Enquiries
Chris Koper, Designer
Sea K Designs
Listowel, Ontario, Canada
chriskoper@hotmail.com
519-291-6396
Sonatina TestimonialsTest Sailing a SonatinaAs a lover of sailing boats, I normally see both good and bad aspects in boats. Some may be large, heavy, cumbersome and oh, so slow. Others are rockets, but are such a nervous handful that I cannot even sail them, never mind just not enjoying the experience. The trick is to find a compromise that best fits one's needs. This article explains what the Sonatina dinghy is like and whether it might suit your particular needs.Currently the fashion seems to be on the new high-performance dinghies that are undeniably terrific, but simply too difficult for me to handle. I take my hat off to the sailors who thrive on International 14s, 29ers, 49ers, etc. I have to trade off some performance for a more stable boat or look to catamarans (e.g. Hobie Cats). I was a little apprehensive when Chris Koper, the designer, offered me a sail at the launch of his new Sonatina. With 4½ ft beam, it looked narrow and unstable to me, compared to the 6 ft beam CL 16 that I owned at the time. Chris suggested that I take a total novice as crew. I was dreading an embarrassing capsize in front of everyone. But to my surprise I found the Sonatina to be amazingly stable. It was a joy from the stability aspect - no problem at all! I only figured out how such a narrow boat can be so stable later. The Sonatina is a scow with a wide rounded front. When heeled, more of its length is immersed in the water and hence there is more stability. Chris has also given the Sonatina hard chines, which further enhances stability (most North American scows are round bilged). You can take my word on it - this is NOT a nervous tippy boat. The idea of the scow is to sail her with about 10º to 15º of heel. The waterline width decreases substantially, and the waterline length stretches, increasing the speed potential. The next thing that I discovered is that the boat can really turn, and I mean right now! The scow style means that there is no pointed bow in the water to resist the turn and so she just spins around her extra deep centerboard (another of Chris's design features differentiating the Sonatina from the North American scows.) The other part that was so easily noticeable was the pure joy of sailing a truly light boat (only about 190 lb. all up plus crew weight). This in turn means that the rig is easy to handle without the need for multi-purchase of heavy sheets. Setting up the rig is also easy. But is she fast? I got a chance to find out this summer. Chris took me out, this time in a solid blow (he is a world class skipper). The wind was really strong and Lake Ontario had quite a bit of swell - I guess the bigger waves were approaching 3 ft. I was expecting the scow style bow to crash badly into the waves. |
Well, we just simply took off. The part that most blew my mind was the way that the scow style bow just bounced off the waves and deflected the spray away from me. I am used to the bow smacking onto a wave, dumping spray onto my face and running down the back of my neck. Not with the Sonatina, she just bounced up over the waves and deflected the spray outward. During the whole trip I only got one splash onto my face. Sure, our bottoms were frequently in the water, but I call this a relatively dry boat.
Well does she go - you bet! This is not a muscle boat, most of the time I just sat on the deck without hiking, yet we were really motoring along. It just planed like mad. O.K. it was blowing a fair bit and at times I was worried about rigging damage – but Chris did not seem to mind and I did not detect any undue signs of strain. The best part was when we were gaining on a 35' keelboat beating upwind. The keelboat bore off on to a close reach and Chris called for me to hike out. There were signs of sail adjustments on the keelboat and I saw 5 faces looking back at us as we just rocketed up to them. We must have been quite a sight, tiny boat in a large lake bouncing around like mad and just tearing off. Haven't had so much fun on a boat in quite a while! Does the Sonatina go - yes definitely! Is it stable enough for me – yes definitely! An absolutely superb boat! I am wondering if there is any other conventional 14-1/2 ft boat with correspondingly sized sails that is actually faster? Never mind the fact that this is not a difficult boat even for me to sail. What about the negatives?
Next, this is a small boat with not much stretch out space (i.e. feet rather cramped in a shallow cockpit). (Ed.: Since redesigned for a wider cockpit.) I felt that although the sails seemed nicely sized and very well set up for upwind sailing, the jib sheeting position did not allow ideal off wind jib sheeting. (Ed.: Also revised.) Well perhaps you may have think that I am being a little too 'kind' on the boat - there is only one way to find out for yourself - if you are interested in building one, ask Chris for a test sail (and order some good wind if you can) and try it for yourself. Congratulations on a great boat design! Adam Sterkowicz |
