Sonata National Championships at Helensburgh Sailing Club

Sonata nationals at Helensburgh © Mark Homer

Sonata nationals at Helensburgh © Mark Homer

The Sonata class national championships was held at Helensburgh Sailing Club from the 10th to the 13th of June. The event which proved to be hugely successful was attended by 16 yachts the furthest travelled having come from the Medway, Sunderland and Windermere the rest having come from various parts of Scotland. A total of 9 races were held in almost ideal conditions for competitive racing, there was sunshine, hardly any rain but most importantly wind. Racing was held off Helensburgh mainly between Ardmore and the entrance to the Gareloch and the courses were almost ideal with only one major windshift.

As was expected two of the visiting boats Eric the Boat and Blue Tack proved to be the main challengers for the overall title, Eric the Boat having won 14 times but Blue Tack had won for the last 2 years so this was to be a showdown between the 2 of them. From that you might think that it was a ‘two horse race’ but that was not the case with the racing very close throughout the fleet.

The first 2 races were won by Dave Boatman sailing Blue Tack which was looking very strong initially. On the Friday morning local boat Firebird sailed by Peter Booth upset the applecart a little by winning the third race and perhaps this was to be the start of a change of fortune for the other boats. The fourth race was won by Steve Goacher sailing Eric the Boat but in the next race Blue Tack came straight back to win the fifth. A change of fortune again in the sixth race as Eric came back to win that. By the end of day 2 there were only 2 points separating them so all was still to play for on Saturday and Sunday with local boat Jazz sailed by Neil Rosie in third.

Saturday proved to be the deciding day and the first 2 races were won by Eric the Boat with Blue Tack second which meant that Eric now held the slenderest of leads. A passage race was then held taking us down the upper Clyde area between Greenock and Kilcreggan eventually coming back to a finish just off the club. This was a fantastic race with Blue tack leading Eric the Boat for almost the whole race and it was only the last beat into the finish where Eric manage to squeeze through and after more than 2.5 hours of racing it was only 15 seconds that separated them.

The final day was to be Sunday with only one race scheduled to take place but with the none appearance of the wind on Sunday morning that race had to be cancelled. This left Steve Goacher in Eric the Boat as national champion and Dave boatman in Blue Tack as runner up. Third place overall was won by Jazz by one point from Neil McLure in So. Saraband took fifth place by 3 points from three local boats Firebird, Fiddlesticks and Scruples who all shared the same overall score and were only separated on countback.

This has proved to be a very successful event for the club showing yet once again that HSC can run the most successful of championship events.

We are very grateful to DRB Marine, D.Manderson TV and Audio, New World Yacht Care, Marine Transport and Logistics, Goacher sails and Hyde sails for their sponsorship of the event. The race management team led by race officer, Donald McLaren hardly put a foot wrong during the whole event with brilliantly positioned courses and timing.

There are no words which can express our gratitude to the young ladies who have kept our kitchen running they, under the guidance of Lesley Serpell have kept our kitchen managed wonderfully and provided breakfasts, tea and coffee, sandwiches, cakes and then to crown it all a superb meal for 100 of us on Saturday evening that was thoroughly enjoyed by all. The best I can do is to say a huge thank you to them on behalf of the Sonata class and perhaps more importantly the club.

To sum up there is nothing but the highest praise for the club coming from all who took part.

Overall Results:
If you were in the top ten at the nationals then fill in your Gear Guide information here