Sonata world series II 3^rd race 30^th April 2009

Officials were pleased and pleasantly surprised to observe all Sonatas obeying the race officer’s instructions and taking the correct course to the start area. Weather conditions were extreme and subsequent sailing actions were based on who could generate the maximum horsepower from their lightweight equipment. For once Simply Alto was undefeated, and A’Piano remained within the designated race area with no extra curricular activities such as going sailing, despite the extra time granted by the race officer before the anticipated start. The “Other” Sonata showed a gross disregard for the nature of close one design racing by shipping the largest engine. The extreme weather conditions were carefully measured by one of the larger IRC fleet boats and passed on to the race officer for his deliberations in setting a safe and achievable course. The overheard report on the VHF sounded like “Easterly between ¼ and ½ a knot with strong liklihood of heavy rain”. Thus for the Sonatas this resulted in a horsepower drag race back to the moorings to be first into the bar. The obvious winner on 4 Yamaha motor cycle style HP was the “Other” Sonata, closely followed by Simply Alto on a Mercurial 3.3 HP and last but not at all least (except in amount of fuel consumed) was A’Piano with 2.5 of environmentally friendly Honda 4 stroke HP. Full credit should be awarded to all the Sonata crews for a) finding an engine b) for remembering how to attach it to the transom c) not letting it act like an anchor and finally d) for persuading it to fire up and run in such extreme conditions. The race officials all agreed that the actions of the Sonatas in response to the weather illustrated once again what a versatile little boat they really are, able to provide fun and entertainment in any conditions.