Irish Sonata Nationals at Strangford Lough Yacht Club

Fantastic weather, close racing and excellent race management under the watchful eye of race officer PJ Gault made a marvellous three days of racing at Strangford Lough Yacht Club May 28th to 30th.

Throughout the event the competition was tight and incident packed with broaches and crews overboard on the Friday. Saturday saw more windward leeward races and the distance race touring the lough. Coming into the last day only a few points separated the leading boats with no fewer than five different boats winning races through the six race series. The series came down to a nailbiting last race with four boats still able to claim the title. But after luffs, protests, 720 turns, wind shifts and wonderful racing Brian Corry on Apache claimed the title from Niall Eames on MrMcGregor and in third place Ian Smyth on Mouse.

Overall Results:

1st Brian Corry and Peter Morgan, Apache, 11pts
2nd Niall Eames, MrMcGregor, 12pts
3rd Ian Smyth, Mouse, 14pts
4th Paddy Pollock and Stuart McGimpsey, Cockahoop, 15pts
5th Tom Patton, Intruder, 22pts
6th Rory Martin, Thingummyjig, 25pts
7th Peter Holden, Jon Fleming, Richard McCance, Squid Marks, 30pts
8th Clyde Markwell, Hi Note, 30pts