Wayzata Sailing Club hosted North American Championship
Wayzata, MN, September 18, 2023 – Wayzata Yacht Club hosted the Annual 2023 Sonar North American Championship Sailing Regatta on Sep. 14-17, on Lake Minnetonka – originally planned for 2020. There were 17 Sonar boats with approximately 68 sailors competing from as far away as New Hampshire and Vancouver, BC, in a pinnacle end-of-the-season regatta.
“It was exciting to be able to host the annual Sonar championship after having to cancel back in 2020 due to COVID-19. The weather held up and with mild winds, we were able to complete seven races,” said regatta chair, Bernt Helgaas. The championship featured experienced sailors and a professional race management team. Sonars have crews of four with one of them as the skipper. Each race takes about 1 hour, depending on the wind speed.
Conditions on the first day were the best of the three, with conditions going from 7-11 knots for Race One to 4-7 knots over the course of the day. After taking a second in Race One, Brian Doyle and Team Resonance took the next three races by, as Brian put it in the daily debrief, “By pointing your boat at the mark” better than anyone else did. The conditions on Day Two proved even more challenging, with the second race being abandoned as conditions completely shut off mid-day. That was followed by two afternoon races in light and variable conditions, with Race Seven being shortened. On Sunday, the conditions on the lake proved not raceable, so everyone enjoyed the opportunity to socialize onshore during a beautiful morning followed by an outstanding awards ceremony.
The Race Committee led by Russ Subota had their work cut out for them, with numerous adjustments and the use of 15 different flags during the regatta. The on-shore festivities hosted by Sonar Fleet 5 at Wayzata Yacht Club included food trucks, live music, and fantastic weather.
The first-place team “Resonance” came from Sunapee Yacht Club in New Hampshire [insert photo] and was led by skipper, Brian Doyle, and crew mates, Tom Kinney, Shane Wells, Kelsey Wheeler.
The second place team aboard “Allegedly” was skippered by, Bill Allen, and crew Bernie Soya, Amanda Swaggert, and Nick Swaggert. In third was team “Surly Angel” with Marty Fossen as skipper sailing with Kathy Fossen, Shelly Gooley, Karen Gilseth. The fourth place team “ Gaijin” was led by skipper Gary Applebaum with Charles Luke, Robert Goedken, Jay Lucas as crew.
The fifth-place team “Batmobile” was lead by skipper, Hans Dickel, and crew, Chandra Wobschall, Sarah Olmsted, Duane Olmsted.
Full results: https://wayzatayachtclub.theclubspot.com/regatta/weiKJM5gWG/results
