Royal St. George's O'Connor Lying 15th in SB20 Pre

Royal St. George's O'Connor Lying 15th in SB20 Pre–Worlds

4th January 2018

The SB0 pre-Worlds regatta has provided competitors with two exhilarating races on Hobart’s River Derwent Credit: Jane Austin

Royal St. George's Michael O'Connor, John Malone and Ed Cook are 15th overall after day two of the SB0 pre-Worlds regatta that has provided competitors with two exhilarating races on Hobart’s River Derwent today.

The World Championships start on Sunday and continuing to next Thursday and three Irish boats are competing, details here.

A north-west to west-nor’westerly breeze averaging 16-18 knots, with sharp gusts as high as 30 knots, has seen spectacular downwind sailing.

Positions changed as boats picked up the gusts and went surfing past others. Downwind gybing techniques were the key to gaining or retaining fleet positions

The strong wind has caused many retirements from the 33 boat pre-Worlds fleet, among them the French boat EOLIFT Racing which broke a spreader. EOLIFT Racing had been third in overall standings after day one.

Others retired to save damage in the gusty conditions with the 2018 SB20 Worlds only three days away. Hypertronics (Steve Catchpool) retired after a collision at the windward mark in race one with Big Ted (Alice Grubb) taking a penalty turn.

The Victorian Ikon20 (Kirwan Robb) broke its rudder in race four while at least two female crews retired from the last race.

Racing today began after a general recall for race three of the series, race one of the day, and produced two different race winners.

Results are provisional as there are potential protests following a number of collisions in the brisk breezes.

British boat Marvel (Richard Powell) followed his race two second place (he did not start in race one) with a win in race three. A close second was French sailor Robin Follin sailing Give Me 5 – French Youth team, third place going to Australian champion Aeolus (Brett Cooper).

In race four, Hobart’s Michael Cooper sailed Export Roo to victory from another French boat, Le Grand Reservoir/Maze & A (Achille Nebout) and Victorian boat Flirtatious/Ambition Sailing Team (Chris Dare, AUS).

After four races of the SB20 pre-Worlds Give Me 5 (Robin Follin, Fra) is still provisional overall leader on 8 points (1-1-2-4) with Export Roo (Michael Cooper, AUS) moving up to second with 24 points (12-4-7-1).

Australian SB20 champion Aeolus (Brett Cooper, AUS) is now third on 25 points (11-6-3-5) with defending World champion sportsboatworld.com (Jerry Hill, GBR) fourth on 28 points (5-3-8-12).

Full (provisional) results are here

Published in SB20

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SB20

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SB20 (formerly Laser SB3) information

Designed by Tony Castro, the SB20 is a British-built strict one-design 6.15m keelboat conceived as a wide appeal, affordable, competitive sportsboat for teams of three or four sailors. It is also, arguably, the most successful sportsboat in the world with 800 owners competing regularly in a programme of exciting local, national and international events.

Originally known as the Laser SB3, the SB20 continues to deliver on its pioneering promise: a boat that is fun, fast and easy to sail by anyone of any age; the best value-for-money sportsboat in the market.

The Laser SB3 was designed by Castro and launched in 2002. In 2007 the Laser SB3 was awarded ISAF Recognised Status and the first World Championships were held in Ireland in 2008. In 2012, Tony Castro appointed a new builder, Sportsboat World. At this time, the Laser SB3 was renamed the SB20 and building was returned to the UK from Malaysia. The ethos of the class continues.

The boat is a strict one-design class, economic to buy and campaign, easy to sail with a simple deck layout and electric downwind performance delivered by the generous sail plan. The boat has a lifting keel, can easily be launched from a slipway and towed behind a family car.

Previous SB20 World Champions

2008 GBR: Geoff Carveth, Roger Gilbert, Roz Allen & Sarah Allan

Host National Yacht Club, Dun laoghaire, Ireland

2009 GBR: Craig Burlton, Stephen White, Adam Heeley

Host Clube Naval de Cascais, Cascais, Portugal

2010 GBR: Jerry Hill, Grant Rollerson, Joe Llewellyn

Host Circolo Vela Torbole, Lake Garda, Italy

2011 GBR: Geoff Carveth, Andy Ramus, Ian Mills & Emma Clarke

Host Royal Torbay Yacht Club, Torquay, UK

2012 GBR: Geoff Carveth, Lesley Dhonau, Roger Hudson & Asenathi Jim

Host Hamilton Island Yacht Club, Queensland, Australia

2013 GRB: Craig Burlton, Stephen White, Adam Heley Host COYCH Club, Hyeres, France