The 2017 Spring Warmer series sponsored by Key Capital Private came to a conclusion at Howth Yacht Club on Saturday. The final day of the season opener provided the sailors with some champagne sailing conditions with 15–knots of breeze and glorious sunshine.

In the Cruiser Class Paddy Kyne’s Maximus with two race wins took the honours by one point from the very consistent Flashback (Patterson/Paddy Gregory /Don Breen). In third place was Stephen Quinn’s Lambay Rules.

The J24 racing was dominated by Steve Atkinson’s Bad with three first places and a fourth. Second was Jumpin Jive (M. Usher). The new K25 team completed the podium. It was great to see three K25 youth teams out competing.

Howth Yacht Club’s “Taste of Sailing” initiative goes from strength to strength. The programme sees experienced sailors racing with those new to the sport or new to HYC. Five teams took to the club J80s for the Spring Warmer this year.

The SB20 fleet was the largest fleet with 10 boats. Locals Shane Murphy, Daragh Sheridan and John Phelan on Two Men & Their Monkey won the event with a race to spare from Colin Galavan’s Sacrebleu who scored a race win in the final race with a fantastic first run setting them up for a big lead which they never relinquished. Third place was Dave Barry on Lia.

The SB20s are staying in the same venue for their Eastern Championships to be held in two weeks’ time on 21 & 22 April.

The prizegiving took place with Vice Commodore Emmet Dalton on hand to present the prizes.

Roger Bannon, who has has returned to the Irish SB20 fleet this year, will take up the role of Class Measurer for 2017-2018.

Bannon, a former Flying fifteen and Mermaid champion, previously acted as class measurer in the sportsboat class.

The Irish class association is preparing to host the 2018 European Championships on Dublin Bay at the Royal Irish Yacht Club.

The Graham Elmes Memorial Trophy will be presented to Cork Harbour's Dave Barry and the crew of SB20 Lia as winners of the 2016 Travellers Trophy at Friday night's SB20 Annual Class Dinner at the Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire.

The class trophy is awarded to the top ranking boat across all regional events including the National Championships.

The 2018 SB20 European Championships will be hosted by the Royal Irish Yacht Club and new class captain Ger Demspey is promising an exciting season ahead on Dublin Bay.

There are still a few tickets available for Friday's dinner and can be booked directly with the RIYC.

Michael O'Connor, Owen Laverty and Davy Taylor had a convincing second day to take the SB20 honours with at the conclusion of the regatta at Lough Derg Yacht Club at the weekend.

A fresh breeze of 12 -16 knots allowed the boats to enjoy two final races superbly organised by LDYC.  Second was Justin Burke, Gareth Nolan and Ed Cooke in 'Alert Packaging'. Third was Aidan O'Connell, Jonathan Hogg & Domonic Hegarty in 'Upwind Casualty'.

The fleet enjoyed the convivial surroundings of Lough Derg, Co. Tipperary along with the Flying Fifteen and Squib fleets.

The autumnal colours adding to the relaxed atmosphere at this end of season regatta. 14 SB20s turned out to battle for line honours. 'OUTLAW' Gary Pollard, Owen McLernon & Trevor Darcy took the Silver Fleet trophy the Hermes Cup.

Results are below

The 2018 SB20 European Championships will be hosted by the Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire it has been announced.

The Irish staging of the event in two years time will be in the same year as the World Championships are heading down under to Tasmania.

Next year's Europeans are in Cowes and the Irish class is hoping to attend the British south coast event in numbers in antcipation of the 2018 Dublin Bay fixture. The Irish class is keen to recruit new blood to contest the Irish event and noting top secnod hand boats are available to buy at around £10,000stg.

An exciting 2017 Championship schedule includes old favourites Howth YC and Royal Ulster YC as well as a return trip to Mayo YC.

This year's World Championships will be held in Royal Yacht Squadron, Cowes making it highly accessible from Ireland.

2017
21st – 22nd April Eastern Championships Howth Yacht Club, Dublin
26th – 27th May Northern Championship Royal Ulster Yacht Club, Bangor
16th – 17th June Western Championship Mayo Yacht Club, Mayo
06th – 09th July Southern Championship Royal St. George Yacht Club, Dun Laoghaire (as part of Volvo DL Regatta)
26th – 1st Aug World Championships Royal Yacht Squadron, Cowes, UK
15th – 17th Sept National Championships Howth Yacht Club, Dublin
21st – 22nd Oct Midland Championships Lough Derg Yacht Club, Tipperary

Following its lively Southern championships at the weekend, the SB20 Ireland AGM takes this Friday October 7th 2016 at the Royal Irish Yacht Club. The meeting will be boosted by an influx of new blood into the class as it plots the 2017 season including highlights; Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta in Dublin Bay next July and the SB20 Worlds on the doorstep in Cowes.

Both class president, Peter Lee and DBSC Class Captain James Gorman are stepping down after completing their respective terms. 

Ger Dempsey will take over from Gorman as SB20 Dun Laoghaire Class Captain. His first job will be to muster the 15–boat Dublin fleet for the season's last hurrah at the SB20 midland championships taking place on Saturday & Sunday 22nd & 23rd October at Lough Derg YC. 

Dave Barry, Dan O'Connell and Jimmy Dowling sailing Lia are the SB20 2016 Southern Champions following four wins from six races at the National Yacht Club at the weekend.

Second in the 14–entry event was Howth Yacht Club's Two Men and Their Monkey sailed by Darragh Sheridan, Shane Murphy and John Phelan.

Third was Justin Burke's Alert Packaging entry with crew Gareth Nolan and Henrik Olerud. Full results are downloadable below.

A start at the 14–boat SB20 Southern Championships at the National Yacht Club. Photo: Afloat.ie

The Flying Fifteen East Coast Championships, the Irish Fireball Leinster Championships and the SB20 Southern Championships will all be raced under the burgeee of the National Yacht Club at Dun Laoghaire, Dublin in a fortnight on the 1st and 2nd October 2016. 

This is a change of plan for the SB20 class who have moved both the date and club for their Southern Championshipd fixture. The event was originally scheduled for the 24th & 25th September at Cobh SC in Cork Harbour.

It's not the last event of the 2016 calendar for the SB20s or Flying Fifteens either, both fleets are slated for a Midland Championship at Lough Derg YC on 22nd & 23rd October. 

Download the notice of race below. 

The last day of the Cascais SB20 World Championships 2016 on Saturday, September 3 saw Hugo Rocha with his New Territories team crowned World Champions, defeating a 76-boat fleet with entries from 13 countries.

Despite some fine individual performances, the four boat Irish team struggled overall in the big fleet. Former class president Justin Burke says that 'to break through this fleet, we'll need to train as a group with a coach as the leader of the team, and start 12 months before the event. The Irish sailed very well in spots but the complete package is needed to break through'.

Three Irish boats finished together in 40, 41 and 42. Full results are here.

After a demanding 12–race series during which the renowned high winds venue of Cascais, Portugal delivered storming 20-knot runs, shifty beats, mirror calm mornings, and everything in between, conditions for the final day single race proved challenging once again.

With winds again very light early in the morning, it initially looked doubtful as to whether any racing would take place and the fleet was towed to the course area. However, the breeze gradually filled in, and after two General Recalls and a postponement the wind eventually settled enough for the race team to get start away just one minute before the cut-off time. A couple of boats fell victim to the Black Flag as racing began in a light 6-8 knots, which quickly ramped up to 15 knots.

The fleet was evenly split across the racecourse and arrived compacted at the windward mark, which saw many boats forced to duck out and circle around – unusually, those boats that gybe-set towards the left-hand side shot up through the fleet as the right side suffered, with some of the leaders seeing heavy losses of distance. The race committee reset the top mark, but as the boats rounded the windward mark for the second time Cascais had one final trick up its sleeve and the fog rolled in – visibility reducing dramatically as the boats worked towards the finish. The sunshine reappeared for a final flourish in 8-12 knots of wind, before fading completely and requiring a final tow home for the fleet.

The race win went to Rodion Luka on TREM Engineering (UKR3042), giving the Ukranian Olympic silver medalist another podium finish at an SB20 World Championships in third overall. Second went to Vladim Pushev’s Vis Sailing Team (RUS3707), their best result of the series by a considerable way, while third went to Volvo Ocean Race skipper Charles Caudrelier and his DongFeng Racing Team1.

However, Rocha’s team on New Territories (RUS3711) finished 10th, enough to secure the 2016 World Championship title with a healthy 17-point margin. Rocha, together with Alex Semenov, Fran Palacios and Goncaki Barreto, scored two race wins, but significantly counted all top 10 placings in a high scoring series which saw many competitive teams hampered by mid-fleet finishes or disqualifications. Rocha is an Olympic medalist who scored bronze for Portugal in the 470 at the Savannah Games, while the New Territories team were second at the 2014 World Championships in St Petersburg.

Second went to Gabriel Skoczek, Michel Emeric, Lucas Chatonnier and Marine Boudot with France Jeune SB20 (FRA653), who were also top Youth team, four points ahead of Luka’s TREM Engineering. The France Jeune team commented after racing: “We had a real battle and that battle was fierce. But Hugo Rocha was too strong. We’re happy to get on the second step of the podium all the same.”

Just outside the podium there was a monumental duel for fourth between two Australian visiting teams, Chris Dare’s Flirtatious (AUS3735) and Michael Cooper’s Export Roo (AUS 3731), with the Flirtatious coming out on top by three points.

The hotly contested Nations Cup was awarded to France, from Russia, with Portugal just pipping Britain for third on tie-break. Meanwhile the French crew of Mathilde Geron, Sophie de Turckheim, Julie Bossard and Alice Ponsar on Team Xavier Bourhis Generali were the first ladies’ crew in 12th place. The top Master’s prize went to the Sportsboatworld.com team of Jerry Hill, Alan Hill and Craig Watson who finished 13th, with prizes awarded by Clarins and Hyde Sails as well as event sponsors Vista Alegre, Sagres, Simoes and Gaspar, and LG. The event was hosted by Clube Naval de Cascais, and backed by the Portuguese city.

The 2017 SB20 World Championships will be hosted by the prestigious Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes, UK. Racing will take place on the Solent from August 28-September 1, 2017, following a full schedule of racing for both local and visiting teams, including a Grand Slam event at the world famous Cowes Week regatta. The following year, the 2018 World Championships will head to the stunning venue of Tasmania, Australia.