Ireland's top hope at the SB20 Worlds is back down to 11th overall after eight races sailed in the Netherlands, where the regatta saw a long day on the water and some shuffling at the top of the leaderboard.
Michael O'Connor, Davey Taylor, and Ed Cook sailing Ted from the Royal St. George, are now discarding a 20th from race eight in the 54-boat fleet. It puts them down four places from seventh overall to 11th, which is their position after the first day.
The next of the four Irish boats competing (all from Dun Laoghaire Harbour) is the National's Tadgh Donnelly, Peter Carvill, and Dan Little in Leviathan is 21st, down from 16th. Royal Irish's Colin Galavan, Aaron Jones, and Kevin O'Rourke in Carpe Diem are up to two to 23rd. Ger Dempsey, Barry Glavin and Niall O'Riordan are up one to 33rd.
There were different winners in all four races of Day 3, with the most consistent sailing from Another Affair (POR3723), who continue to lead on the overall standings.
Great job by the Race Committee to conclude four races today with wind stable to an acceptable limit with shifts on the racecourse. With every day of the championship, the low tide happens later and later in the day, so starts are still super tricky. The day opened with a general recall, but quickly switched to Black Flag, which caught a couple of boats in Race 5.
Glasgow Kiss took the lead followed by AP Hotels and Trio (NED3445). Ares, Another Affair and SquiB followed closely. On the second upwind rounding, AP Hotels took the lead from Glasgow Kiss and finished first. Team Xcellent did a great job and finished second, leaving the Singapore team in third.
A pleasant surprise for Race 6 was a clear start on uniform flag! The sky turned grey, but without the wind picking up. Already on the second downwind, the sun came back to brighten the racecourse for spectacular photos. First on the upwind mark were team Freedom (POR3803), followed by Skipjack (NED3575) and France Youth Team of Ian Garreta (3653).
For the 2nd rounding, the leaders changed with PBII in first, followed by Porco Rosso (AUS3827) and Freedom. In this sequence, they reached the finish line. Exciting moment for Paul Hine and the team on PBII winning this race as they have never scored a bullet at a World Championship. This also puts them in top 10 two days before the end of the championship. Well done, Poor Bouy-2!
Maximum number of boats that jumped the line on Black flag reached six in Race 7. It was won by team Ares who sailed a very consistent race. They took early lead on the first rounding and dominated the fleet for the rest of the game. John Pollard and France Youth of Ange Delerce put some pressure on Will Sargent and his team, but they did a great job keeping the focus and sailing their best.
Race 8 had a clear start with the wind dropping to 6-7 knots. Ian Garreta (FRA3653) was in the lead on the first downwind together with MXTC (NED3714) and Supersonic (UAE3363). Tricky light wind and the incoming tide decided the last race of the day with team Freedom (POR3803) finishing in first, Ian Garreta in second and Nils Razmilovich on Glasgow Kiss in third.
Another Affair sailed the most consistent day - with no big mistakes, no BFDs and staying always in top 3-5 places. Their worst result overall is 7th in two races, one of which becomes a discard, so they still have some room for an error. Team Ares, however, are only 4 points behind and Another Affair will have to keep their consistency for two more days.
Tiago Morais and his crew of father Miguel and son Francisco Oliveira have been sailing in the SB20 Class for a number of years. Representing Club de Vela Atlántico from the North of Portugal they frequently travel to Cascais for SB20 events. In the season of 2022-2023 they crowned the overall Winer Series and finished three out of five events on the podium.
Fellow Portuguese team AP Hotels won the opening race of the day, but the all-Portuguese crew of Jose Paulo Ramada didn’t manage to keep the pace for the rest of the day. They had 13th, 7th and 15th finishes in Race 8. This pushed them down to 5th place, with Freedom moving to the 4th. The intense level of sailing here in Scheveningen is tiring, and staying focused after 6-7 hours on the water is not easy.
John Pollard had an up-and-down day with the worst result in 11th and best in 2nd place. “Variable conditions today, but we managed to stay out of trouble! We had no black flags and four sufficient results, so we are looking good for the rest of the week,” – said Tactician James Grummett onboard Xcellent who closed the Top 3.
After this long and tiring day, the sailors were welcomed on the beach for a fun raffle sponsored by Dubarry of Ireland and Sailmon. Nice food and beautiful sunset concluded the day in bright colours that made any bad memories from racing fade away.
With eight races completed, including one discard, the fleet enters the second part of the championship. Thursday is promised to be windy, and Friday, on the contrary, very light.
Full results here
