Royal St. George Yacht Club Trio Now Lying Fourth At SB20 Worlds

1st September 2017

Looking for a podium place – Michael O'Connor, Davy Taylor and Ed Cook are fourth overall Credit: Jennifer Burgiss/SB20

Royal St. George Yacht Club's Michael O'Connor, Davy Taylor and Ed Cook are looking for a podium finish at the SB20 World Championships in Cowes today.

The Dun Laoghaire trio are fourth overall and ten points off the lead and four points off the podium after a stunning penultimate day of racing.

O'Connor is in first position for the Corinthian Trophy and beating many of the professional sailors to boot!

The forecast is for light winds again today but who knows what the wind gods will throw at the fleet today.

After four days of racing a new world champion will be crowned this evening at the Royal Yacht Squadron and Ireland is in with a shout.

Competitors got four races yesterday in what turned out to be a windier day than predicted. It was pretty shifty with the breeze varying between 6-25 knots in conjunction with strong tides, making this yet another tricky day of sailing.

With conditions making it hard to be consistent, O'Connor's Dublin Bay–based Sin Bin scored a 2, 3, 6 and 17 to move up from seventh to fourth overall.

it was a tough day for tacticians with no rest from the changeable weather. With a full day of racing now behind us a lot of the top teams are carrying big scores ahead of the final day tomorrow.Now we’ve got one more day to go tomorrow with the potential for an additional three races.

A lot of boats will hope they used their discard up today as there is only one in this final series.

Competitors will compete in the final few races before the new World Champion is crowned tonight.

The results currently stand as follows:
1. Export Roo – Australia
2. Give Me Five! – France
3. Xcellent – Great Britain
4. Sin Bin – Ireland
5. Sportsboatworld.com – Great Britain
6. Marvel – Great Britain

For a full list of results click here

Team Ireland are making a great showing as follows:

4th SINBIN Michael O'Connor, Davy Taylor, Ed Cook
22nd Bad/Kilcullen Stefan Hyde, Jerry Dowling, James Dowling
27th Lia Dave Barry, Cillian Dickson, Gareth Nolan
31st Venuesworld Ger Dempsey, Graeme Grant, Chris Nolan, Diane Kissane
36th Two Men and their Monkey Daragh Sherridan, Shane Murphy, John Phelan
61st Sea Biscuit Marty Cuppage, Niall O'Riordan, Barry Galvin

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SB20 (formerly Laser SB3) information

Designed by Tony Castro, the SB20 is a British-built strict one-design 6.15m keelboat conceived as a wide appeal, affordable, competitive sportsboat for teams of three or four sailors. It is also, arguably, the most successful sportsboat in the world with 800 owners competing regularly in a programme of exciting local, national and international events.

Originally known as the Laser SB3, the SB20 continues to deliver on its pioneering promise: a boat that is fun, fast and easy to sail by anyone of any age; the best value-for-money sportsboat in the market.

The Laser SB3 was designed by Castro and launched in 2002. In 2007 the Laser SB3 was awarded ISAF Recognised Status and the first World Championships were held in Ireland in 2008. In 2012, Tony Castro appointed a new builder, Sportsboat World. At this time, the Laser SB3 was renamed the SB20 and building was returned to the UK from Malaysia. The ethos of the class continues.

The boat is a strict one-design class, economic to buy and campaign, easy to sail with a simple deck layout and electric downwind performance delivered by the generous sail plan. The boat has a lifting keel, can easily be launched from a slipway and towed behind a family car.

Previous SB20 World Champions

2008 GBR: Geoff Carveth, Roger Gilbert, Roz Allen & Sarah Allan

Host National Yacht Club, Dun laoghaire, Ireland

2009 GBR: Craig Burlton, Stephen White, Adam Heeley

Host Clube Naval de Cascais, Cascais, Portugal

2010 GBR: Jerry Hill, Grant Rollerson, Joe Llewellyn

Host Circolo Vela Torbole, Lake Garda, Italy

2011 GBR: Geoff Carveth, Andy Ramus, Ian Mills & Emma Clarke

Host Royal Torbay Yacht Club, Torquay, UK

2012 GBR: Geoff Carveth, Lesley Dhonau, Roger Hudson & Asenathi Jim

Host Hamilton Island Yacht Club, Queensland, Australia

2013 GRB: Craig Burlton, Stephen White, Adam Heley Host COYCH Club, Hyeres, France