[Sonar] 2008 Sonar Fleet 5 by the numbers

[Chris Fittipaldi]

All,
 
First, Happy New to one and all! May 2009 be happy prosperous, joyous and have many days of good sailing.
 
As a recap of the 2008 sailing year I thought some of you may be interested in reading ho the Fleet did in 2008. We had 16 regular boats for the year ( not including Captain Hook, Orion and 231)
 
Of those boat they raced a total of 663 races through out the summer... That makes an average per boat of 41.44 races per Sonar in our fleet... Further, there were 6 boats that had a total of 50 or more races with two boats reaching a total of 69 races for the summer ( not including out of town regattas!)
 
What do all of these numbers mean?, well for one, it demonstrates what Ernie has been saying ever since I was a member of the Sonar fleet, We have EXCELLENT participation within our fleet. As important as the number is the quality of the racing within our fleet is becoming more and more competitive.. When I first stated racing here about 6 years ago, there were three maybe four boats that would always win the races Sesame Street, Gusto, Amity immediately comes to mind. Last year, there seems to be a greater dispersion of the first place positions within our fleet.. enter Surely Angle and Marty Fossen whose team had a banner year coming with two races of winning BOAT OF THE YEAR.! Congratulations Marty and crew..! Next Gusto and John and Liz Sligh are consistently performers turning in many first places, Liberty and Mark Kochendorfer had a really great year as did Howard Noreen and Sonar, Joe Becky and Presto Warren and Paula Weck in ShipWeck and Dan
 Hollinger in Encore. While there are still the consistent performance by the regular of old, there are new faces now and that makes for better racing, more competition and building of a better, stronger and more robust and dynamic Fleet.
 
So what can you all expect next year? John Graves has committed to racing next year 231. John has been using 2008 as a training year and will come to the fleet ready to offer more competition of his own.  Captain Hook will be sailing more regularly...and we all know what that means with Bert at the helm., Also, there is a new prospect I have been talking to that is very interested in finding a Sonar of his own... 
 
So it looks VERY likely that we will grow from a fleet of 16 active boats to 18 or maybe even 19 by the time the season starts in May of 2009.
 
Be sure to check out the Winter Seminars and sharpen up your knowledge of the new racing rules. Also, do your on  shore strategy and tactics review by reading the sailing books of your choice. next year promises to be Fleet 5's most competitive summer on record. See you all on the water!
 
Meanwhile, Chuck and Cheryl Bangasser will be hosting out winter gathering this coming Saturday January 3, 2009.  I hope to see many of you there!!
 
Best regards and happy sailing
 
ChrisF
 
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