Sonata vs Bolero

[wanzap1]

Hi All,

This winter / spring our bolero 25 will be under going a "refit" to repurpose it from racer to cruiser (and I'm mindful to start another thread seeking advice)

In the meantime I've been seeking out info about the bolero online and it is very scant. Some of the discussions online suggest that they are good racers but little else. Conversely the Sonata, another (I think quite similar) David Thomas design is very popular and is generally lavished with praise.

Surely the Bolero, a half tonner, cannot be that different to the Sonata, a mini tonner? (BTW our boat has swept back spreaders and no running back stays)

 

[lw395]

I think there were a couple of Boleros based in Gosport which clocked up some respectable cruising mileage. But I'm going back 20 years?
I think people are just more familiar with the Sonata, being an OD, they get noticed.
Of course in the 80s, the RYA let loose a bunch of teenagers in Sonata derivatives and AFAIK, nobody died, so it's hard to argue against the Sonata.
I've cruised a fair bit in ex-racing boats, the interior may be a bit spartan, but it's nice to have a boat that goes upwind well and all the gear is race proven, when you're trying to get somewhere.
The Bolero was a Quarter Tonner? therefore nearly halfway between a Sonata and an Impala in size?
IMHO, stepping up to an Impala with an Inboard engine makes a huge difference as a cruiser. Maybe less so these days with 4T outboards being more affordable?

These are all boats which go better with some pork on the rail, but sailing them 'light', they are still good for their size IMHO.

 

[jwilson]

The Sonata was specifically designed as a one-design cruiser-racer, and deliberately had a slightly pinched stern to stop them planing/surfing. The rationale being that it would be unfair if a super light crew got one planing and left the rest of the fleet behind, rather than have tactical/skills based races. The Bolero was just a racer, so within the quarter ton rules the hull was simply meant to be as fast as possible.

I think it was the UKSA that posted more or less unsupervised teenagers off in Sonatas for a week to have fun. I always thought itr was an excellent system.