Sonata Southern Championships at Brixham Yacht Club
by Katina Read 13 Jul 2011 23:05 BST
9-10 July 2011
The association accepted the offer of a new venue – Tor Bay, South Devon - for this year’s Sonata Southern Area Championship courtesy of the growing fleet of Sonatas sailing out of Brixham Yacht Club.
The club’s race management team led by NRO Robin Meads and deputy Matt Dodd ran a very slick eight race series over the two days of the event in excellent sailing conditions with winds varying from a gusty F4/5 on the Saturday down to very light airs on Sunday morning.
Eight of the nine local boats took part together with three visitors from Abersoch, class chairman Chris Bentley from Medway – sailing some 200 miles in mostly F5/6 headwinds - and Poole with special arrangements made with Brixham Harbour Authority to crane these boats in and out.
Courses laid were generally windward / leeward with one Olympic Triangle thrown in. With little or no tide in the centre of the Bay where racing took place and a predominately South Westerly breeze, the fleet was almost equally split between left and right on most races with shifts caused by local geography insignificant, giving equal advantage to the locals and visitors alike.
However, the shifting breeze did keep mark-laying crews busy ensuring a true startline and windward mark. Start lines were fiercely contested with several bumps between boats trying to get windward advantage but the fleet generally behaved themselves with only one general recall needed.
Racing was extremely close with three boats tying on first place at the end of the first day - visitors association secretary Christine Hartley and association technical officer Martin Hartley with A Sharp Exit, Frankie the Rhino from Poole skippered by Owen Peters and local boat Dogtired skippered by Dan Pedrick, each with a first, second, third and fourth place.
With the breeze dropping off half way through the second day, everyone was relieved when after a short delay it picked up to a F3 allowing all eight races to be sailed in the allotted and still leaving enough time and tide for craning out the visitors.
A Piano, owned by Steve Linley-Shaw, managed their first win in Race 7 however at the end of eight races, A Sharp Exit had done enough to finish just one point ahead of Dogtired followed by former Southern Area winner Frankie The Rhino in third.
The event was followed by a BBQ and prize giving in BYC, at which every entrant won a prize courtesy of local sponsorship from Atlantic Spars, who also put a crew together and competed in a borrowed boat - rather a change from their normal Ker 31.
Brixham Yacht Club and its staff were praised for the way the event was run – both on and off the water and the club will now be looked at favourably to run the Sonata National Championships in 2014.
The next regional Sonata events are the Sonata Scottish Championship at Helensburgh SC taking place 13 to 14 August and the Sonata Northern Championship taking place at Royal Windermere YC on 22 23 October. Sonata club racing takes place at Brixham YC every Thursday evening during the season.