2023 Sonar North American Champs

Published on September 17th, 2023

The 2023 Sonar North American Championship was September 15-17 on Lake Minnetonka in Wayzata, MN. Originally planned for 2020, there were 17 Sonar boats from as far away as New Hampshire and Vancouver, BC for the seven race series. Brian Doyle’s team of Tom Kinney, Shane Wells, and Kelsey Wheeler dominated the event, winning all but the first race.

Conditions on the first day were the best of the three, with winds from 7-11 knots for Race One to 4-7 knots over the course of the day. 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 the final day, the conditions on the lake proved not raceable.

“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.

After Doyle, the second place team aboard was skippered by Bill Allen with crew Bernie Soya, Amanda Swaggert, and Nick Swaggert. In third was Marty Fossen as skipper sailing with Kathy Fossen, Shelly Gooley, Karen Gilseth. The fourth place team was led by skipper Gary Applebaum with Charles Luke, Robert Goedken, and Jay Lucas as crew.
The fifth-place team was led by skipper Hans Dickel assisted by Chandra Wobschall, Sarah Olmsted, and Duane Olmsted.