Rian Geraghty-McDonnell and Nathan Van Steenberge were first juniors and sixth overall in the Harken 29er Grand Prix at Royal Torbay Yacht Club this weekend, as Yachts & Yachting reports.

Winds and rain on the Saturday gave way to Champagne sailing conditions yesterday (Sunday 24 March) for the National Yacht Club pair who placed third in Tralee Bay the weekend before, and topped a welcome Irish contingent in Devon.

A second in the last race of today's SB3 World Championships gives Royal Cork's Mel Collins 17th overall and keeps the Crosshaven trio top Irish crew in Torquay. Howth's Ben Duncan – racing for New Zealand – is 11th overall. Full results below. It's been a tough day on the water at Day 2 of the event for competitors and Race Officers alike. Shifting winds combined with general recalls and last minute abandonments meant a long day on the water for everyone involved. Races 4, 5 and 6 of the championship have now been completed and qualifying for the gold and silver fleets is complete.

After lying second overall at the end of the first day of the Championship, Peter Saxton (GBR) and his crew on Rola-Trac had a poor first race today. Clearly undeterred, the Rola-Trac crew got back into the groove for the second and third races, achieving a 1st and 3rd place in the Orange fleet. Saxton now shows a score card of 1, 5, 2, (36), 1, 3 and leads the Championship by 2 points.

Italian entry "Stenghele" helmed by Roberto Caresani (ITA) and crewed by Pietro Negri and Enrico Fonda put in a strong performance on the Yellow course. "We had a good day today," explained bow man Enrico, "We've had 3 good races! We won the first race, we lead the first beat and after a gybe set, we literally flew downwind, extending our lead to 200m on the next boat!" Roberto added, "It's been a lucky day and we are very happy with our results."

Craig Burlton (GBR) lies 5th overall going into the gold fleet and finals races. Catching up with Craig and crew after racing, it was clear that they were disappointed with their performance. "It's been a tough day, the wind has been really shifty and we've found the starts hard. The third race today wasn't good and we got stuck in a hole downwind." There are high expectations onboard and their frustration showed. "We've made some stupid mistakes and not quite executed our attack on this event." But 5th overall at this stage of the event isn't too shabby is it?!

Many entrants are still struggling to find their form and continue to battle the vagaries of Tor Bay's wind conditions. 2010 World Champion Jerry Hill arrived in Torquay with high hopes of defending his title, but this evening returns ashore deflated. "It's not been a great day...we were over the line in the first race, 7th in the second and then really deep in the third race today." Hill has sailed in the Laser SB3 class since the beginning and has been a driving force behind the organisation of the World Championship in Torquay. It's unfortunate to see him struggling to find his form and lying in 29th place going into the gold fleet finals.

With the challenging conditions that Tor Bay is providing, it's certain that the winner of the Zhik SB3 Worlds will be a deserving Champion. The standard of the fleet is extremely high and nobody is yet willing to bet their life savings on who will lift the beautiful Waterford Crystal trophy on Friday 20th May. With six qualifying races now complete, the pressure really heats up as the gold and silver fleet finals begin.

Series Place	Sail No	Bow No	Boat	Helm	Series Points
1	GBR3065	65	Rola-Trac	Peter Saxton	12
2	GBR3058	15	Xcellent	John Pollard	14
3	GBR3053	111	Race Team Gill	Geoff Carveth	14
4	ITA3073	39	Stenghele	Roberto Caresani	16
5	GBR3042	54	Gill Racing Team	18
6	GBR3489	19	Red	20
7	AUS3063	32	One Design Sailing	21
8	GBR3032	92	Rumbleflurg	David Cummins	25
9	GBR3082	68	Henri Lloyd/Forelle Estates	Joe Llewellyn	26
10	AUS3108	70	Club Marine	Glenn Bourke	27
11	NZL3287	36	Sailing West - Sharkbait	Ben Duncan	32
12	NED3441	17	Rivium	Paul Gast	36
13	GBR3475	57	Perky III	Jez Entwistle	37
14	RSA3469	49	Musto Race Ahead	Asenaithi Jim	45
15	GER3561	86	Razzmatazz	Sebastian Dohrendorf	46
16	ITA3543	101	Bravi Thytronic	Giovanni Meloni	49
17	IRL3324	22	Sibelus	Mel Collins	50
18	GBR3047	95	Parkway Pirates	Rob Gullan	51
19	GBR3134	84	Marilyn	Dom Ford	54
20	GBR3336	8	Uber 3	Adrian Peach	59
21	GBR3149	16	Poor Buoy	Mark Gillett	63
22	GBR3462	58	Underground Toys	Andrew Oddie	64
23	GER3402	21	Norah	Daniel Spaenle	65.2
24	GBR3464	5	Eric	Martin Wedge	68
25	RUS3554	109	Team Russia	Rodion Luka	70
26	GBR3546	98	Orthteam	Richard Catchpole	71
27	GBR3292	93	Chill Pill	Tich Summers	72
28	GBR3556	69	Herbie	Phil Tilley	75
29	GBR3465	26	3 Sad Old Blokes	Jerry Hill	77
30	GBR3079	116	Excuse Me Gents	Ann Jackson	79
31	AUS3607	104	Wysiwyg VI	Stephen Fries	80
32	IRL3298	64	Toucan 3	Ross Vaughan	81
33	GBR3041	67	Robina	Dan Goodman	83
34	ITA3606	114	Lunatico XS	Aurelio Bini	85
35	GBR3575	56	Sailboat Deliveries	Sarah Allan	86
36	GBR3027	63	Darling Associates	Chris Darling	86
37	GBR3029	44	3-Some	Niall Peelo	87
38	GBR3305	55	Rigging Gurus	Mark Richards	89
39	GBR3517	75	Doolalli	Colin Simonds	89
40	GBR3276	89	Trouble & Strife	Ian Armstrong	92
41	GBR3510	52	Hutton's	Richard Wharram	95
42	UKR3443	78	Transbunker	Polovy Valeriy	99
43	GBR3106	37		Tom Clay	100
44	BEL3472	35	Los Zaparteros	Alex Schoenmakers	100
45	GBR3183	30	Respect	John Danby	102
46	GBR3468	60	Fully Badgered	Paul Lovejoy	105
47	GBR3021	51	Here Comes Bod	Charlie Whelan	106
48	GBR3084	1	Eau No!	Mark Sotkes	108
49	ITA3596	99	Briefing	Luca Bacci	109
50	IRL3338	59	Milvus Milvus	Robert Howe	116
51	IRL3226	112	Quantitative Easing	Paul McMahon	120
52	IRL3312	91	Bomchickawahwah	John O'Driscoll	122
53	FRA3078	115	Tad Minus	Vincent Biarnes	127
54	RUS373	106	Alissa	Vladislav Ivanovski	128
55	GBR3060	73	Finitor 7	Stewart Reed	129
56	IRL3484	33	Seriously Bonkers x 3	Martin Cuppage	130
57	GBR3074	3	Tonic	Douglas Paton	131
58	GBR3515	108	The Young Pretender	Callum Calder	134
59	GBR3126	102	Geronimo	Simon Hume	135
60	FRA3423	76	Morpheus	Edward Russo	136
61	GBR3545	71	Savage Sailing Team	Chris Savage	138
62	GER3600	13	Isabella III	Reinhard Schroeder	138
63	GBR3198	80	Magic Marine	Hugh Styles	140
64	GBR3104	74	Retail Therapy	Charles Sheppard	140
65	GBR3379	27	Joyride	Nick Andrews	141
66	FRA3609	2	Marcon Yachting	Louis Marcon	143
67	GBR3531	87	Carnage	Nick Over	143
68	GBR3267	77	Neilson Heart of Gold	Tom Hayhoe	143
69	GBR3319	12	Devils Advocate	Tony Jaffa	145
70	GBR3014	61	Sponge Bob	Steve McLean	148
71	GBR3038	119	TeamB4Ego,com2	Will Brooks	150
72	NED3511	29		Marco van Driel	153
73	GBR3215	79	Sail Navy	Darren Roach	153
74	GBR3362	47	Polar Bear	Tim Newton	159
75	POR3103	48	Viero	Piedade Colaco	160
76	GBR3048	23	Control-Alt-Delete	Ann Ashworth	162
77	GBR3096	72	Red Kite	Roger Harford	163
78	UKR3522	41	Stemcor	Valentin Klymentyev	163
79	IRL3307	31	Bad/Kilcullen	Stephan Hyde	164
80	GBR3094	20	Xceptable	Ian Lievesley	166
81	GBR3056	100	Woohoo	Tom Davidson	172
82	GBR3069	66	Not just a number	Paul Hine	173
83	IRL3033	34	Blue Bird	Cathy MacAleavey	178
84	GBR3088	6	Healthy1.co.uk	Ray Davies	180
85	GBR3516	14	TeamB4Ego.com	Geoff Gritton	181
86	AUS3224	28	Jester 3	Dave Bull	183
87	GRE3251	105	SailingHolidays.com	Ruairi Bradley	185
88	NED3470	82	Cube	Martijn Buitenhuis	185
89	GBR3473	85	Sceptre	Nathan Bailey	189
90	ITA3598	96	Alghero Giorico Hotels	Alessandro Balzani	192
91	GBR3335	24	Royal Signals	Stu Southan	192
92	GBR3366	11	Hooligan	Guy Broom	196
93	GBR3309	43	Narwhal	David Bates	196
94	GBR3081	9	Prostate Cancer Charity	Ross Lang	201
95	GBR3123	4	Mini Mayhem	Paul Craft	204
96	GBR3519	107	May contain nuts	John Greenaway	204
97	ITA3437	53	Lupi D'irlanda	Marco Sorgassi	204
98	IRL3062	40		Ronan Downing	205
99	IRL3297	90	Sunday Brunch	Richard Tate	218
100	IRL3315	42	Sirius Black	Ken Hudson	219
101	GBR3368	45	Kapow	Nick Barnett	223
102	GBR3540	46	Water Music viii	Jonny Foot	229
103	GBR3077	88	Skallywag	Rob Day	238

Ten Irish boats are among 120 entered so far in the 2011 SB3 World Championships in Torbay that will be the largest keelboat world championship in the UK this season.

But top ranked Irish performer Ben Duncan, who races from Howth Yacht Club is entered under his native New Zealand flag.

Seriously Bonkers (Martin Cuppage), Bad Kilcullen (Jerry Dowling) and Cathy MacAleavey's Bluebird are among Dun Laoghaire boats to enter so far. The full entry list is here.

The event will be hosted by the Royal Torbay Yacht Club, UK from 16 – 20 May 2011.

Representatives from fourteen nations will compete in the World Championships. The host nation field an entry of over seventy boats. Entries come from as far afield as Australia and South Africa. Ireland, France, The Netherlands, Portugal, Greece, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Ukraine and Russia will all be represented in Torquay in May.

The three Laser SB3 World Champions, Geoff Carveth (2008 Champion, Dun Laoghaire), Craig Burlton (2009 Champion, Cascais) and Jerry Hill (2010 Champion, Torbole) will all compete for the 2011 Championship title.

Carveth, Burlton and Hill are all British and so far the Laser SB3 World Championship has not been won by another nation. Will 2011 see the trophy slip from the Brits grip?

Australian sailing man of the moment, Nathan Outteridge, will compete with Laser SB3 Class President, Dave Cheyne in Torquay in May. Outteridge is twice 49er World Champion, current Moth World Champion and recent winner of the Audi King of Docklands and Audi Victoria Week in the Laser SB3. Fellow Australian Glenn Bourke returns to the class for the Championship.

South Africa’s Roger Hudson will compete in his fourth Laser SB3 World Championship and will no doubt be determined to better his current hatric of second places. Hudson has sailed each of the previous World Championships with a different helm; 2008 David Hudson (father), 2009 Taariq Jacobs and 2010 Iain Ainslie. It is yet to be announced which members of the Race Ahead Foundation will sail with Hudson in 2011. 

In preparation for the World Championships, the Royal Torbay Yacht Club will host the Torbay Open, 30 April – 2 May and the Pre World Championship 12 – 13 May. These two events will provide a great opportunity for a number of keen teams from across Europe to travel to the UK and sail on the waters of Tor Bay prior to the World Championships.

“We’re really looking forward to hosting the event at the Club, I sail in the fleet so it’s great to be involved in delivering this event. We’re delighted with the size and quality of the entry list and look forward to extending the entry if necessary,” explained Event Organiser Adrian Peach.

The Laser SB3 Class is proud to be one of the most tightly restricted one design keelboat classes in the world with little variation from the builder’s final product permitted. With minimal maintenance, easy to trail and low campaign costs, the class thrives on its philosophy of providing inclusive, high intensity, great fun and easily attainable, quality racing for its members.

Further news and developments can be followed HERE.

Thursday night's stormy seas forced a car ferry with more than 40 Irish-bound passengers to shelter in a south Devon bay.

The Herald Express in Devon reports that the Norman Voyager, which left Cherbourg on Wednesday night, was due to arrive in Rosslare by Thursday afternoon.

But stronger than usual winds from the Atlantic storm system persuaded the captain to forgo the usual refuge of Falmouth and take shelter in Torbay, rather than risk the 186-metre vessel in the turbulent waters of the Irish Sea.

Local Coastwatch member Brian Knowles spotted the ferry seven miles of Berry Head.

"It's very unusual to have a passenger ferry here," he said, remarking that 12 ships were anchored in Torbay and nearby Babbacombe Bay to shelter from Force 12 winds.