#sb20 – Seven SB20s took to the water last night on Dublin Bay for the fourth Thursday of Series 2, many fresh from an exhilarating nationals in RCYC last weekend, while others were obviously recharging their batteries after their exertions in Cronins... :-)

For a pleasant change on a Thursday this season, we saw some decent breeze on Dublin Bay which allowed the SBs to get up on their toes and start dancing... A steady force 5 from the West guaranteed plenty of thrills and spills were to come... Perfect SB20 weather! The OOD set a 10 degree pin-end bias and the fleet duly congregated down at the pin with 30 seconds to go. At the start, Should Be... (Michael, Dave, and Gavan) managed to get the pin but Venuesworld (Marty, Ger and Rory), Probably (Mark, Ian and Billy) and Alert Packaging (Justin, Darren et al) all managed to start with better pace slightly up from the pin and those three boats quickly established a lead group beating up towards Harbour mark.

At the weather (Harbour) mark, Probably led by a boatlength from Venuesworld with Should Be...another 1/2 boatlength back. Alert Packaging, Timber (Alan et al), Seriously Bonkers (Peter et al) and Smoke on the Water (Bob, John et al) were very close astern and primed for the fast reach to Omega where speeds in the teens were experienced by most boats. At the all-important first hoist, Probably went trawling for mackerel followed by Should Be... allowing Venuesworld, Alert Packaging and Timber to pass and to take a jump on the fleet... However, there were a few broaches down the first reach keeping manners on everyone. Disaster struck Venuesworld when they snapped their port kite sheet allowing both Alert Packaging and Should Be... to overtake them shortly after the gybe mark on the run (ok, SB20s don't run in a force 5, we just reach very quickly a bit closer to the leeward mark!) en route to Poldy mark. Alert Packaging held on to their lead followed by Should Be... with Venuesworld, Probably and Timber in the thick of it at the leeward (Poldy) mark.

Places remained largely unchanged for the next beat and run (ok, again, not really a run but just lots of very, very fast reaching back and forth really!) and another beat with Alert Packaging extending their lead and looking very comfortable in the process. However, at the final weather mark, a twist in Alert Packagings kite necessitating a couple of gybes allowed Should Be... to close to within three boat lengths and ensure an exciting finale...

At the last leeward mark, Alert Packaging tacked shortly after the mark and headed left while Should Be... continued on right getting separation and in the hope of breeze or a favourable shift to get closer to Alert Packaging. In the end, Should Be... got both (they donate heavily to charity apparently!) and when the boats converged closer to the finish line, Should Be... had Alert Packaging by a whisker and they would finish in that order. They were followed by Venuesworld in third, Timber in fourth, Probably (who had showed their mettle and recovered very well) in fifth, Seriously Bonkers in sixth and Smoke on the Water in seventh.

As it was the last Thursday of the month, that meant SB Social food and pints... this month the fleet got together in the RIYC for the BBQ/stir-fry/pizza and, of course, pints. Lots of pints. No doubt some of them are still going strong!

Class notices:
Next SB Sunday (first SB Sunday of Series 3) is Sunday 10th August. Put it in the diary and get out there!

SB Sunday no. 3 is being re-sailed on August 17th (effectively, this is the last Sunday of series 1 (that was lost due to strong winds) being re-sailed). This is with kind permission and co-operation of both DBSC (Chris Moore and Joanne Sheehan) and our many volunteers (Barry O'Neill, Fionnuala Loughrey, Cathy Booth and Barbara Conway) so please show your appreciation by attending in numbers!

Westerns in Galway are on 23/24 August followed by Midlands in Lough Ree on 27/28 September. Two amazing venues with lots of fun and top quality racing guaranteed. I would strongly recommend those of you less inclined to travel to make the extra effort and see what all the hype is about.

See you on the water next Thursday,

Michael O'Connor