Just as Dublin Bay Sailing Club announce a new initiative to combine sportsboats in a new class in April UK Sports Boats have united to form a new class association.
After the success of earlier mixed Sports Boat events, like in Plymouth Race Week & Cowes week, owners and supporters have united their interest in a new class. The newly formed UK Sports Boat Association will be working hard to rally these fun and fast boats together.
It maybe that work completed on the formation of the new class in the UK maybe beneficial to DBSC class and vice versa. One such example of this is coming up with a rule to determine what exactly is a sportsboat?
One of the class initiators, Jochem Visser, said "Many new owners are attracted by their fun & speedy character coupled with the smaller crew and easier logistics. Even though many of them have One Design racing it is becoming ever more apparent that on a local level there is a urgent need for a rating platform which provides fair racing and rewards the better sailors".
The class has simple objectives;
- Promote & support a fair rating system for mixed fleet racing which rewards the better sailors.
- Respect & promote the One-design character within the fleet.
- Represent the class interest to, and affiliate with, local clubs and National sailing authorities.
- Organise an annual Sports Boats Nationals, Season Point Series and local events.
The class is aimed at any Sports Boat with a LOA between 5 and 9.15 meters with aim to include successful boats like the Seascape 18 at the lower end and the Farr 280 at the top end of the class.
The Sports Boat class definitions:
- Ballasted keel boat which caries an asymmetric kite on centreline based pole
- Maximum length overall of 30'(9.15 m)
- Maximum displacement of 2000kg
- Maximum DLR of 100 in which DLR=27.87x(Boat Weight)/Length Waterline^3
- A minimum limit of positive stability of 60 degrees
Information and registration for membership here