Howth SB3 Sailors Ben Duncan, Brian Moran and Joe Turner areamong the teams competing for the Rodion Luka Friendship regatta in Odessa on the Black Sea this Saturday. Event Sponsor Transbunker has offered $30,000 prize money for the event to be sailed in SB3's in Rodion's Academy from21-23rd October and hosted by the Odessa Yacht Club. Also attending is current world champion Geoff Carveth of the UK.  Rodion Luka is a former Olympian silver medallist. based in Odessa.

Former Olympic sailor Peter Kennedy won the 2011 SB3 Midland Championships held at Lough Ree Yacht Club at the weekend. This was Kennedy's third Midlands victory in a row. Six races were sailed over two days with everything from light airs and blue skies to heavy rain and squalls.

PRO Vincent Rafter and his team did a great job to get all races sailed in tricky conditions.

Ben Duncan was on fire on Saturday scoring a 1,2,1 with Peter Kennedy scoring a very solid 2,3,2. The conditions on Saturday were mixed with the day starting with 10 to 12 knots of breeze gradually dropping during race 2 & 3. Sunday morning dawned with clear blue skies and sunshine but the breeze built all day to over twenty knots but the last race. Ridgefence started the day with a 1st but Ben was 7th so it was game on for Kennedy.

Doug Smith, sailing with Killian Collins & Mary Creedon on Sacre Bleu, did very well in the breeze scoring a 2,2,4 on Sunday. The building breeze made for some great downwind action as the SB3's took off sailing hot angles. The black flag had to be used on Sunday to put manners on the eager fleet with Ruby Blue (Aidan O'Connell) being caught OCS in race 5 thus pushing him out of the top 5.

Peter Kennedy completed the series with a 1st, and discarding a 5th place, he finished 8 points clear of Ben Duncan on Sharkbait. Ben didn't have his regular crew onboard for the weekend instead sailing with Andrew Vaughan and Joe Turner. Daragh Sheridan, Shane Murphy & John Phelan on Dinghy Supplies had a poor first race but really got going after that with all top 5 places and a first in Race 5. Dinghy Supplies finished joint on points with Doug Smith on Sacre Bleu but Dinghy Supplies got the 3rd place on countback. Darren Martin on Soda Bread from Strangford Lough completed the top 5 positions.

The Silver fleet was decided by removing the top ten boats after the first three races. Colin Galavan on Defiant was 1st, Guy O'Leary was 2nd and Rob Howe on Milvus Milvus was 3rd.

The first lady helm was Selina Dicker on Kicker Off and the 1st Master was Justin Burke on Alert Packaging.

The organisers would like to thank Galway Maritime and English Braids for their kind sponsorship of prizes of sheet sets for the top 3 boats and the winner of the silver fleet.

3500 Ridgefence Peter Kennedy 2 3 2 1 5 1 14 5 9 1
3287 Sharkbait Ben Duncan 1 2 1 7 6 5 22 7 15 2
3490 Dinghy Supplies Daragh Sheridan 15 4 5 4 1 2 31 15 16 3
3164 Sacre Bleu Doug Smith 5 9 3 2 2 4 25 9 16 4
3501 Soda Bread Darren Martin 7 1 8 3 7 8 34 8 26 5
3072 Ruby Blue Aidan O'Connell 3 5 7 9 20 6 50 20 30 6
3548 Flutter Andrew Algeo 6 7 20 6 4 10 53 20 33 7
3323 Alert Packaging Justin Burke 8 6 4 17 9 7 51 17 34 8
3313 Defiant Colin Galavan 11 16 20 10 3 3 63 20 43 9
3226 Quantitive Easing Paul McMahon 4 10 13 12 13 11 63 13 50 10
3281 No Name Guy O'Leary 13 14 12 8 8 9 64 14 50 11
3338 Milvus Milvus Rob Howe 20 11 14 5 10 12 72 20 52 12
3257 Kicker Off Selina Dicker 12 12 6 11 11 13 65 13 52 13
3297 Sunday Brunch Richard Tate 9 8 10 14 14 14 69 14 55 15
3241 Indecision Martin McNamara 10 18 11 16 12 15 82 18 64 15
3165 Sinabhuill Gillian Guinness 16 15 9 13 15 17 85 17 68 16
3320 Smoke on the Water Bob Hobby 14 13 15 15 16 16 89 16 73 17
3315 Sirius Black Ken Hudson 17 17 16 19 17 18 104 19 85 18
3532 Bumble B Fionnuala Loughrey 20 20 20 18 18 19 115 20 95 19

Up to 25 boats are expected for the Irish SB3's end of season bash this weekend at the Midland Championships at Lough Ree Yacht Club. This event was first run in 2007 as part of the first SB3 national circuit. The idea was to run a midland event that would rotate between Lough Ree and Lough Derg Yacht Clubs. The event rotates every two years and has been a huge success each year.

Downwind action in good breeze at the SB3 Midlands on Lough Ree. Photo: Oona Herraghty

Peter Kennedy on Ridgefence will return to defend his title and try to make it a hat trick having won the 2009 and 2010 event on Lough Derg.

The competition is expected to be stiff with Ben Duncan and Brian Moran (Sharkbait) on fire after their National Championships win. Ben also came fourth in last weekend's All Ireland Sailing Championships in Dromineer. A number of the top 10 boats from the Nationals will also be in attendance with Andrew Algeo and Rob Howe both competing.

The event, supported by Galway Maritime, is used to unpredictable weather conditions and over the last few years the fleet has experienced everything from flat calm and blue skies to wet and windy.

Top Race officer Jack Roy did a superb job getting a full schedule of three races in on Friday and three on Saturday at the SB3 sports boat National Championships that were hosted by the Royal Irish Yacht Club. Unfortunately he wasn't so lucky on Sunday as racing was abandoned due to winds gusting over 30 knots. The full Angel Group SB3 Championship Results are here.

The young pretender Ross Vaughan RNIYC took line honours in race one. But it was the experience of  1988 and 1992 Olympian Peter Kennedy who lead after day one with two wins. Hot on his heels going into Saturday were top Irish performer at this year's worlds, Mel Collins of RCYC sailing Sibelus, and last year's Champion Gareth Flannigan from Ballyhome YC.

Day two which ended up as the final day, included the first two races in the north of Dublin Bay. Jack Roy moved the fleet towards Dalkey Island for the final race.

A second place by RIYC Alan McGettigan's Defiant in race four skippered by Colin Galavan, was the hosts club best result over the weekend. Andrew Algeo sailing Flutter was best placed Dun Laoghaire boat with some very consistent results finishing sixth overall.

But it was Sharkbait sailed by Ben Duncan, Brian Moran & Ric Morris representing Howth YC who prevailed with some excellent results. Including two wins and two seconds brought them over the finishing line to win from Ridgefence by one point. The Howth team sailed superbly all weekend and thoroughly deserved their victory.

"This was a very well run regatta by Paul McCarthy RIYC and Mark McGibney sailing manager.

Another very successful year for the SB3 class, with 39 entries for our Nationals, and the quality throughout the fleet, making it the most competitive class on the island " said Jerry Dowling, SB3 National Chairman and organiser of this year's National Championship.

The last SB3 Regatta is the Midlands hosted by Lough Ree YC 15 -16 th 2011.

After six races sailed and against a fleet of 39 SB3 sportsboats there was little surprise that champions 'Sharkbait' sailed by Ben Duncan, Brian Moran and Ric Morris were the winners of the National Championships sailed at the Royal Irish Yacht Club at the weekend. The Howth trio beat Belfast's Peter Kennedy, David Cheyne and Stephen Kane by a single point for overall honours. Third was royal Cork's Mel Collins, Killian Collins and Donal Hegarty. Full results below.

Boat	Helm	Crew 1	Crew	Club		Points	Place
Sharkbait	Ben Duncan	Brian Moran	Ric Morris	Howth Yacht Club		13	1
Ridgefence	Peter Kennedy	David Cheyne	Stephen Kane	RNIYC		14	2
Sibelus	Mel Collins	Killiian Collins	Donal Hegarty	RCYC		21	3
Toucan 3	Ross Vaughan	Andrew Vaughan	Ben Lynch	RNIYC		23	4
Gill Race Team	Gareth Flannigan	Jeremy Tomalin	Brian Spence	Ballyhome YC		23	5
Flutter	Andrew Algeo	Gary Haughton	Richard Knatchbull	RSGYC		30	6
Bomchickawahwah	John O'Driscoll	Joe O'Reilly	Owen Laverty	RSGYC		43	7
Hutton's	Ben Williamson	Nick Wright	Mike Wright	West Riding SC		50	8
Milvus Milvus	Robert Howe	Dan O'Connell	Joanne Sheehy	Royal Cork		50	9
Shockwave	Michael Evans	Eoin Quinlan	Peter Freyne	Howth Yacht Club		51	10
Defiant	Colin Galavan	Alan McGettigan	Ger Walsh	RIYC		52	11
Dinghy Supplies	Daragh Sheridan	Shane Murphy	John Phelan	Howth Yacht Club		66	12
Odin	James Gorman	Neil O'Toole	Ted Laverty	NYC		71	13
Jumpin Jack Flash	Geoff O'Donoghue	Jonathan Foley	Michael McCarvey	LDYC		71	14
Monkey	Graham Elmes	Aidan O'Connell	Marty O'Leary	RSGYC		73	15
Alert Packaging	Justin Burke	Ronan Haughey	Alistair Kissane	National Yacht Club		74	16
Soda Bread	Darren Martin	Simon Murray	Rodger Pannell	SLYC		76	17
Splash Gordon	Gordan Patterson	Ross Nolan	Colm Jones	RNI Yacht Club		78	18
Sinabhuifl	Gillian Guinness	Colm Costigan	Mark Wheeler	Howth Yacht Club		97	19
Quantitable Easing	Paul McMahon	Paul Devlin	Davie Coll	KYC		97	20
Mephisto	Ronan Downing	David Sweeney	Catriona O'Reilly	KYC		97	21
Le Bateau de Bang Bang	Guy O Leary	Conor Roche	Chris Andrews	RIYC		102	22
Mr Bump	David Taylor	Steve Ferres	Conor Brennan	Carrickfergus SC		104	23
Venuesworld.com	Ger Dempsey	Chris Nolan	Craig Matthews	RIYC		107	24
Sacre Bleu	Doug Smith	Adam Winkelmann	Breffni Jones	RIYC		113	25
Sandy Bottom	Gordon Judge	David Stewart	Patrick O'Reilly	RSGYC		113	26
Kicker Off	Selina Dicker	Michael Donolly	Ed Cook	RSGYC		114	27
Bad Kilcullen	Stefan Hyde	Jerry Dowling	Paul Baker	RIYC		119	28
Smoke on the Water	Bob Hobby	Glenn Fisher	Ted Byrne	GISC		120	29
Investwise	Garrett May	Jim Freyne	Bevan Ritchie	Howth Yacht Club		130	30
Rubadubdub	Nick Doherty	Robert Gavin	David Hammond	NYC		136	31
Probably	Ian Simington	Rory Byrne	Billy Riordan	RSGYC		139	32
Sunday Brunch	David Dwyer	Jonathan Carroll	Richard Tate	RSGYC		144	33
Seriously Bonkers x 3	Marty Cuppage	Peter Lee	Michael Galvin	RSGYC		151	34
Bumble B	Fionnuala Loughrey	Katy Kelly	Cathy Booth	National Yacht Club		151	35
Monkey	Keith Cassidy	Michael McCormack	Murrough Kavanagh	Howth Yacht Club		160	36
White Noise	Stephen Montgomery	Edward Doyle	Donal Hegarty	RSGYC		164	37
2fryedeggs	Liam Shanahan	Ben Shanahan	Will Shanahan	NYC		171	38
No Name	Domhall MacAuley			Carrickfergus SC		184	39

Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club has completed its keelboat fixture sponsored by Brewin Dolphin consisting of three fleets; RS Elites, SB3s and Squibs, racing six races over two days. The RS Elites was the joint largest fleet this year made up mostly of local boats and two visiting Elites from Ocean Youth Trust. The Squibs were next in numbers, followed by The SB3s.

RS Elite Class Winners Simon Brien, Jack Brien and Ryan Seaton

Simon Brien on "Kin" was to rule the Elite class, and he found he was going to have to fight for it. On Day one, his brother Mark on "Full Marks" was covering him tack for tack and very little separated them on all three races. John McDowell' "Sea Breezes" [From Carrick] was also on the pace and finished the day one point behind "Kin". Bob Espey and Matt McGovern [Ballyholme] on an Ocean Youth Trust Boat was also consistently at the top of the fleet.

SB3 Class Winners Gareth Flannigan Ross Nolan and James Espey

The SB3 fleet also had it tight, day one saw a battle between Gareth Flannigan on "Splash Gordon" with James Espey and Ross Nolan on board match race with Peter Kennedy on "Ridge Fence" both boats finishing the day on equal points, followed closely by Trevor Darcy and Andrew Vaughan on "Bullet" on 8 points. On the Squibs, Greg Bell was out to flex his mussels on his new Squib "Prodigal" against him was Sam Lyness on "Worm" and Peter Wallace on "Toy for the Boy". The first race went to "Worm" with "Toy for the Boy second and "Prodigal" third, however a later protest was to knock "Worm" of her top spot and allowed everyone else to slide up one place. Race two also went to "Worm" followed by "Prodigal" and "High Flyer" in third. The third race again saw a change in the top spot this time "Toy for the Boy" taking pole. By the days end yet another fleet had two boats tied on points for the top spot, "Prodigal" and "Toy". Sundays racing was postponed for an hour to allow for the wind to fill in, and this was welcomed by many of the competitors due to lots of revelry the night before.

A fresh southerly breeze filled in and allowed Principle Race Officer Neale McCullough to get racing under way. Royal North's Commodore Mike Vaughan took race four in the Elite Fleet with "Kin" second and "Full Marks" third.

The fifth race "Kin" was back to her number one slot with the Vaughan's second and Andrew Allen's "No Match" third. The last race in the Elite fleet had to be seen to be believed as each boat tacked up the beat, each boat having to dip a boat that had dipped them on the previous tack and vice versa, by the top mark an d spreader mark they were bumper to bumper only a few inches separating them they looked like a train!

Eventually Simon Brien's "Kin" took the line honours and the series followed by Mike Vaughan's 64 and John McDowell's "Sea Breezes" in third overall.

In the SB3 fleet the second days racing saw no let up in fierce competition between Gareth Flannigan and Peter Kennedy in the end the series went to Flannigan's "Splash Gordon" with Kennedys "Ridge Fence" one point behind and Trevor Darcy's "Bullet third over all.

Squib Winners Greg Bell and Leah Anderson

Race Four for the Squibs gave Greg Bell his first win of the series with Des Clayton on "Inishmara" second and "Worm" third. All change again for race five this time the Anderson brothers "Born Wild" took the bullet followed by the worm and Gordon Patterson's "Quickstep" third. All was to play for in the last race as the series top three places was wide open.

In the end Sam Lyness won the race and secured him a second place overall. "Quickstep" took second giving them a fourth overall. Johnny Parks "Gizmo" finished third in that race quite satisfactory for the Squib newcomer. But the Series top spot went to Greg Bells "Prodigal" on twelve points one point ahead of "Worm" and "Toy for the Boy" third overall on 16 points.

The Commodore of Royal North Mike Vaughan thanked the sponsors Brewin Dolphin and all those who had been involved in the event, he commented on the extremely close racing in all fleets but especially in his own fleet the
Elites which were extraordinary!

Plans for an SB3 flotilla to escort Volvo Ocean Race Chinese entry, Team Sanya in to Dun Laoghaire harbour today were scuppered when winds reached gale force for a time this afternoon.

Regular Dun Laoghaire fleet Sunday racing was to feature the Sanya arrival at 4.30pm but the SB3 club race was cancelled following squalls and torrential rain that also drew a halt to the Star European championship on Dublin Bay.

The Mike Sanderson skippered yacht is berthed alongside the Royal Irish Yacht Club. Team Sanya is a refurbished version of the Telefónica Blue boat from the 2009 race.

The yacht will be engaged with promotional work on Dublin Bay tomorrow with sponsor Discover Ireland.

Howth's Ben Duncan sailing Sharbait has etched another victory in the SB3 class following a weekend of very up and down conditions with some sizeable shifts and changes in pressure at the SB3 Northern Championships at Royal Ulster Yacht Club.

But the PRO team were well able and a full schedule of racing was completed on the Lough. Three of the top four Irish boats from the Worlds took three of the top four spots and had pace on pretty much every one, a further indication that going to Torbay has definitely given these boats a lift.

The Vaughan brothers continued their upward trajectory with a very solid second place. Andrew Ageo had a win in race 2 and pretty steady results to finish third. Dave Cheyne had an up and down regatta. The local sailors was very fast in patches but got buried a couple too many times to challenge.

Sharbait was lucky enough to not have to make too much of the conditions and sailed the fleet to produce another overall win.

Highlights of the weekend for the winners were winning the first race by 2:30 minutes and getting caught up in a match racine with Dave Cheyne for race 3. Cheyne pipped the Howth boat on the line by about a foot.

The next event in the SB3 calendar is the national champs in four weeks time. Flipper and Mel Collins are expected to be back in the fleet along with plenty of further competition.

1st Sharkbait
2nd Toucan 3
3rd Flutter
4th Team Cheyne

Royal Ulster presents Sharkbait their winning prize. Photos: Ken Hunter

Over the weekend of 20 and 21 August, Royal Ulster Yacht Club in Bangor will be hosting two sailing competitions, the RS Elite Irish Championships and the Laser SB3 Northern Area Championships writes Betty Armstrong.  These events, which are sponsored by BT Infinity, will bring together some of Ireland's top sailors to compete in Belfast Lough.

In the RS Elite fleet defending Irish Champion John Patterson with crew David Kelso and Stephen Polly in Momentary Lapse will be up against some of the highest scoring boats from the recent National Championships at the Royal Forth Yacht Club, namely Simon Brien's Kin who finished third at that event and John McDowell's Sea Breezes who came fifth.

John Patterson, David Kelso and Stephen Polly who will be defending their Irish RS Elite title. Credit Thomas Anderson

In the SB3 Class local sailor Peter Kennedy and his crew in Ridgefence will be looking for revenge after Howth's Ben Duncan in Sharkbait beat them into second place at the Western Championships in Galway in June this year. Sharkbait is the boat in form, having won the Best Small Keelboat trophy at the recent Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta when she topped the 33 strong SB3 Class.

Royal Ulster Yacht Club is delighted to bring BT Infinity on board as event sponsor and with their help the event will be "bringing it all together" for two days of great racing.

"It is really a great opportunity for BT Infinity to support the major sailing championships this year at Royal Ulster", says Peter Morris, Consumer Director, BT in Northern Ireland. " Effective communication through the use of the latest technology is at the very heart of our business and as we rollout Superfast fibre optic broadband speeds, not just in Bangor, but across Northern Ireland, slow down, as in racing, just isn't a factor. The best of luck to all the crews and have a safe and successful competition".

Royal Ulster YC also acknowledges the support of North Down Borough Council and Quay Marinas, Bangor Marina in the running of this event.

Howth's Ben Duncan and the crew of Sharkbait were the winners of the SB3 Western championships on Galway bay.

The weather gods delivered some rip roaring racing with 25 boats taking to the race course in conditions varying from 15kt southerly to 29kt westerly.

The Howth crew beat Southern championship winner Peter Kennedy (Ridgefence)from Strangford for the top slot in the six race wind-leeward series. Although hosted by the local sailing club the unofficial race HQ was McSwiggin's pub near the city docks with sponsorship from Captain Morgan. Third was Brian Reilly's Boomsticks. 26 competed.

Teaming up for the first time since Mays world championships the Sharkbait team of Ben Duncan, Brian Moran and Ric Morris seemed to have an extra gear at crucial points in each of Saturday's first two races popping well clear. The 2009 national champions Peter Kennedy, Dave Cheyne and Stephen Kane on Ridgefence held on doggedly nipping at their heals before taking the last race of the day leading from gun to gun. The BWM liveried Boomsticks of the Reilly brothers and Johnny O'Dowd separated the pair with Sharkbait finishing third.

Sharkbait and Ridgefance have been here before at recent inland championships and on day 2 they began to mark each other on the race course from the first race. Starting next to each other both boats ended up mid fleet at the first mark. After pulling through on the run the two boats went to the right hand side of the course on the next beat with Sharkbait holding Ridgefence past the layline as both boats climbed into 3rd and 4th by the windward mark. By the end of the run Sharkbait was up to second behind Darragh Sheridan, Johnny Phelan and John Malone in Dinghy Supplies. Rob Howe, Paul McMahon and Joanne Sheehy 3rd with Ridgefence in 4th. All 4 team held these places to the finish.

The days second race was a near repeat with Sharkbait and Ridgefence rounding the windward mark together in mid pack before pulling through the fleet to finish 1st and 3rd, this time separated by Boomsticks. Having won the regatta with a race to spare Sharkbait headed to shore leaving Ridgefence and Boomsticks to close out 2nd and 3rd overall with a win and a 2nd in the final race. Andrew Algeo in Flutter  finished 4th overall. Rob Howe followed up his 2nd place at the Southerns with a 5th place overall at the Westerns. Dinghy Supplies finished 6th.

Action from Galway Bay. Photo: Cian Gallagher

The Howth crew collected their prize from Galway harbour master, Brian Sheridan (wearing red jacket)