Sonata Northern Championships at Sunderland Yacht Club

Sponsored by Graydon Dawson Construction Ltd.
8th/9th September & 15th/16th September

Sunderland hosted the Sonata Northerns for the second time and helped by the sponsor, Graydon Dawson Construction ltd., were able to put on a first rate event.

The slightly disappointing fleet was greeted with windy and rough weather for the first days racing and had the same for all the days. The first race was the longest of the series and gave the fleet a testing beat to Range North. Kallista (Malcolm Scott) led from the start but was slowly caught by Stratagem (Jim Williamson). One round the Range buoy the spinnaker leg was exciting with only the occasional broach. Once the fleet was closer inshore the boats from the Lake District came back at the leaders. Stratagem just held on to win from Kallista and Jennyanydots (Mike Egan) in third with only second between the first three after nearly three hours of racing.

The conditions on Sunday had deteriorated and the racing was postponed until the following weekend. However, the following Saturday it was at least as windy but with a bit less sea. Stratagem was finding the conditions interesting but held on to win again but Jennyanydots was pushing much harder and finished second to Stratagem in both the first two races of the day. Whisky Chaser (Derek Cutting) improved as the day went on to finish equal second for the day. With losing the previous Sunday the series had no discards. Stratagem continued to lead from the front but not by a large margin. Whisky Chaser came in second with Jennyanydots third. This meant that Stratagem had won the series but the two behind were level on points going into the last race. Stratagem made it a clean sweet by winning the last race with Jennyanydots taking second in the race and thus second in the series.

The event was well run in the difficult conditions and thanks to all who helped.

Overall Results:

More Information:

• YachtsandYachting.com Sonata Page