Sonatas at the Medway Regatta
by Mike Harrison 27 Jul 2010 07:51 BST
15-18 July 2010
Musical in the Pink
Pink was the theme for the Saturday Party at this year’s Medway Regatta and Team Musical were in the pink with 3 wins from 3 in the popular Sonata Fleet where 15 competitors enjoyed 3 days of excellent sailing.
Race one in a blustery SW 4/5 with 35 mph gusts led to several wipeouts, breakages and retirements. BFG revelled in the conditions and built up a considerable lead on the downwind leg unfortunately missing a mark which let Musical Express through to take line honours with Sarabande and Harmony close behind. Scherzo managed a credible 4th place despite being only two up.
In race two the conditions had moderated to a pleasant SW force 3 /4 with a long race out into the Thames Estuary. Musical opted for a pin end start and was first to the windward mark closely followed by Spring Sonata. Positions in the fleet remained fairly static on the long run out into the Thames to the leeward mark. Upwind Duet made several gains overtaking Spring Sonata into second place. Harmony very late at the start made considerable progress through the fleet finishing in a very credible 5th position.
Race three was sailed in idyllic conditions with a SW 3/4. BFG had the better start and the first beat was hotly contested with Musical just beating Sarabande to the windward mark closely followed by Harmony and Sarabande. Unfortunately Sarabande had spinnaker problems letting Harmony through into 2nd place. There were some changes in positions downwind but the race really started on the final beat where the shifty conditions saw several changes in positions with good performances from Spring Sonata, Duet and BFG.
However Musical had established a considerable lead and won comfortably to take the series overall.
Overall Results:
1st Musical Express, Mike Harrison / Kevin Hook
2nd Duet, Barry Cann / Geoff Rogers / Lance Bonner
3rd Harmony, Derek McCauley / John Clark
4th Sarabande, Robert and Barbara Davis
5th Spring Sonata, Andrew Baker