Sonata Open at the Island Sailing Club, Cowes

Cowes Sonata Open © John Green

This weekend saw the first Hunter Sonata Class event in Cowes for over a decade - whilst unfortunately the Goodall Roofing Sonata Nationals 2020 were postponed due to the COVID 19 pandemic a local open event managed to go ahead with seven boats from Cowes competing with one mainland boat, JOEY travelling from Chichester. Two boats arrived from NE England to new owners in Cowes just a week before the event; SONIC owned and helmed by Robin Leather and DICK DASTARDLY owned and helmed by Dawn Bee.

With an equinox tide and strong current in the Solent on Saturday, Island Sailing Club Race Officer Rich Palmer positioned the windward leeward race course on the Bramble Bank and got the fleet away in 17-23kt NE breeze with teams having to make the tough call on the choice of Genoa or Jib. Typically the Genoa is held to 23 knots however the lighter crew of just 3 for the event meant teams were easily overpowered with the Genoa and many teams opting for the Jib. After three windward leeward races the pecking order was establishing with MINIM, JOEY, ARAYA and LITTLE SCARLET making up the podium spots. For the fourth and final race of the day the race team set the fleet off on a 11nm 'round the cans' course finishing off Cowes Harbour - with very strong westerly going tide of 3kts at times the fleet made slow progress around the course before finishing after 2hrs, MINIM taking the lead on the second Windward leg with JOEY taking 2nd and ARAYA in 3rd.

Cowes Sonata Open - photo © John Green

Sunday's weather greeted the fleet with kinder conditions than on day 1, a decreasing NE breeze established with the race team working to get the fleet away on time, a 40 degree wind shift occurring during the start sequence threw a slight spanner in the works for the ISC race team having to go under a short postponement to adjust the course. Finally under way the fleet had a clean start with MINIM, ARAYA, JOEY, LITTLE SCARLET & MAVERICK all vying for the top spots over the three windward leeward races.

Notable results from; Team MAVERICK - sailed by the Nutter family had a great final race, starting at the committee boat end and finishing second, beating JOEY to 2nd in race 7 by just 10 seconds and LITTLE SCARLETT, rescued from going to land fill earlier in the year, the boat had been left to deteriorate in the water for 4 years by it's previous owners, however, new owners Max Richardson and Alice Butler have restored her back to racing condition and posted a respectable 4th position overall with a 2nd place finish in race 6.

Cowes Sonata Open - photo © John Green

The local team of MINIM managed to hold on to their overnight lead on Saturday having been tested by JOEY, ARAYA and LITTLE SCARLET. Sundays racing all seemed to go MINIM's way with a string of bullets to take the event on 7 points from 7 races after 1 discard. Mark Angell event organiser and MINIM owner commented: "It's been a lot of hard work to get to this point but it makes it all worth it seeing boats lined up on the water, new boats coming to join the Cowes Sonata Fleet and everyone having such a great time! It was such a shame to have to postpone the Nationals to 2021 but we felt COVID 19 restrictions didn't allow us to run a National level event responsibly. Having then organised the Cowes Sonata Open we were forced to postpone to this weekend due to storm Ellen, however, the wait was worth it!"

Having rescued MINIM from a farm in Cornwall, Mark spent the next two winters restoring her and getting her back into race trim commenting: "The boats are just so great and perfect for the Solent they're; affordable, available, safe, family cruiser/racers with One Design parameters restricting cheque book racing but encouraging a DIY mentality! Lining these boats up this weekend has been great fun and can't wait for more in 2021!"

Cowes Sonata Open - photo © John Green

Island Sailing Club Sailing Secretary Ben Ferris commented: "I remember sailing a Sonata badly over thirty years ago, so it was a huge pleasure for the Island Sailing Club to be asked to host this event. The fact these boats are very affordable, and sailed in such good spirit (everyone was smiling each time they passed the committee boat) makes them the fleet to be seen in for the future. Congratulations to all the competitors for making it to an event in 2020 which we were unsure of being able to run several times. Can't wait until next year, a bigger fleet and more great racing."

With thanks to our sponsors and supporters, the Island Sailing Club, Goodall Roofing, Mermaid Gin, Goddards Brewery and Medina Yard.

Overall Results: