As expected, it's been a breezy week at the SB20 World Championships in Cascais, Portugal leading to many running repairs on the race track. A French entry, Black Magic, skippered by Edward Russo, was one such example when the outer core of Black Magic's main halyard separated preventing the mainsail from being fully hoisted. Sending a man aloft to free it was the preferred solution but keeping him up there in the rolling Atlantic did not prove easy. It is not clear if the problem was resolved before the inevitable happened...

There were some great results from the four boat Irish SB20 team in Cascais, Portugal yesterday and another good day in prospect today could see an Irish team finish in the top third of the SB20 World Championships.

Royal Cork Yacht Club entry, The Bear (skippered by Stefan Hyde with Graeme Grant Tara Flood, Clara Hynes) took a ninth in race two (race eight of the series).

The National Yacht Club's Bango (James Gorman, Rory Fitzpatrick, Neil O'Toole and Laura Jackson) climbed six places up to 35th. Royal Irish Yacht Venuesworld (Ger Dempsey, Chris, Blair Stanaway and Maeve Judge) had a great first race yesterday (16th) but dropped back a few places to 40th, one ahead of The Bear in 41st. The masters team on Wahoo climbed up to 46th (Colin Galavan, Chris Arrowsmith and David).

Again, as the results today showed, there is plenty of scope for movement up the leaderboard and a really good day today could propel any of the teams up into the top 25/30. Full results here

Yesterday was a day of changes, which saw three more challenging races completed. First, the weather proved just how quickly conditions can vary at this Atlantic venue. There was sun but very little breeze as the 75-boat international fleet left the dock, which saw the competitors being towed to the race course by various RIBs, Jury and coach boats – no small undertaking with an entry of this size.

But by the time an outer course was set the breeze had filled in to 15 knots, which built to 20 over the course of Race 1. There were three general recalls before the first start of the day, and seventh of the series, could get underway, with at least 12 boats falling foul of the Black Flag and called OCS, which kept the Jury busy late into the evening.

Race 2 began in similar breeze, but the right-hand side paid handsomely. The challenge with such a busy startline was to get away cleanly and make ground to the right - Simon Hume on Skewered (GBR3716), whose previous results had all been in the second half of the fleet, impressed as they absolutely nailed the start, tacked right and stayed on the right side of the fleet all race to secure a top 10 finish.

By 1715 the breeze was dying off, leaving a patchy and difficult racecourse for Race 3. The race was shortened at the end of the second beat as the breeze was fading away. It then faded completely on the sail in, requiring the RIBs to be called into action once again to tow the fleet back in. It was a very tired fleet that hit the dock at gone 1900hrs, and the welcome courtesy beers and food laid on at the Clube Naval de Cascais were very appreciated.

The boat of the day was unquestionably Massimo Fullone’s Mercy Bocu (ITA3637), who took a win, an 11th, and another win on a particularly tough day for consistency. The second race was won by Rodion Luka on TREM Engineering (UKR3042).

Many competitive teams today scored one strong result – and one 77-point penalty, including José Paulo Ramada on Dom Pedro Hotels/Generali (POR3105), who took a second before being Black Flagged in the last, and the experienced Nika crew (RUS3709), who picked up both a 3rd and 77-pointer today.

Significantly, Hugo Rocha’s New Territories team also carries a DNC after not racing the final race of the day due to gear failure. This has seen a change at the top of the scoreboard, with Gabriel Skoczek’s France Jeune SB20 (FRA3653) now the overall leader on 39 points, just one point ahead of New Territories. Rodion Luka is third overall, with 49 points.

The 2016 World Championships are proving to be a very tough competition with a great many good boats and a very demanding racecourse – this title fight looks set to go to the wire. The Nations Cup battle between France, Portugal and Russia is equally intriguing, and six nations are represented in the top 10.

For those looking further ahead, the Royal Yacht Squadron from Cowes, UK, made a presentation tonight about the 2017 World Championships, which was very well received.

Three more races are planned for tomorrow, before competition concludes on Saturday, September 3.

Day two of the Cascais SB20 World Championships 2016 yesterday, Wednesday 31 August, brought three more testing races for the 75-boat fleet – or, according to some crews, two testing races and one giant crazy game of Risk. It was a tough day for the four Irish boats too: Bango (James Gorman, Rory Fitzpatrick, Neil O'Toole & Laura Jackson) dropped to 41st overall. The lead Irish boat is now Venuesworld (Ger Dempsey, Chris Nolan, Maeve Judge and Blair Stanaway) who remain bang in the middle of the fleet in 38th, Wahoo drops to 48th (Colin Galavan, Chris Arrowsmith & David Cahill), leapfrogged by The Bear (Stefan Hyde, Graeme Grant, Tara Flood, Clara Hynes) in 43rd. The Bear had the best day of the Irish contingent with a 23, 38, 30 scoreline on the shifty inner course.

The championships are sponsored by the Portuguese city of Cascais, and were officially opened by Mayor Carlos Carreiras in the presence of the President and Vice President of the Municipality of Cascais.

Things had looked ominous after Day 1, with winds overnight blowing around 50 knots, but as crews left the dock for the second day of racing the breeze died completely, before shifting to the north. By the time the 75 SB20s had headed out to the racecourse, it had filled in to a fickle northerly wind of between 14-18 knots.

Rodio Luka on Trem Engineering (UKR3042) took the opening win, which he followed up with a 5th. But a 19th place in a highly unpredictable third race leaves the Ukranian Olympic medalist with two high scores and in fifth overall.

Luka commented after racing: “We had two good races the last race was.... Well, let’s just say really hard. Racing in the inside course is really random in these conditions.”

The third race turned into a game of a dice, with the wind bouncing off the shore and surrounding mountains onto the course at all angles and velocities. “We had 5-15 knots of windspeed, huge holes and massive shifts… not a race for the faint hearted!” reports Alan Hillman of SportsboatWorld (GBR 3750), adding: “I shall not be going to the casino this evening!”

Portuguese skipper José Caldeira with Uon (POR3620) won the second, and like Luka also scored a 5th today, plus a 15th, to climb up the rankings to 7th. Just behind him going into Day 3 is the top British crew, John Pollard’s Xcellent (GBR3724), who scored a 6, 20, 3.

Pollard said: “We were just really consistent all day… we managed to really read the last race and hang in at the times where it was looking bad at times, Smithy (our middle man) called it perfectly and we hung on to a third.”

The third race win went to Kevin Peponnet with Team SMC/France Jeune (FRA3580). The wind then increased to over 30 knots as the boats approached the marina, making for an entertaining end to a highly challenging day.

The overall leaders, and the only boat to have clung on to all top-10 finishes in the six races held so far, is Hugo Rocha with New Territories (RUS3711), crewed by Goncalo Barreto, Alex Semenov and Fran Palacios. They currently lead by 5 points to France Jeune (FRA3653), skippered by Gabriel Skoczek, also top Youth team.

France Jeune crew Emeric Michel said: "We had a better day on the water – it is not possible to sail perfectly because it is so shifty and hard to read, but we sailed better and have moved up to second. The team that wins this regatta will be the team that manages to minimize their mistakes."

Third is the Australian boat Export Roo with Michael Cooper. There is a big focus at this event on the Nations Cup, which will be awarded to the country with the 3 best results. Portugal currently occupies first place, from France, followed by Britain.

The Cascais SB20 World Championships got off to a strong start yesterday with three races held in testing but hugely enjoyable conditions with Portuguese sun and strong breezes. Ireland has four entries in the 76–boat event.

Bango (James Gorman, Rory Fitzpatrick, Neil O'Toole & Laura Jackson) from the National Yacht Club are top Irish in 18th place with Ger Dempsey steering Royal Irish YC entry Venuesworld with Chris Nolan, Maeve Judge and Blair Stanaway 38th next. Wahoo (Colin Galavan, Chris Arrowsmith & David Cahill) is 40th with Royal Cork's, new Irish SB20 national champion, Stefan Hyde with Graeme Grant and 420 duo Douglas Elmes and Colin O Sullivan from Howth Yacht Club in 62nd after counting a Did Not Compete in the opening race. Full results are here.

The first two races of the day were held offshore on an Atlantic course, in 15–25 knot north-westerly breezes with gusts in the high 20s, creating magnificent downwind conditions for the asymmetric sportsboat fleet. Competitors enjoyed a sleigh ride on the Atlantic rollers on the offwind legs, reaching speeds of up to 18 knots.

For the third race organisers from the host Clube Naval de Cascais moved the racing closer inshore, which added a tactical element to the day with reading the shifts proving key.

In a day that tested both boat handling, crew work, stamina and wind strategy, few teams managed to avoid a mid-fleet, high scoring finish. By far the boat of the day was Hugo Rocha, sailing New Territories (RUS 3711), who scored 2, 3, 1 over the days’ three races to clearly lead overnight. Rocha is a Portuguese Olympic medalist who was runner-up at the 2014 SB20 World Championships and is looking to go one better this time.

Vasco Serpa and team on Animal/Clever Mobility (POR 3114) had a strong start to their regatta with a 1-2 finish, coming back from their first result of an 11th. Chris Dare’s Australian team on Flirtatious also picked up two podium finishes and a 14th to finish third at the end of the day. The first race win went to Ukranian Olympian Rodion Luka (Luka, UKR2042), but a 25th in the third race could prove a problem with just one discard over the series.

Gabriel Skoczek and France Jeune SB20 (FRA3653) and his Youth team are currently in 4th place, while first Master helm is Jerry Hill in 14th on Sportsboatworld.com (GBR3750). Top lady helm is Mathilde Geron with Team Xavier Bourhis Generali (FRA3423) in 19th place.

With six different nations represented in the top 10 competition looks set to be fierce for the Nations Cup, the trophy that will be awarded to the country with the three best results. Currently Russia is in the lead, followed by Portugal with 92 points and then France with 134 points.

The Cascais SB20 World Championships feature live tracking, allowing spectators to watch the action online here

Racing continues until Saturday, 3rd September, with 14 races scheduled in total for the 75 competing teams. The 2016 World Championships are hosted by the Clube Naval de Cascais, and sponsored by the city of Cascais, together with supporting sponsors including porcelain makers Vista Alegre and sailmakers Hydes

Ireland has four entries in the Cascais 2016 SB20 World Championships that start next week, from Tuesday 30 August, at the renowned venue of Cascais in Portugal. The Atlantic city of Cascais is synonymous with strong winds, large rolling waves, sunshine and great hospitality, making it an ideal venue for the one-design sportsboat world championship. Ger Dempsey will steer Royal Irish YC entry Venuesworld with Chris Nolan, Maeve Judge and Blair Stanaway on board. From Royal Cork, new Irish SB20 national champion Stefan Hyde will be sailing with Graeme Grant and 420 duo Douglas Elmes and Colin O Sullivan from Howth Yacht Club. Bango (James Gorman, Rory Fitzpatrick, Neil O'Toole & Laura Jackson) and Wahoo (Colin Galavan, Chris Arrowsmith & David Cahill) complete the line–up.

The entry list is packed with round the world sailors, Olympic medalists, and top keelboat sailors, who will be contesting this hard-fought championship from Tuesday, 30 August to Saturday, 3 September, with 14 races scheduled.

A superb fleet of 75 teams have entered from 13 nations, including the reigning champion crew from France who are back with new helmsman, young French 49er helm Gabriel Skoczek. The new team showed form by winning the Portuguese Nationals in June against many of the top contenders.

Rodion Luka from Ukraine, an Olympic Silver medalist in the 49er in 2004, has competed in the last six SB20 World Championships, finishing on the podium three times, but is yet to win the title. He’ll be sure to be going all-out to take victory this time around.

Hugo Rocha is another Olympic medalist, having scored bronze for Portugal in the 470. He leads the Russian New Territories team who came second at the 2014 World Championships in St Petersburg. This combination are not regulars in the fleet, but with their mix of experience and local knowledge could make for a very strong team.

Another Russian entry of note is Vladimir Proshikin’s Team Nika, a well-known name in many keelboat classes including the RC44, Melges 20 and of course SB20. Meanwhile there will also be strong Portuguese competition from another Olympian, Laser sailor Vasco Serpa, and the reigning 420 World Champions, brothers Diogo and Pedro Costa.

Winning the furthest travelled title, Michael Cooper leads a team from Tasmania in Australia, representing the fastest growing international fleet in the SB20 class. Tasmania now has a local fleet of over 50 boats, including 10 new this year, ahead of their own World Championships in January 2018.

Other impressive entries includes Team Dong Feng, the Chinese-French Volvo Ocean Race team, who have entered two boats, one led by Volvo skipper Charles Caudrelier with Thomas Rouxel, who is a familiar face on the SB20 circuit. There are also two teams from the well-known Oman Sail squad, which will feature some of the emerging Omani talent.

As the class becomes more international, the founding British teams no longer have this event all their own way, and while the crews of John Pollard, Ben Vines, and 2010 World Champions Jerry Hill and Joe Llewellyn may well feature at times, we can expect this to be a very tough event to win.

There will be additional competition for the Nations Cup. Last year the Russians won a very closely fought inaugural contest for the trophy, which they claimed by just a point from the Australian and British teams, and will be looking to retain the title. Class manufacturer Sportsboatworld has supplied a new trophy for the 2016 Nations Cup, which will be keenly contested by last year’s protagonists, as well as strong French and Portuguese teams. Other nations represented include Switzerland, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Representatives from the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes, who are hosting the 2017 World Championships, will also be attending the Portuguese Worlds to meet officials and swap notes to fine tune next year’s event in the UK.

The 2016 World Championships are hosted by the Clube Naval de Cascais, and sponsored by the city of Cascais, together with supporting sponsors including porcelain makers Vista Alegre and sailmakers Hydes, who will be contributing to the coveted prizes. A spectacular glass trophy will be awarded to the 2016 World Champions.

Full information, including daily results, will be available here

Bad-Kilcullen (Stefan Hyde, Jerry Dowling & Jimmy Dowling) crowned SB20 National Champions for 2016 which took place last weekend (5-7 August). Defending champions Sin Bin (Michael O'Connor, Owen Laverty & Kevin Johnson) on coming 2nd overall and to Venuesworld.com (Ger Dempsey, Chris Nolan, Blair Stanaway & Graham Barker) on coming third overall.
It was a super event with some very high speeds downwind on the Saturday. Rubadubdub had an impressive max speed of 18.1 knots!
Hosted by the National Yacht Club and under the excellent race management of Colin McMullen and his team they managed six races over the three days. Sandra Moore welcomed the 19 competitors to the NYC race office and supervised the very accurate weigh in. Fridays racing presented the Colm Mc Mullin the PRO with a difficult task . The light wind was from the East and the forecast was for heavier winds from the west later in the day.
The SB20 is one of the most competitive fleets. This was evident in that they were five different race winners over the six races. It would need nerve and consistency for a winner to emerge.
Stefan Hyde, Jerry & Jimmy Dowling in Bád/Kilcullen were proving that they were determined to wrestle back their title they won in 2014 in RCYC, with two seconds on the first day in moderate conditions.Hot on their heals were the 2015 Champions of Michael O’Connor,Owen Lafferty & Kevin Johnson.
The first race was got off at the first time of asking . The race was won by the class President Peter Lee and hot on his heels was Stefan Hyde, and the Dowling Brothers Gerry and Jimmy in 2nd. The ever present Ger Dempsey / Chris Nolan on Venuesworld.com came in 3rd. And Michael O’Connor the current holder in 4th. The first race results reflected the duel that was going to finish on the podium.
The 2nd. Race the wind was shifting and falling away ,from the East . Colm Mc Mullin the PRO used the U flag after the general recall . Your author and one other were OCS and left the course . After a tiresome light airs beat the PRO abandoned the race ..
Colin move the course further into the bay to avail of the new strengthening westerly breeze.
The 2nd race got off into a 12 knot breeze from the SW.. The race was won by Davy Taylor (his luck deserted him later courtesy of a lobster pot), followed by the consistent Dowling / Hyde combination with Justin Burke, Ed Cook , Henrik Olerud Alertpackaging.com in 3rd.
Race 3 the wind had increased to 14 knots with Colin Galavan showing how to win a race by staying out of trouble. Dave Barry finished 2nd. but was subsequently unluckily DSQ in a multiple boat situation. Second was finally secured by Aiden O’Connell.The Hunt/Lee combination secured third.
Day two tested all competitors, winds close to 30–knots made sure that crews would have to be on top of their game.Venuesworld.com crewed by Ger Dempsey, Chris Nolan, Blair Stanaway & Graham Barker were showing really good form with two seconds and a fifth. That put them into contention with four points separating them from the leading boat Bád/Kilcullen going into the final day. Michael O’Connor’s Sin Bin were just two points behind in second.
Race 4 was run in 18 knots with the right hand side paying . The tide swept the competitors away from the weather mark and made for very tight rounding . The race was all about doing the basic’s well and Michael O’ Connor won this race showing how it should be done. Not to be outdone Venuesworld.com came in 2nd. and the ever threatening Darragh Sheridan, Shane Murphy, John Phelan in third.
Race 5 starter in 22 knots with a massive left hand shift . This was especially frustration for James Gorman won had successfully port tacked the fleet only to find himself at the back of the pack within 5 minutes. The wind dropped to 12 knots and within 3 minutes has re-established mean direction at 22 knots . Michael O’Connor found no problem with this and went on to record his 2nd .win of the day. Alertpackaging rounded the weather mark in 2nd. hoisted and sailed for 1 minute only to watch the rig go over the side. Again the NYC infrastructure swung into place with Mal Nowlan no fuss rescues to hand. Ger Dempsey received his just rewards with a second and the Dowling/ Hyde keeping the pressure up with a 3rd.
The weather was forecasted to be wild for Sunday and the forecaster got it right. The PRO had no choice but to cancel the Sunday racing. The smile on Stefan Hyde's face said it all and the Dowling Bros./Hyde had won the 2016 SB20 Nationals with last years winner Michael O’Connor, Owen Laverty and Kevin Johnson in 2nd. and the Venuesworld.com team of Ger Dempsey, Chris Nolan, Blair Stanaway,Graham Baker in 3rd. The silver fleet prize went to Colin Galavan, Chris Arrowsmith.
The class show their appreciation of the winners at the prize giving and recorded the appreciation for the sponsors Venuesworld.com and Dubarry , and the Committee, PRO and NYC for job well done. The Commodore Larry Power presented the prizes.
This left Bád/Kilcullen as well deserved Champions, they proved the most consistent boat over the series.Stefan Hyde and his team can look forward to competing in the ISA Helmsmans Championships later on in the year.

The SB20 World Championships are in Cascais, Portugal later this month.

#SB20 - Sailing was cancelled in high winds on the last day of the SB20 National Championships yesterday (Sunday 7 August), meaning that Saturday's leaders – Jerry Dowling's Bád – sail away with this year's title.

The Royal Irish Yacht Club boat topped the table after six races sailed, four points clear of defending champion Michael O'Connor on Sin Bin from the Royal St George YC.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, it was a Dun Laoghaire-dominated weekend at the National Yacht Club, with Dowling's club mate Ger Dempsey on Venuesworld.com in third place.

Jerry Dowling's Bad from the Royal Irish Yacht Club leads the SB20 National Championships at the National Yacht Club going into the final day of the 18–boat championships this morning. It looks likely there'll be the same big breeze same conditions for the final two races that produced a top speed of 18–knots on the water yesterday too. It's a Dun Laoghaire dominated nationals so far after six races sailed with second place overall  currently held by the defending champion Michael O'Connor from the Royal St. George YC on 18 points and Dowling's club mate Ger Dempsey one point behind in third. Full results to date downloadable below.

Tomorrow evening's DBSC race will serve as the unofficial practice race for the SB20 fleet that will race for National title honours on Dublin Bay on Friday in a three day event from the National Yacht Club.

18 entries have been recevied so far with front runners including defending champion Michael O'Connor from the Royal St. George YC. Aidan O'Connell who took overall fleet honours last year and the Northern Championships title this year is also entered. Cork's Dave Barry, winner of the Easterns and Ger Dempsey winner of the Western champs are all in the frame.

The SB20 Irish National Championships takes place at the National YC in Dun Laoghaire in a fortnight (5-7 August) and local DBSC competition at the host venue on Dublin Bay has been full–on. Last weekend Sin Bin (Michael O'Connor, Emmet Ryan & James Ryan) had the best results in last Saturday's racing but Sacrebleu (John O'Driscoll, Justin Burke, Chris Arrowsmith) holds onto the overall lead in DBSC's Saturdays series two but there's a group of three boats chasing not too far behind. See overall results below. 

This Saturday (23rd July) is the 8th Saturday of the DBSC Saturday series and the third Saturday of Series 2. There are as usual 2 back to back windward leeward races and our start is at 14:15.

SATURDAY DBSC RACING 

There were 2 DBSC races last Saturday. The top 3 were:

Race 1 - (1) Sin Bin (Michael O'Connor, Emmet Ryan, James Ryan) (2) Sacre Bleu (John O'Driscoll, Justin Burke, Chris Arrowsmith) (3) Seriously Bonkers (Sam Hunt, Peter Lee, Paddy Blackley). Race 2 - (1) Defiant (Gerry Jones, Davy Taylor, Rory Byrne) (2) Venuesworld.com (Ger Dempsey, Maeve Judge, Rory Grovez, Chris Nolan) (3) Sin Bin

Saturday's Series 2 Overall - (1) Sacre Bleu 5 points (2) Sin Bin 8 points (3) Venuesworld.com 9 points (4) Bango 10 points.

THURSDAY DBSC RACING

The top 3 last Thursday evening were (1) Venuesworld.com (Ger Dempsey, Rory Grovez, Chris Nolan) (2) Sacre Bleu (Richard Hayes, Chris Arrowsmith, Peter Lee) (3) Bad Kilcullen (Jerry Dowling, Jimmy Dowling, David Dowling).

Thursday's Series 2 Overall - (1) Venuesworld.com 4 points (2) Sacrebleu 8 points (3) Alertpackaging.com 14 points.