competitors during the event. During the Championship, at least one race will be scheduled as a Distance Race which will, at the Principal Race Officer's (PRO) discretion, take advantage of the full sailing area of the venue.

Sails

Any number of measured sails can be approved. However, only one nominated suit consisting of Main, No 1, No 2, No 3 and Spinnaker may be used during the Championships. A second approved and measured Spinnaker maybe carried aboard whilst racing and, in the event of damage during a race to the spinnaker in the nominated suit, may, with the approval of the PRO, be used in subsequent races.

Crew numbers

Crew numbers, including the helmsman, are limited to between 2 and 5 persons. The whole event shall be sailed with the same number of crew who compete in the first race. Crew members can only be substituted with the written approval of the Race Committee

Scrutineering

Boats will be scrutineered before via peer to peer inspections and can be inspected during the event.

Sample Scrutineering Form_2023.pdf

Prizes

As a principle, any prizes awarded in addition to the perpetual trophies should be spread as wide as possible throughout the competitors.

The list of Nationals trophy can be found here: https://www.sonata.org.uk/trophies the hosting club should appoint a person responsible for the trophies for the championship, ensuring they are polished and presentable for awarding. The Sonata Class Association will work with the hosting club to get trophies returned and have them signed for by the new winner.

Socials

The championships are principally a holiday for most if not all of the competitors and the social provision should reflect this! When organising the program, the priority for the final night function must be to make it as inclusive as possible, to ensure all the competitors and crews are present.

Last updated 15:41 on 30 October 2024