The SB20 fleet had a nail-biter on Dublin Bay last night as seven boats battled each other and, more importantly, the weather gods. No fewer than four boats held, and then lost, the lead during the race.

After a general recall, the fleet got away at the second time of asking and beat their way up towards harbour mark in a 10-13 knot shifty westerly breeze (is there any other kind in Dublin Bay?). First around the mark were Sin Bin (Michael, Owen and Nevan) followed closely by Sacrebleu (Richard, Colin and Chris), Alert Packaging (Justin, Henrik and Gareth), Venuesworld.com (Ger, Rory and Chris), Defiant (Gerry et al), Sea Biscuit (Marty and Niall sailing two up) and Smoke on the Water (Bob et al). The kites were popped and the fleet raced on a tight starboard reach down to Omega before freeing off around Omega and gybing for Poldy. Venuesworld.com took an early gybe which paid massively, allowing them to overtake Sacrebleu and getting water on Sin Bin at Poldy mark.

Once around Poldy, the boats rounded up onto a beat and made their way back up to Omega mark. Venuesworld held onto their lead, extending slightly but the fleet weren’t giving up and were keeping in touch with the leaders. After rounding Omega for the second time, the course called for another run down to Poldy mark. Another early gybe paid dividends for Venuesworld and they extended on the fleet down the second run.

After Poldy, the fleet had a long beat into Bay mark where they got some great close up views of the visiting tall ships. By now though, the wind was beginning to slacken as per the forecast and the question was whether to go right out to sea and wait for the expected veer as per the forecast or to go left towards shore and get in out of the tide in the dying breeze. Venuesworld chose the wind while Sacrebleu, Sin Bin and Alert Packaging opted for the tide. The wind gradually died throughout the bay and what little was left generally hugged the shore, allowing Sacrebleu and Sin Bin to overtake Venuesworld by Bay mark and Alert Packaging to close within a few boat lengths of Venuesworld. Around the mark, Sacrebleu led by 10 boat lengths from Sin Bin who had a similar cushion over Venuesworld in third with Alert Packaging another few boat lengths behind in fourth.

The Race Committee stationed themselves at East mark intending to shorten the course at East mark so for all intents and purposes, it looked like a soldiers race to finish from here in the reach across the bay from Bay mark to East mark. That would have been way too easy... a calm patch off the end of the pier grabbed onto Sacrebleu and wouldn’t let go, allowing Sin Bin on a higher heading take the lead. However, they too soon slowed and Venuesworld and Alert Packaging taking an even higher line overtook both Sacrebleu and Sin Bin. The wind was down to the faintest of zephyrs with crews dropping jibs trying to get their gennakers to fill.

As the boats approached the finish, Sin Bin and Sacrebleu dropped their kites and the wind started to veer dramatically towards the northwest, then north, then north east, before finally settling in the east (in their part of the bay anyway!). However, they were being pushed down tide of the committee vessel and were doing everything in their power to keep the boats going. At the same time, a couple of hundred meters away, Venuesworld and Alert Packaging were approaching the finish line from up tide in a northerly wind. As the two pairs of lead boats converged, the Easterly took hold long enough for Sin Bin to cross Venuesworld with Alert Packaging tacking off before being crossed... as the lead boats approached the finish line, the wind swung around to the north once more enabling Alert Packaging to tack for the line and take the gun to a very popular and well-deserved win.

Sin Bin limped over in second quite some time later. Storming through the fleet was Sea Biscuit and the two lads kept her motoring in the really light stuff to take a creditable third place. Venuesworld and Sacrebleu crept slowly towards the line and in the end, Venuesworld stole fourth by a nose. The other competitors perhaps had more sense and retired up the last leg, ensuring that they got a tow home in the process.

After four races, the first discard has kicked in and Alert Packaging and Sin Bin are tied for first place on 5 points with a slender one point lead overall from Venuesworld in third. Sacrebleu is by no means out of the series on 11 points in fourth place.

The DBSC SB20 fleet were treated to tropical conditions last night on Dublin Bay with blazing sunshine and a warm breeze greeting the competitors.

OOD Jack Roy and his team had their work cut out for them as the wind was shifting dramatically from a southerly / south-easterly direction. Ever the perfectionist, this necessitated a repositioning of the committee boat closer inshore a few minutes prior to the SB20 warning signal to give the fleet a good first beat. The additional effort was warmly praised by the fleet.

A committee boat biased line was set in Scotsman’s Bay with a beat up to Bullock mark the first challenge. The flooding tide was roaring in Scotsman’s Bay with many of the fleet being caught line shy. Sin Bin (Michael, Owen and Ed) and Venuesworld.com (Ger, Rory and Chris) were closest to the committee boat with Sacrebleu (Richard, Colin and Dave) and Defiant (Gerry et al) just being squeezed out and having to hang back and wait their turn at the committee boat. As the boats made their way up the beat, several, including Alert Packaging (Justin et al) and Sacrebleu, tacked inshore for clear air and in expectation of less tide in Scotsman’s Bay. Sin Bin and Venuesworld.com on the other hand continued on starboard into the freshening breeze offshore. Half way up the beat, it was tough to call which route was paying as those boats inshore appeared to be lifted but in less pressure relative the boats further offshore. Then, everything went haywire...

The wind started to shift through 30 degrees with every gust of wind (in a Force 4!). It was remarked by several competitors that it was not dissimilar to conditions on Lake Garda where the direction of the shifts are accompanied by a noticeable change in temperature. It was possible to determine in advance whether or not the gust was going to be a header or a lift by the sudden change in temperature. As the temperature rose before the gust hit, the wind would shift right and as the temperature dropped before the gust hit, the wind would shift left.

These shifty conditions favoured the two boats that had continued out left as they had more wiggle room to play the shifts up the latter half of the beat and at Bullock mark, Sin Bin led by 8 boat-lengths from Venuesworld.com who in turn had a similar lead over Alert Packaging in third. The boats set their spinnakers on a tight starboard reach across to Poldy mark. As the boats closed in on the mark, they all had to drop their kites as they were battling against the tide and the wind shifting forward leaving the boats on a fetch. As soon as they got around Poldy mark, the kites were popped once more and the fleet reached down to Pier mark. Towards the end of this leg, Venuesworld pounced and overtook Sin Bin. Venuesworld sailed a little higher down the reach to Pier mark and towards the end of the leg, a gust hit that allowed Venuesworld to get up and planing. The plane and a beautiful mark rounding turned a 10 boat-length deficit into a five boat-length lead in the space of a couple of hundred meters!

The boats rounded Pier mark and headed upwind once more on a beat back against the tide towards Island mark. The wind was still shifting wildly and Sin Bin picked their way through the shifts on the first half of the beat reeling in Venuesworld. They managed to overtake Venuesworld half way up the beat and approximately 200 metres from the mark, they led Venuesworld by 10 boat-lengths. Lesser mortals would have been disheartened by being overtaken but the crew of Venuesworld are made of tougher stuff and they managed to get some leverage on Sin Bin before one final massive left shift brought them back into the lead and they rounded the mark approximately 10 boat-lengths ahead of Sin Bin. There were also plenty of place changes throughout the fleet on the beat with Sacrebleu charging up the fleet into third place. Smoke on the Water (Bob et al) also got themselves in the mix and narrowly failed to catch Alert Packaging.

A further tight reach to East followed by a gybe and a reach to Pier followed... Sin Bin managed to close to within 2 boat-lengths of the leaders but the Committee Boat signalled a shortened course at Pier mark and Venuesworld calmly held their nerve and took the gun. Sacrebleu followed home in third from Alert Packaging in fourth.

After three races, Alert Packaging holds a slender one point lead overall from Venuesworld and Sin Bin in joint second with Sacrebleu three points further back, so all to play for still.

Marine clothing brand Henri Lloyd has announced its support of this year’s SB20 World Championships, being hosted by the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes this August.

The partnership will see competitors benefiting from an exclusive Henri Lloyd Privilege Club that will be available to all competing members. The organising team behind the World Championships will also benefit from the partnership through the provision of the latest in Henri Lloyd technical apparel.

As the official Technical Clothing Partner, Henri Lloyd will provide the opportunity for competing crews to purchase exclusive SB20 World Championship branded apparel at the Henri Lloyd store in Cowes over the course of the event.

“We are thrilled to be supporting such an exciting fleet of race boats and look forward to watching some close and exciting racing.” Paul Strzelecki - Henri Lloyd Chairman.

This annual event will see up to 100 boats from over 15 nations descend on the stunning venue of Cowes for this highly competitive event.

“We are delighted to welcome Henri Lloyd as the official Technical Clothing Partner for the SB20 World Championships this year. As one of the pinnacle events in the SB20 calendar, we thank Henri Lloyd for their generous support of the Class” Joe Llewellyn, Chairman of the Organising Committee.

The SB20 World Championships will offer the Class five days of intensive racing with two to three races per day, providing an action packed week of competitive racing, prize giving will wrap up the weeks events with a party on Friday 1st September.

After a fortnight of frustrating cancellations and false starts to the season, eight SB20s made it onto the start line for the first Saturday races of the 2017 DBSC SB20 sailing programme. The forecast was for a freshening southerly breeze gusting up to 25 knots by late afternoon – ideal SB20 planing conditions.

For race 1, the OOD called for two laps of the windward/leeward course and set up a boat end biased line. Sin Bin (Michael, Dave and Ed) and Sacre Bleu (Colin, Colin and Dave) started closest to the boat with Alert Packaging (Justin, Henrik and Eoin) slightly further down the line starting at speed and in a good lane. Several boats including Bad (Jerry, Jimmy et al) and Defiant (Gerry, Michael et al) peeled off onto port tack shortly after the start in search of clear air and better breeze. The fleet raced off towards the first mark battling against the chop in a very confused sea state. As the fleet progressed up the beat, the wind abated, became shifty and patchy in parts, leading to plenty of tacks and several close crosses as the boats tried to find the shortest route to the weather mark. At the weather mark it was Sin Bin from Alert Packaging with Bango (James, Peter et al) and Venuesworld.com (Ger, Rory and Diana) charging hard and closing the gap on the leaders ahead. Once around the weather mark, the kites were popped and the boats sped downwind towards the leeward gate, most favouring the right hand side of the run and a “one gybe and in” strategy.

By the second weather mark, Bango and Venuesworld had managed to overtake Alert Packaging to get into second and third respectively. The wind was gusting and shifting about quite a bit down the run with big gains to be made for those able to take advantage. Sacre Bleu broke from the fleet and went left down the second run, making large gains on the fleet. At the end of the run, the boats passed through the leeward gate before the short run to the finish. Sin Bin had held onto their lead and took the gun. Venuesworld showed great pace down the second run to overtake Bango and take second place by a couple of lengths. Alert Packaging’s misery was not over yet and an unfortunate wrap in their kite on the final gybe into the leeward gate allowed a charging Sacre Bleu to plane in underneath them and nick fourth place at the death. Alert Packaging crossed in fifth.

After a short break for the other fleets on the green course to finish, the OOD reset the line for race 2, this time opting for a pin-end bias and three rounds of the windward leeward course. Noting that the rest of the fleet were a little line shy when lining up for the start, Bango had a magnificent start and port tacked the fleet from the pin end. Most boats peeled off right shortly after the start with one or two staying on starboard moving into fresher breeze on the left hand side of the course. The left paid handsomely and at the weather mark, it was Sin Bin leading from Bango in second with Venuesworld, Sacre Bleu and Alert Packaging close astern.

By now, the breeze had freshened considerably and the fleet were hurtling downwind at speeds of up to 15 knots. After three rounds, Sin Bin had extended their lead to take the gun. Bango was again being pursued hard by Venuesworld for second place and coming in to the last gate, there was a nail biting finish as Bango had under-laid the starboard layline to the leeward gate and was soaking deep against the tide with a collapsed kite. Venuesworld, also on starboard, was marginally hotter and faster with a sometimes-filling kite. As Bango got to the leeward gate mark, Venuesworld were on their transom and looking likely to overtake. As Bango squeezed past the gate mark, they were able to head up 20 degrees, their kite popped and they took off once more crossing the finish line shortly thereafter in a well-deserved second place, a boatlenth ahead of Venuesworld in third. Sacre Bleu took their second fourth place of the day and Alert Packaging took their second fifth place of the day.

A notable mention goes out to DBSC fleet newbies SBodikins (Rob Cahill sailing with his two sons), coming in a close and very credible sixth place in race 2. Rob is returning the SB20 fleet in advance of the 2018 SB20 Europeans (to be held in Dun Laoghaire) after a few years of the boat being in storage. No doubt the Cahill family will be a force to be reckoned with over the coming season as they get back into SB20 mode.

In comparison to the prospect of an evening of office-based toil, a fresh north easterly breeze with lots of sunshine and a decent swell for SB20 based surfing had the makings of a far more enjoyable latter portion of a Thursday writes Dave Sweeney. That said, there was some niggling doubt in this author’s mind as to whether racing was going to go ahead, as the Dublin bay buoy had been posting gusts the other side of mid 20’s pretty much all day. After checking ahead with the skipper who was already down by the waterside, all looked good and the usual scramble to get out of town and down to the pontoon by 6PM was on.
We launched the good ship venuesworld.com and made our way out into the bay where the NE breeze had whipped up a fairly lumpy sea state and the OOD had set course D2 which was duly noted (for the time being). There were two other vessels in the SB20 fleet this evening, Alert Packaging and Defiant and the small but competitive fleet were bunched at the committee boat end as the gun went with Alert just nudging ahead and forcing venuesworld.com to tack off her lee bow shortly after the start and split off to the right.

This initial split proved favourable to venuesworld.com and as the tide inshore was slightly less foul, and resulted in a narrow lead as the boats converged half way up the first beat with this lead maintained around the first windward, closely followed by Alert and Defiant. Kites went up and off we tore down the bay, spray flying everywhere – the breeze was somewhat slacker as we approached the next mark compressing the fleet somewhat.

There was some place changing on the second upwind leg with Defiant and venuesworld hooking into a right-hand shift which swapped 2nd and 3rd place and this order was maintained as we slogged to windward in the heavy air and lumpy sea, and after some slogging we rounded East, undertook a short two sail jaunt to Molly and popped the kites again headed back towards the shore. This time the wind had picked up a bit more again and the speedo on venuesworld topped out down a wave at 18 knots, great craic altogether.

The rear quarter of an SB20 screaming across the bay in these conditions proved to be a less than optimal place with which to dwell on the finer points of navigation and the intrepid crew of venuesworld chose to aim the bows at Battery instead of Bay (as per the course card, which actually blew away in a subsequent attempt to check it), only coming to the realisation of our error as we were on our side after broaching near the (wrong) mark while attempting to drop the kite. Defiant and Alert Packaging had chosen to follow Venuesworld and by the time all was under control in the leading boat, the chasing pair were also bearing down fast towards the wrong mark.

With the kite dropped and feeling somewhat humbled, the crew of Venuesworld made our way to and rounded the correct leeward mark with the chasing pair also enduring a period of head scratching until the error was realised and the whole fleet corrected their course and continued on with the finishing order being venuesworld.com in the lead followed by AlertPackaging.com & Defiant

With the wind whistling in the shrouds on the pontoon and an even lumpier sea state setting in as the tide was turning, the après sail pints were tasting good.

Four boats bravely fought the cold this evening and ventured out to the start line for the first Thursday race of the 2017 DBSC SB20 sailing programme. The forecast was an enticing 12knts gusting 18knts from a steady north west direction – ideal SB20 planing weather - and it certainly didn’t disappoint!

Recently installed ISA President and OOD Jack Roy called for the longest course at his disposal for the wind direction, Q1 (all starboard roundings) and set up a fairly even line. At the start, the four boats were evenly spaced along the line. Alert Packaging (Justin, Henrik and Gareth) and Sin Bin (Michael, Owen and Ed) preferred the boat end while Sacre Bleu (Richard, Colin and Chris) preferred the pin. Defiant (Gerry et al) chose to hedge their bets and took the middle of the line.

The fleet raced off upwind towards harbour mark in a rising tide helping them towards the mark. Alert packaging tacked off early towards the right to clear their air and in expectation of more favourable tide away from shore while the other three boats drag raced out towards the left. Sacre Bleu tacked first shy of the layline but Defiant slapped an almighty close cover on them, forcing them back onto starboard. Sin Bin had weekdays out a couple of boatlengths lead on Defiant so placed a loose cover to weather, on the layline. As the boats converged at the weather mark, it was clear that the tack out to sea had helped Alert Packaging and they rounded just behind Sin Bin alongside Sacre Bleu. Defiant overlaid the mark and lost ground on the leaders having to reach back to the mark, going from second to fourth.

Once around the top mark, the kites were popped and the boats took off on starboard gybe in a gust, often reaching speeds in the early teens as they hurtled downwind towards the gybe mark (East mark). The clear air helped the leaders extend and by the second mark, Sin Bin had extended their lead on the following pack. The boats were fairly tightly strapped on port gybe heading back in to shore to Bullock mark but those able to keep the boat under the mast gained massively.

Thereafter, the boats sailed up and down the shore from Bullock to Bay, back to Battery and up to Bay again before close reaching out to sea once more to East mark on a tight reach where most boats could only hold their kites for a portion of the leg. After a gybe around East mark, the kites were set again for a final blast downwind on port gybe towards Island mark. From there the boats beat up to the finish close to the harbour. Alert Packaging and Sacre Bleu enjoyed a ding dong battle up the last beat, crossing a tacking to cover/break cover on numerous occasions.

At the finish it was Sin Bin in first, followed by Alert Packaging in second from Sacre Bleu in third. Unfortunately, Defiant never managed to recover from their earlier loss but battled on courageously to the finish, coming in fourth.

This weekend we have the first two Saturday races of series A, first gun is at 2.15pm on a three minute sequence. Several more boats are expected now that the cobwebs have been blown off and the boats are out of the sheds. Strong winds are forecast so there will be plenty of sleigh rides to enjoy!

SB20 sailor Jimmy Dowling will host a training session on the basic techniques of handling the gennaker on Saturday morning, May 6.

The session is aimed at the less experienced SB20 class members but all are welcome.

A brief lecture, a demonstration and Q & A session commencing at 9.00 will be held in the wet bar (downstairs) at the Royal Irish Yacht Club.

To whet the appetite, a video of Mark Rushall (below) making an immaculate gybe, represents the new standard to be achieved in DBSC racing after this session.

Sixteen SB20s battled it out off Ireland’s Eye last weekend in a hotly contested Eastern Championships. With 0-6 knots winds forecast for the weekend, PRO Paddy Judge and his Howth YC team did an excellent job getting six fair, high quality races completed over the two days.

Race 1 on Saturday saw the fleet head off from a in a patchy 6 knot easterly breeze. The holes were treacherous and highly localised and if you were unfortunate enough to find one, you could easily lose several boat lengths on a competitor mere boat lengths away from you. The boats that tacked off early and headed towards the island on the right hand side of the course fared best with Sacre Bleu (Colin Galavan, Chris Arrowsmith and Dave Cahill) rounding just ahead of Ridgefence (Peter Kennedy, James Espey and Steve Kane) and Sin Bin (Michael O’Connor, Owen Laverty and Ed Cooke) in a close third. Finding clear air and picking the right shifts and puffs downwind were of paramount importance and Ridgefence and Sacre Bleu called it to perfection extending their lead over the fleet down the run. Also making a charge to the front were the teams aboard Sharkbait (Darren Martin, Simon Murray, Roger Pannell) and Alert Packaging (Justin Burke, Henrik Olerund and Gareth Nolan). At the finish, Ridgefence had managed to overtake Sacre Bleu with Sharkbait completing the podium places.

With a dying wind forecast, PRO Paddy Judge very wisely chose to keep things moving along swiftly and once all the fleet had finished, the marks were re-laid and the fleet were quickly back into a starting sequence for Race 2. Defending champion Lia (Dave Barry, Phil Lawton and Kevin Johnson) stole the biased pin end and tore away from the line like a scalded cat. However, with the wind forecast to veer all day and the right side of the course being favoured up to that point, there were soon anxious glances over their shoulders looking for an opportunity to get back across to the right and consolidate their lead on the fleet. By the time that they did manage to get across, things had evened out somewhat and there was the usual melee at the windward mark with no quarter asked or given. Again, the ability to find clear air and pick the right shifts and laylines downwind resulted in large gains and Alert Packaging picked their way down the run beautifully to lead at the leeward mark from an overlapped Sin Bin and Ridgefence. The three lead boats battled it out over the next lap and at the finish it was Sin Bin in first from Ridgefence in second and Alert Packaging in third.

After a short break, the race team decided to get Race 3 off and running. Sacre Bleu showed a return to form and stormed into a healthy lead that they would not relinquish. Alert Packaging were relishing the light air conditions and added a solid second place to their already impressive 4, 3 scoreline from races one and two. Meanwhile, Bango (James Gorman, Isaac Mccarthy Fisher and Gleb Romantchik) with a new crew on board for the first event of the season seemed to have got the hang of things sailing together and sailed exquisitely to grab a very creditable third place, showing their nerve to keep the chasing pack at bay up the last short beat to finish.

At the end of day 1, the boats returned to shore mentally exhausted for the second half of the Munster match, pints and chats in the bar of the always hospitable Howth Yacht Club. It was very tight at the top of the scoreboard with Sacre Bleu (2,5,1) on 8 points leading from Alert Packaging in second (4,3,2) on 9 points. Ridgefence (1,2,8) and Sin Bin (6,1,4) were a further two points back on 11 points, with Sharkbait (3,4,6) on 13 points in fifth with a 7 point cushion on defending champion Lia (5,6,9) on 20 points in sixth. With more breeze forecast on Sunday and a discard to kick in after race 4, it was all still to play for on day 2.

Day 2 dawned without a zephyr showing on the water. With the forecast being for the wind to veer and build, the race committee signalled a brief postponement on shore and patiently waited for the wind to fill in. The wind (what little of it there was) shifted around from the north west to the east and began to build as promised so the race committee dropped the AP and made their way out to the race course in a 5 knot easterly. The course for Race 4 was set and the fleet were in sequence until a large right hand shift 1 minute before the start meant that the race committee abandoned the start sequence and again signalled a short postponement to allow them time to reset the marks and provide an even course. Once the course was re-laid, the fleet got away and again it was Colin Galavan and his crew on Sacre Bleu that showed a clean pair of heels to the fleet, taking their second gun of the weekend. This time, it was Darren Martin et al on Sharkbait doing the chasing on behalf of the pack with Michael O’Connor et al on Sin Bin taking third. Peter Kennedy and the team on Ridgefence were most unfortunate to be involved in a collision at the first top mark which threw them somewhat and they could only manage ninth in race 4. After the discard was applied, the team on Sacre Bleu were on an impressive 4 points overall (counting a 1,1,2) and had extended their lead to four points over Sin Bin and five points over Alert Packaging and Sharkbait.

As always in SB20 racing, you can’t count your chickens and Race 5 threw in a curve ball to make for a spectacular interesting finale. Race 5 got off at the second time of asking under U-flag and saw Timber (Marty Cuppage, David Bailey and Chris Chapman) boss the pin end of the line before making their way out to the better breeze on the left side of the course followed closely by Sin Bin on their hip. Series leader Sacre Bleu were for the first time a little line shy and were forced to tack onto port shortly after the start and head out to the less favoured right hand side of the course. At the weather mark, Timber led from Sin Bin with Sharkbait in a close third. One by one, the boats gradually peeled off onto port gybe to get out of the adverse current on the right hand side of the run. At the leeward mark, the three lead boats converged with Timber and Sharkbait coming in on starboard gybe and Sin Bin coming in on port gybe. All three of the lead boats rounded together with Timber on the inside, Sin Bin on the outside and Sharkbait the filling in the sandwich. The three lead boats battled hard around the next lap and in the end it was Sin Bin that took the gun from Sharkbait with Timber just pipped for third place by a charging Ridgefence. Another notable result was the newly formed team on Binn Eadair (Cillian Dickson, Diana Kissane, Sam O’Byrne and Gordon Stirling) bagging a fifth place in Race 5. They certainly didn’t take long to get the hang of things!

So, after five races and going into the sixth and final race, Sacre Bleu and Sin Bin were tied on 9 points with Sharkbait in third on 11 points and Ridgefence by no means out of it on 14 points. Any of these four boats had a realistic shot at the title and it was all to play for. By now, the breeze had increased to an oscillating 10 knot breeze from the south east. Again, there was a pin end bias on the line and with a favourable tide (going upwind) and more breeze on the left side of the course, competition for a place on the front row was vicious. Timber once again took the pin with Ridgefence drag racing with them up the beat, with Ridgefence leading Timber around the top mark. Race six also saw a welcome return to form of 2016 Western Champions Venuesworld.com (Ger Dempsey, Chris Nolan, Rory Groves and Graham Barker) and recent Spring Warmer victors Two Men and their Monkey (Daragh Sheridan, Shane Murphy and John Phelan), both boats picking their way skilfully up the beat to be in contention at the weather mark.

As Ridgefence extended their lead all the way to the finish for their second win of the regatta, followed by Two Men and their Monkey in second and Venuesworld.com in third, there was nothing more that Ridgefence could do other than see how the other three contenders behind them fared and see how the final points tallied up. Astern, the other three contenders for the title were in a tightly knit bunch. Going up the first half of the final beat, as the boats crossed tacks there was no more than three boat lengths separating Sacre Bleu, Sin Bin and Sharkbait, with Sharkbait leading the bunch and Sacre Bleu battling at the back of the trio. On the second half of the beat, both Sacre Bleu and Sharkbait tacked towards the right hand side of the course while Sin Bin split looking for pressure on the left hand side of the course. The pressure stayed steadier on the left and Sin Bin rounded the last weather mark in 5th one place and a few boat lengths ahead of Sharkbait with Sacrebleu a few places further back. Unfortunately for Sacre Bleu, they couldn’t make up the ground on the run and their race was effectively run. It was down to Sharkbait and Sin Bin to fight it out around the last few hundred metres. By the leeward mark, both boats had caught up with Timber (who were previously in fourth) so there was still hope for Sharkbait of putting Timber between them and Sin Bin in an effort to clinch the series. In the end, Sin Bin just held on to take fourth from Sharkbait in fifth, with Sacre Bleu finishing race 6 in eighth.

Overall, Sin Bin won the Eastern Championships with 13 points from Ridgefence in second on 15 points. Sacre Bleu took third place on countback from Sharkbait, both on 16 points. The winner of the Silver fleet was Timber. Next up is the Northern Championships in the Royal Ulster Yacht Club, Bangor on 27th/28th May.

SB20 Eastern Championship 2017

Howth Yacht Club

Provisional Results as of 15:05 on April 23, 2017

Sailed: 6, Discards: 1, To count: 5, Rating system: TCF, Entries: 16, Scoring system: Appendix A

Cork Harbour's Dave Barry will defend his SB20 Eastern title this weekend at the Eastern Championships at Howth Yacht Club. 

As Afloat.ie previously reported, the National 18s, the RS400 and RS200 fleets will share the limelight off Ireland's Eye. The SB20s and N18s will race on one course and the RS400 and RS200s on another. 

Back from the Vendee Globe, solo skipper Enda O'Coineen is set to rejoin the sportsboat fleet for the first championships of 2017 as is the National Yacht Club's Roger Bannon, who has taken on the role of class measurer. 

The 2017 season is an important build–up for the class as the SB20 Europeans will be staged by the Royal Irish Yacht Club in 2018.

No sooner has Howth Yacht Club completed its Spring Warmer Series for keelboats than it is preparing for its first dinghy event of the 2017 Summer season.  HYC will host the RS Eastern Championship over the 22nd April and 23rd April.

The RS classes will be joined by Cork Harbour's travelling National 18s and the SB20 sportsboat class. 

In the run up to the championships, the RS Feva class are staging a two day training session in Howth. Training is open to all sailors around the country regardless of ability. 20 boats are expected for the Easterns and there is a lot of renewed interest in the class now from Optimist sailors looking to try a two hander. 

An early bird entry discount has been extended until tomorrow (April 12), according to HYC's Ross MacDonald. Enter here.