The SB20 Western Championships were hosted by Mayo Sailing Club last weekend, one of the new destinations the fleet has been visiting this season. Fleet numbers suffered due to the clash with the ICRAs, but the sailors who travelled were rewarded in full, what a fantastic sailing destination.

Mayo Sailing Club delivered world class race management under the stewardship of RO Colin McMullen and his team.

Seven 50 minute races over two days ensured everyone got what they came for, and Clew Bay played its part with steady westerly breeze of 10–15 knots, holding for the duration. Apart from 1 major shift, under a rain squall on Sunday, the race track stayed steady and the racing was fair.

As always in this fleet, which boasts national champions from many classes, racing was tight, and anyone could emerge victorious. This time it was RIYC’s venuesworld.com (Ger Dempsey, Blair Stanaway, Chris Nolan & Maeve Judge) winning their first regional championship in their new boat. A sweet victory in local waters for Blair, current commodore of Mayo Sailing Club, who has joined the team for the SB20 World Championship this September in Cascais.

Two Men and their Monkey from Howth (Daragh Sheridan, Shane Murphy & John Phelan), followed by Sharkbait out of Strangford Lough (Darren Martin, Roger Pannell, Simon Murray) completed the podium, with last month’s Eastern Championships winner, Lia ( Dave Barry et al), suffering the consequences of a U flag and a broken halyard.

The SB20s will now be based on Dublin Bay for the forthcoming club regattas, followed by their National Championships in the National Yacht Club from 5-7 August with a fleet in excess of 25 boats expected, and prizes sponsored by Dubarry, Sportsboat World and venuesworld

#DBSC - With just two points separating the top three SB20s, fireworks were guaranteed for the final day and last two races of Saturday Series 1, writes Michael O'Connor.

Series leader Bango (James Gorman, Philip Lawton and Keith Staunton) held the slenderest of leads over the chasing pack, including Alert Packaging (Justin Burke et al) and Sin Bin (Michael O'Connor et al), but with Beijing 470 Olympian Lawton on board Bango calling the shots, they certainly came prepared for the fight.

Two races were scheduled in a light (6-10 knots) shifty east-northeasterly breeze that was oscillating through 40 degrees over the course of the day. The patchy and shifty breeze meant that there were big gains or losses to be made on each leg so it definitely wasn't over until you had crossed the finish line.

Race 1 saw a split of the fleet up the first beat, with Bango, Smoke on the Water (Bob Hobby, Louise McKenna et al) and Sin Bin going right in search of pressure and Alert Packaging, Bad (Jerry and Jimmy Dowlng), Defiant (G Jones et al), Timber (Marty Cuppage) and Sunday Brunch (Dave Dwyer at al) choosing the left.

A big left-hand shift up the first beat meant that 'the lefts' certainly had it and Alert Packaging, Defiant and Bad led into the weather mark while series leader Bango and Sin Bin had much work to do to catch up.

Down the first run, Alert Packaging and Bad gybed off onto port towards the left of the run in search of better breeze while Defiant, Bango and Sin Bin continued on on starboard towards the right of the run in expectation of the shift back. The right side of the run paid and by the leeward gate Alert Packaging held onto the narrowest of leads over Sin Bin and Defiant, who rounded the left-hand gate mark overlapped in hot pursuit of Alert Packaging.

Alert Packaging called the second beat beautifully, catching the breeze and the shifts to perfection and extended out their lead on the chasing pack. They rounded the weather mark with a handsome lead over the fleet and went on to take the gun after a leisurely stroll down the run followed by Sin Bin some distance behind in second.

There was still some drama to come, though, as Bango and Defiant were battling it out for third place coming into the final gate just to weather of the finish line. A quick gybing duel ensued and the more experienced heads on Bango saw them out gybe their rivals and get around the gate first and take third place.

Unfortunately for Defiant, disaster struck as they hit the gate mark, hooked it and dragged it out of position, much to the consternation of the following boats trying to finish. (It's a requirement to go through the gate on this last downwind leg.) Bad, Sunday Brunch and Smoke on the Water managed to take full advantage of their misfortune and claimed fourth, fifth and sixth places respectfully.

After the first race (race 7 of the series), the second discard kicked in, resulting in a shuffle at the top of the standings. Sin Bin now led by a few points from Bango and Alert Packaging but it was still all to play for as big numbers were possible in the light shifty breeze.

In the second race of the day, the final race of the first Saturday series, the OOD signalled three rounds of the outer course for the SBs. The majority of the fleet decided to go right up the first beat in search of pressure with the exception of Alert Packaging, Timber and Sunday Brunch. The rest of the fleet should really start paying attention to what these guys are doing because yet again they came up trumps at the weather mark. Again Sin Bin and Bango had left themselves with a lot to do.

A split down the run saw the fleet compress once more at the leeward gate and the back markers made gains on the leaders with Bango, Defiant and Sin Bin getting back in the hunt.

Bango and Sin Bin, keeping a watchful eye on each other, drag raced out to the right hand corner of the next beat taking some ground off Alert Packaging in the process who was methodically picking their way through the shifts up the middle of the beat.

It was definitely a day to be behind on the run and again the boats astern managed to make gains on the boats ahead on the second run. By the final leeward gate, Alert Packaging's lead had been cut to around four boat lengths from Sin Bin, with Bango a further four boat lengths back. So it was all down to the last lap.

The three lead boats got onto starboard tack immediately after the leeward gate and picked their way up the left side of the beat into the oncoming traffic of the squibs, sportsboat fleet, Dragons and Flying Fifteens. Tight covering tacks were being thrown in like confetti and with no quarter being asked or given, the oncoming traffic offered some opportunity for the following boats to break free from a tight cover.

Towards the top third of the beat, one such opportunity arose with Sin Bin managing to get some separation to the left of Alert Packaging. A favourable left-hand shift was enough to allow them sneak into a two-boat-length lead just before the weather mark.

Alert Packaging were not done yet, though, and chased hard down the run, gradually eating into Sin Bin's slender lead. As the two leaders simultaneously gybed onto port and sailed high towards the left side of the run – hoping to get over the boat ahead or protecting their breeze, depending on the boat you were in – Bango astern had one last throw of the dice and continued on starboard down the run to the opposite, right hand side of the course.

Alert Packaging, seeing that they couldn't quite get over the top of Sin Bin before the layline and in an effort to both overtake Sin Bin and keep in touch with Bango, gybed back onto starboard 15 boat lengths shy of the layline to the gate. So now we had Sin Bin out left, Alert Packaging in the middle and Bango out right –the top three boats in the series, all charging towards the final leeward gate to decide the winner.

Sin Bin continued to the starboard layline to the gate before gybing onto starboard 25 boat lengths out from the mark. Alert Packaging continued all the way to the port layline for the gate before gybing back onto port, 15 boat lengths out from the mark. Although Bango had gained massively out on the right hand side of the run, it wasn't quite enough to get ahead of Alert Packaging and they trailed them into the gate mark by two boat lengths.

With only a very short run to the finish after the gate (around five boat lengths) Bango's race was effectively run. It was all down to the cross between Alert Packaging and Sin Bin at the last leeward gate.

As the boats converged, Alert Packaging on the inside called for water at the last gate mark, five boat lengths for the finish. However, Sin Bin were clear ahead at the mark by about three-quarters of a boat length and snuck past for the win and the series, with Alert Packaging second in the race and the series and Bango taking third place in the race and third in the series.

It was very encouraging to see the new boys on Defiant and Timber and the prodigal sons (and daughter) on Sunday Brunch shaking it up at the top of the fleet with these boats leading or in the lead bunch around the first weather mark in both races. Without doubt they will be a force to be reckoned with once they get a bit more time in the boat and perfect their downwind gybing angles and gybes.

Next up for the fleet is the Westerns next weekend in beautiful Westport, Co Mayo with normal racing for those in Dublin Bay that can't make it.

Lia (Dave Barry, Gareth Nolan, Sam Hunt & Rory Groves) were winners of the SB20 Eastern Provincial Championships. The regatta, run under the excellent stewardship of race officer Rupert Jeffares and the flag of Howth Yacht Club was challenging for all fleets at the Sportsboat Cup with predominantly light winds prevailing. The race course was shared by 4 fleets comprising twelve 1720s, eight J80s, three ½ Tonners and seventeen SB20s. All enjoyed the Mediterranean weather conditions, not quite T shirts & shorts, except for Marty Cuppage of course, but thermals were not required.

It is a signal of the welcome resurgence of the SB20 fleet with some boats coming out of storage such as Toucan (Ross Vaughan, Andrew Vaughan & Mattie O’ Dowd), Ridgefence.com (Peter Kennedy, Greg Bell & Stephen Kane), Sunday Brunch (Dave & Nick Dwyer & Barbara Heftman), Lupi d’Irlanda (Marco Sorgassi, Luca Corona & Deno Debic) and some new faces such as Timber (Marty Cuppage, Barry Glavin & Niall O’Riordan).

Friday saw the start of the 2nd Sportsboat Cup in Howth, now a biennial event and seven SB20s took to the water. Sailing took place in glorious sunshine and light winds of 6 to 10 knots in a Northeasterly breeze, conditions that were to hold for the following 2 days of sunbathing also. Former SB20 supremo, Ben Duncan made a guest appearance with his old bow Briany Moran and regular Shane Murphy and clearly showed that he was not the monkey on board ‘Two Men and a Monkey’ with 3 bullets out of 3. Keith Cassidy, Mick McCormack and Murrough Kavanagh were in flying form scoring a 2,2 and 4 proving Murrough’s new rig settings were in the money. One point behind in 3rd was VenuesWorld with Ger Dempsey, Blair Stanaway, Chris Nolan and Maeve Judge.

Saturday saw the start of the SB20 Eastern Provincial Championships with the fleet swelling to 17 boats. Lia got off to a flying start with a 3, 1 and 2 with staying in the pressure and consolidating any leads being the key ingredients and Sam Hunt navigating the fleet expertly on tactics and strategy. This run of form for Lia came to a grinding halt in Race 4 with a tide induced moment of intimacy with the weather mark, not the first or last boat to suffer such a humbling moment in the regatta, leaving Lia no way back through a competitive closely matched fleet. Toucan returned to the fleet after a break of a few years with a loud bang, recording a 4,5,6 and a 1. Chris Arrowsmith, Colin Galavan and David Cahill aboard MSS had a solid day scoring a 3,3 and 4 and Stefan Hyde with the Jimmy and Jerry Dowling double act on board Bad Kilcullen were well in the hunt with a 2,4,5,5 followed closely by James Gorman, Ted Laverty and Keith Staunton on Bango with a 2, 4 and 7.

So going into the Sunday it was wide open with 2 races scheduled and a discard for the inevitable clanger of a result that most were getting in the light conditions. MSS got off to a resounding start with a win in race one with Bad Kilcullen coming 2nd. Lia with Rory Grovez in the middle and Gareth Nolan providing consistency in presence and performance had to be happy with keeping Toucan a point behind with a 6th and 7th respectively. 4 boats were in the hunt going into the last race. Lia rounded the weather mark in 1st with the fleet in close pursuit. Toucan and Venuesworld reeled in Lia with some impressive downwind sailing with Two Men and a Monkey turning up for the party towards the end of the race also (rather joltingly for some) which secured the Sportsboat Cup victory for them over the 3 days. 2nd in the Sportsboat Cup on countback was MSS followed by Lia in third.

Race 6 finished Toucan 1st, Venuesworld 2nd and Lia third which was enough to provide Lia with their maiden victory on 15 points, followed closely by Toucan on 17 points, Bad Kilcullen on 18 points and MSS on 19 points. Lia had the benefit of super sub Rory Grovez in the middle on Sunday with Gareth Nolan providing the consistency in presence and performance up front.

The teams at the top of the finishing board were very different to the previous event. Many of the regular top finishers were down the fleet. Is this a signal of change in the fleet or will the old order be re-established at the next event? We shall see as the SB20 fleet keeps up its tradition of sailing in new and stunning locations with excellent choice of cuisine with the Western Provincial Championships on 11th and 12th June in Clew Bay, Mayo, hosted by Mayo Sailing Club, Westport, Co. Mayo.

The SB20 fleet extends a warm thanks to Howth Yacht club in its various guises as OOD, Rupert Jeffares, the fine cuisine and bar staff in HYC, Ross Macdonald, Aoife English, Dylan Gannon and their extended team who masterminded the Sportsboat Cup placing it permanently on everyone’s calendar going forward.

Full results from the SB20 Easterns can be downloaded below

When you sail out to the racecourse in a westerly breeze inside the harbour and observe the boats outside the harbour in an easterly breeze, you know that Dublin bay has something a little unusual in store for you... Such was the predicament for the SB20 fleet last Saturday afternoon.

OOD Brian Matthews and his team set up a windward leeward course for the green fleet in a moderate (F4) easterly breeze. By the time the fleet had reached the weather mark, the wind had swung around 15 degrees to the right and had really started to growl... (the weather station on the pier recorded a gust of 29knts (F7) just before 3pm).

First around the weather mark was Venuesworld.com (Ger, Rory and Chris) followed closely by Sin Bin (Michael, Owen and John) and Alert Packaging (Justin, Henrik and Ed) with the chasing pack not far behind. The kites went up and the fleet cantered down the run in a now howling near gale. The wind against tide meant that there was an awkward lumpy sea and with the SBs reaching speeds of over 15knts, the boats seemed to bounce across the top of the waves like skimming stones. Sin Bin was the first to gybe off followed by Venuesworld and the boats weaved their way through the beating dragon fleet. A rare mistake by Venuesworld resulted in a broach mid gybe giving Sin Bin the opportunity to pass at the leeward gate. Most boats suffered a wipeout or two down the run with two boats leaving crew members behind (I told you it was hairy!) thankfully all crew members were safely retrieved.

By the second weather mark, Venuesworld had caught back up with Sin Bin and Alert Packaging was still very much in the hunt. All three boats gybed off early but half way down the run, the wind calmed and shifted to a southerly breeze. Alert packaging were first to react, taking their kite down for the fetch to the "leeward" gate and then to the finish just beyond. Alert Packaging skilfully took the win from Sin Bin in second and Venuesworld in third. Fourth place went to Bango (James, Dave and Keith) ahead of Timber (Marty, Gary et al) and Mephisto in sixth. Unfortunately, there were a number of retirees as boats struggled to retrieve their full complement of crew and others (honourable mention to Sunday Brunch (Dave et al)) assisted them in the process.

The OOD had a short postponement to allow the wind to settle and it eventually did settle (briefly) to a F3 from a westerly direction. First around the weather mark was Venuesworld who had tacked off to the right shortly after the start. They were followed around by Bango in second just ahead of Alert packaging in third, Timber in fourth and Sin Bin in fifth. Sunday brunch, Mephisto and Seriously Bonkers (Peter and Nick) were battling hard to catch up. As the boats made their way down the run, the wind began to die. Venuesworld opted for the left gate mark while Bango split and went for the right gate mark. Sin Bin were able to creep inside Alert Packaging in third place around the leeward behind clear leader Venuesworld.

As the boats made their way up the second and last beat, that's when things got weird... Depending on where you were on the course and when, you could have experienced entirely different conditions to those mentioned below but the following is an accurate account of what happened to at least one boat out on the right hand side of the course... First of all, the wind started to die and veer around to the northwest. Eventually, the wind shut off altogether across the course and at least one boat (ahem!) were sailing backwards for a while. Then, the breeze started to fill in from the north east so boats hoisted their kites and started running towards the "weather" mark. At the weather mark, Venuesworld kept a narrow lead from Bango and Alert Packaging and started beating back to the "leeward" gate. By now, Mephisto was back in on the action too. The stragglers including Sin Bin, Sunday Brunch and Timber experienced the wind shutting off once more and barely scraped around the weather mark in a light northeasterly (again).

Shortly after these last three boats rounded the weather mark, the wind shifted back to the west once more and started coming in waves of 20+knt gusts, sometimes from the southwest, sometimes from the northwest, alternating between the two. These three boats hoisted their kites and rode the gusts towards the leeward gate, gybing with each lull in expectation of the gust from the other direction shortly thereafter. Venuesworld managed to stay in the centre of the course while Bango had gone far right and Alert Packaging and Mephisto went centre left. Venuesworld held on for the win by a good distance while Sin Bin managed to carve a path between the boats ahead, gybing numerous times down the run to keep in phase and sneaked over the line in a photo finish ahead of Mephisto in third and Alert Packaging in fourth, all three boats broaching as they went over the finish line! Series leader Bango, forced to drop their kite and two sail reach to the finish, had to settle for fifth.

Several therapy sessions will be required before the next DBSC race weekend. There is a break from DBSC next weekend as the Sportsboat cup is on in HYC from Friday 27th to Sunday 29th inclusive, incorporating the SB20 Easterns on the Saturday and Sunday. Organisers are hoping for c. 20 boats in the SB20 fleet and with 11 already entered and 5 more confirmed, that's looking possible so great racing is in store.

Michael O'Connor

Twenty SB20s headed to the Netherlands for the Dutch Grand Slam, part of the North Sea Regatta, sponsored by Delta Lloyd

The forecast was for big breezes on the racing area of Scheveningen, close to The Hague, and it didn’t disappoint. Strong winds and large waves dominated the first three days, together with strong tides to further challenge the sailors.

Although on Saturday the weather was too extreme to allow for racing, eight good races were held over the remaining three days with a closely matched tussle at the front between local fleet captain Marco van Driel on ‘MXTC’ (NED), the French ‘Ocean Team’ of Johan Ravier and British visitors Jerry Hill and ‘Sportsboatworld.com’.

Hill commented after racing: “We’ve had some very challenging conditions which were a test for many of the fleet, but the downwind legs with boats sailing at more than 20 knots will be remembered for a long time!”

Hill and the ‘Sportsboatworld.com’ team shared the first day honours with ‘MXTC’, each scoring a win and a second place. On day three Johann Ravier’s French squad had a solid day, winning two races and finishing all others in the two three to put together a very consistent scoreline.

Hill went on to win another race on the last day, but van Driel had scored two more race wins and discarded a fourth place to earn an all-podium results list and win the event. The final race of the event was won by Adrian Peach with ‘Uber’ (GBR). Ravier was second overall and Hill third.

Other visiting nations included teams from Ireland and Germany in this second European Grand Slam of the SB20 season. Off the water the teams enjoyed the atmosphere of the largest Dutch sailing event, which attracts around 2,500 sailors each year, as well as a bowling competition on their enforced layday (thanks to the Damen-sponsored crew) and an excellent class dinner at the yacht club.

The next Grand Slam event takes place at Cowes, during Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week, from August 6-9, 2016.

Overall Results:
1st NED 3714 Marco van Driel 2 1 2 1 -4 1 2 3 12,0 pts
2nd FRA 3034 RAVIER Johan -9 4 1 2 1 2 3 2 15,0 pts
3rd GBR 3475 Jerry Hill 1 2 -7 3 2 3 1 7 19,0 pts
4th NED 3441 Paul Gast 3 7 (ocs) 4 3 4 7 6 34,0 pts
5th NED 3702 Martijn Buitenhuis 5 -6 5 6 6 6 6 5 39,0 pts

The SB20 fleet enjoyed white water surfing conditions this evening on Dublin bay with speeds in excess of 15 knots being reported and plenty of wipeouts, (in some cases multiple!), across the fleet. The OOD opted for the relatively long (but perfect for the conditions) N2 course meaning a decent beat to harbour mark would be followed by a wild sleigh ride back down the bay towards Dalkey island and plenty of reaching legs thereafter to allow the SBs to "get up and dance".

There was an individual recall at the start with the heavy pin bias and the flooding tide catching Bad Kilcullen out on their first venture out in Dublin bay this season. The rest of the fleet managed to stay clean and drove off the line on starboard towards the shore in a fresh F4 SW breeze. One by one the boats peeled off onto port with Sin Bin (Michael, Dave and John) and Alert Packaging (Justin, Henrik and Ed) holding on starboard the longest before flipping over onto the "lumpier" port tack. This paid dividends for those two as the tide caught most of the fleet out resulting in practically all of the boats over-standing by some margin. Sin Bin and Alert Packaging, closer to the mark when making their approach, fared better than most and rounded in first and second with several boatlengths advantage on the chasing pack.

Around the mark, the kites went up and the boats took off! As the fleet hurtled towards Dalkey island at 15 knots, dancing across the waves, the crews struggled to tame the beasts and avoid expensive broaches. After the wild ride, a couple of short upwind/downwind legs followed testing the crews boat handling skills to the max, requiring slick hoists, drops and gybes to stay in the game. Unfortunately for Alert Packaging, they were caught out by a sudden gust on the second downwind leg causing them to spin out and lose valuable distance and places as they struggled to get the boat back on its feet. Unfortunately for Alert Packaging, in the melee that ensued, Venuesworld.com (Ger, Chris and Peter), Sacre Bleu (Richard, Colin and Mark) and Sunday Brunch (Dave et al) were able to overtake them. The fleet gamely battled on and were treated to a screaming reach across the bay from bay mark out to east followed by a beat back up towards the harbour to finish.

At the finish it was Sin Bin in first followed by Venuesworld.com in second and Sacre Bleu in third. The prodigal sons on Sunday Brunch battled back after an early broach to record another creditable fourth place finish ahead of Alert Packaging, Smoke on the Water (Bob et al) and Tiger Lite (Niall, Niallo and Ronan). Although there were plenty of smiles after racing, the fleet learnt that we have plenty of things to practice before the next breezy day! Some good breeze forecast for this Saturday (on one of the prediction models anyway!) so we may get to put what we learnt into practice sooner rather than later...

Read more: Full DBSC Thursday results

Glorious sunshine and a fickle Easterly breeze greeted the SB20 fleet for the third DBSC Saturday of the season. The ranks were swelled by the return of Alert Packaging (Justin, Henrik and Ed) and Sin Bin (Michael, Owen and Ger) to the fleet.

Race 1 saw the fleet jostle for position on a heavily committee boat biased line but despite this they managed to get away at the first time of asking. The wind was very light (4-7knts) and oscillating through 40 degrees so staying in the pressure and keeping the boat moving were the orders of the day. After a short starboard tack off the line, Bango (James, Jimmy and Keith), Alert Packaging and Sin Bin tacked onto port in search of better breeze and in expectation of the forecasted right-handed shift. Venuesworld.com (Ger, Jerry and Chris), Animal Origami (Chris, Neil and Rob) and SacreBleu (Diane, Ronan and Corina) (having exonerated themselves after a starting line snafu) chose to minimise manoeuvers and continue out left in good pressure.

The pressure across the course was very localised and boats separated by only a few boatlengths could have wildly different headings and boat speeds, turning the race into a game of snakes and ladders. Up the first beat, the boats that chose the right hand side of the course fared best and it was Alert Packaging that rounded first ahead of Sin Bin with Bango in a close third. Down the run, Alert Packaging bravely but sensibly gybed off early allowing Sin Bin and Bango to continue on starboard gybe. The decision paid off in spades for Alert Packaging as the boats that had gone further right had to battle back against the tide on a very tight reach, barely holding their kites while Alert Packaging calmly made their way down the run on a much better heading with an eased kite. Alert Packaging chose to go to the down-tide right hand gate (looking down the course) while their pursuers split for the up-tide left hand gate. Unfortunately, due perhaps to a little rustiness and a current that was now beginning to “kick”, Alert Packaging were caught out and hit the leeward mark, requiring them to do a penalty turn. It is worthwhile mentioning that although they were too far ahead for anyone to see them hit the mark and the temptation to continue on must have been great, Alert Packaging did the honourable thing and took their penalty turn and their sportsmanship is to be applauded.

Up the second beat, the boats that had chosen the left hand gate and were further to the right hand side of the course seemed to get the best of the breeze on offer with Sin Bin taking the lead from Alert Packaging half way up the beat. The Race Committee sensibly signalled a shortened course and a finish at the weather mark. At the finish, Sin Bin took the win with Bango edging out Alert Packaging by a couple of boatlengths for second. Venuesworld.com recovered well after a difficult first beat to get back up to fourth just ahead of SacreBleu and Animal Origami.

Race 2 started in even lighter and shiftier conditions with the fleet battling upwind against a building tide. Again, there was a significant committee boat bias and the fleet bunched up at the committee boat in an effort to get a jump on the competition. Bango lead the fleet off the line with SacreBleu and Animal Origami also making good starts a little further down the line. The wind had shifted further to the right and the boats were almost fetching the weather mark on starboard tack. Shortly after the start, Venuesworld.com, Alert Packaging, Sin Bin and Sunday Brunch (Dave Dwyer et al) tacked onto port to hitch into a line of breeze just to weather of the fleet. The four boats sailed no more than 15 boatlengths into the new breeze and it really paid off for them as they were able to tack back onto starboard and sail higher and faster than the boats to leeward in a completely different breeze. Again, the speed differentials between boats separated by no more than a few boatlengths were significant and gains/losses of 20 boatlengths could be made in a couple of minutes. Patience while waiting for your turn to shine was vital.

The Race Committee, fearing a complete shut down in the breeze, signalled a change of course at the weather mark meaning the fleet only had to complete one lap by getting around the weather mark and running down to the finish. Sin Bin had managed to stay a little further to weather of the fleet and kept in the breeze for longer allowing them to round the weather mark in first and gybe quickly thereafter followed by Alert Packaging and Bango. The boats held those positions all the way to the finish. In a very creditable fourth place were Sunday Brunch making a very welcome return to DBSC sailing after a few years sabbatical followed by Venuesworld.com and Animal Origami.

After four races, Bango leads series 1 on 5 points followed by Alert Packaging and Venuesworld.com tied for second on 9 points. The long range forecast for next Thursday and Saturday are suggesting more wind so hopefully we will be back to downwind sleigh rides by then.

The SB20 class’s second European Grand Slam of the season kicks off today, Friday May 13, at the North Sea Regatta.The North Sea Regatta is the largest Dutch sailing event, attracting around 2,500 sailors annually to Scheveningen, close to The Hague.

This year 20 SB20s will be competing in their own class at the prestigious event, with a breezy forecast and big fleet combining to guarantee four days of exciting white-knuckle racing from May 13-16, 2016.

The Dutch Grand Slam has been added to the SB20 calendar due to the growing strength of the Dutch fleet. Last year one-design expert Hein Ruyten was appointed SB20 dealer for the region and has seen the class reinvigorated with increasing numbers and an active racing fleet.

Among the top local sailors competing at the event is Marco van Driel on ‘MXTC’ and local fleet captain Martijn Buitnehuis (‘Buitenhuis Advies’). Meanwhile the fleet has also attracted entrants from France, Germany, Ireland and Great Britain. British teams to watch include Adrian Peach on ‘Uber’, who won the Cowes Grand Slam last year, while fleet newcomer James Russell on ‘Blackstone Racing’ is also showing some strong form.

The forecast for the event is for strong breezes, with winds ranging from the high teens to mid 20s for the first three days, with a chance of gusts of over 25 knots on today’s opener. SportsboatWorld’s Jerry Hill commented: “If it is as windy as the forecast says it might be, then we could be in for some fun.

"Racing the SB20 in those conditions it’s all about keeping the boat tracking, the rig above the keel, and getting the gennaker up and down safely.”

The SB20 sailors should certainly enjoy some high octane downwind legs, with 12 races scheduled over four days.

SB20 crew Aidan O'Connell, John Driscoll and Andrew Vaughan were the winners of the inaugural SB20 visit to Carlingford Lough at the weekend. The 12–boat fleet were treated to a brand new venue at Carlingford Sailing Club for the first SB20 regional event of the 2016 season on 23rd/24th April and it proved a tremendous success. Overall results are downloadable below.

The warmth and hospitality of the club members, flag officers and event management team combined with perfect 15-25 knot breeze meant that there are plenty of sore, but very happy, bodies after racing on Sunday.

The fleet launched on Saturday morning from the pier beside the clubhouse and headed out for a very civilised 1.30pm start. Conditions on the Lough were ideal for downwind SB20 sailing with speeds of over 15 knots being recorded across the fleet. Although the northerly breeze was moderate to fresh, it was still oscillating through 50° so the race officer called a short postponement to allow the wind direction to settle. After a brief delay, the fleet were off from a heavily committee boat biased line. As with all new venues, there were differing views about how best to approach the first upwind leg with seemingly better breeze to the right but less tide inshore to the left. In the end, those boats holding on starboard tack up the shore line fared best. At the first mark, Sin Bin (Michael, John and Gareth) led narrowly from MSS (Colin, Chris et al). A better hoist from MSS saw the old boys career over the top of Sin Bin and take the lead as the boats hurtled down the run towards the leeward mark. Also making a charge for the front were Ruby Blue (Aidan, John and Andrew), 2 Men and their Monkey (Daragh, Shane and John) and Venuesworld.com (Ger, Chris, Maeve and Blair). There were massive gains and losses to be made on the downwind legs and catching an extra gust could mean the difference between 1st and 8th place. At the finish, Ruby Blue showed a great turn of speed to win convincingly from 2 Men and their Monkey in second and MSS in third.

Race 2 again saw a heavily biased committee boat and there was a drag race out left once more to get out of the adverse tide. 2 Men and their monkey were again showing good pace up the first beat with Project Mayhem (Davy, Joe and Ric – welcome back lads!) in the thick of it at the weather mark. By now, the wind was beginning to howl and cheeks were firmly clenched on the downwind sleigh ride… Sin Bin was able to take advantage of a big gust down the left hand side of the run to come in just ahead of the pack at the leeward mark. They held on to their lead and at the finish it was Sin Bin from Project Mayhem followed by Ruby Blue in third.

Race 3 saw the wind build further to a punchy 20 knots but the fleet managed to get away cleanly. Unfortunately, a collision up the first beat put an end to Bad/Kilcullen’s (Enda, Jerry and Jimmy) mast and regatta but we hope to see the lads back on the water very soon. It’s a measure of the men and the venue that they still had smiles on their faces and pints in their hands by that evening’s après sail. Back up the course, there was a terrific battle for the lead between the boys on Ruby Blue and the boys and girls on Venuesworld.com. The boats were neck and neck down the last run with Ruby Blue eking out the narrowest of leads by the last leeward mark. However, a better spinny drop by the crew of Venuesworld.com and a quick tack at the leeward mark enabled Venuesworld.com to get to the favoured left side and get their nose out in front. Ruby Blue tacked to cover once their spinnaker was stowed away but when Venuesworld.com tacked back for the cross, they had snatched the lead and were leading by a couple of boat lengths. Ruby Blue was not done yet however and they somehow managed to reel Venuesworld.com in by the finish line, finishing by a nose in front. Ruby Blue were really beginning to dominate the regatta now having claimed their second victory of the day from Venuesworld.com in second and Lia (Dave, Ollie and Ben – welcome back Ben!) in third. The Race officer decided that a fourth race was not on the cards and sent the boats back ashore for pints and steaks. Carlingford is a party town and the SBs partied…
Sunday dawned with a fresh northerly, shifty breeze once more and the Race Officer informed the fleet before launching that he would attempt to get the races off quickly as the forecast was for the wind to build further. A few sore heads and many sore bodies made their way out to the race course to do battle once more. Race 4 saw Aidan and the lads on Ruby Blue take up where they left off showing great pace and cool heads to take their third race win of the series. Lia had begun to get into their stride after some “difficulties” on day one with marks attacking them and stormed into a very well-deserved second place ahead of the resurgent Manamana (Graeme, Ronan and Diana) who were showing the fleet how you are supposed to pick your way around Carlingford Lough.

Race 5 saw the wind start to abate slightly and begin to shift around more making the upwind and downwind legs more about making sure you were in phase with the shifts than favouring one side of the course over the other. At the last leeward mark the three lead boats rounded within 2 boat lengths of each other with Sin Bin getting water inside Lia and 2 Men and their Monkey right on their transom. 2 Men and their Monkey had a slick drop and rounding and tacked straight away at the mark. Sin Bin tacked to cover once up to speed and Lia kept on going a few lengths further into fresher breeze before tacking onto starboard. The three boats were neck and neck drag racing up the short last the beat. After a three-way tacking duel, there was a photo finish at the end of the race with Sin Bin taking the win by a quarter of a boat length from 2 Men and their Monkey with Lia a further few feet astern.

Ruby Blue struggled for the first time all weekend and uncharacteristically found themselves back in 6th place. As the points stood, Ruby Blue were on 6 points (12 points without discard), 2 Men and their Monkey were tied in second with Sin Bin on 12 points and Lia was back in fourth on 16 points. Unbeknownst to themselves, Ruby Blue had managed to seal the event with a race to spare… like true champions though, they came out fighting in Race 6 and after a storming second downwind leg, climbed up from third place to take the lead and their fourth race win out of 6 for the weekend. Project Mayhem finished in second in another close finish, this time pipping Sin Bin into third with Lia a close fourth.

When the dust had settled, Ruby Blue emerged victorious on an impressive 7 points with Sin Bin in second place overall on 15 points, a single point ahead of 2 Men and their Monkey in third overall. After a most enjoyable weekend, the fleet returned home to nurse their (happily) exhausted broken bodies back to health.

Next up is the DBSC season opener this Thursday (28th April) evening followed by the first DBSC Saturday (30th April). The SB20 Easterns are being held in Howth as part of the Sportsboat Cup (27th – 29th May – the Easterns are on Saturday and Sunday but there will be a separate series for those interested in racing on the Friday too) which is shaping up to be the event of the summer so get your entry in now and avail of the early bird rates before 1st May.

Eleven SB20s braved a moderate northerly wind and Baltic conditions for the second and final day of the Key Capital Private sponsored Spring Warmer Series in Howth Yacht Club. Due to the loss of the second race last weekend, the Race Committee signalled their intention to have three races on Day 2 to complete the four race series.

Race 1 saw a much more competitive fleet challenging for position on the line (looks like the training with Mark Rhodes is paying off already!) with Lia (Dave, Ollie and Patrick) having a peach of a start hitting the pin end at speed and leading the fleet out towards the favoured left hand side of the course. At the weather mark, the tide was causing havoc pushing boats below the starboard tack layline and forcing one or two to bail out and try again. First around was Sin Bin (Michael, Owen and John) followed closely by Two Men and a Monkey (Daragh, Shane and John) and Lia in third. At this stage, the wind was gusting in the teens which was sufficient to get the boats planing so the fleet took off and happily careered down the run towards the leeward mark. Two Men and a Monkey called the leeward mark layline to perfection and snuck inside Sin Bin and Lia.

Up the next beat, it was critical to get the shifts right and the biggest gains were made by VenuesWorld.com (Ger, Chris, Rory and Maeve) who picked their way beautifully up the beat, catching a nice little right hander at the end to lead around the second weather mark. However, being in front is never an easy place to be in an SB20 going downwind in planing conditions and both Two Men and a Monkey and Sin Bin were gunning for the lead. The three lead boats rounded the leeward mark within 4 boatlengths of each other, Two Men and a Monkey once again showing a great turn of speed to lead at the leeward mark from Sin Bin and Venuesworld.com in third. With only a short beat to finish, Sin Bin peeled off left straight after the leeward mark and was covered immediately by Two Men and a Monkey while VenuesWorld.com continued on out right. The left was paying at this stage and it was clear that Venuesworld.com would have to be content with third. Two Men and a Monkey tacked for the line (as it turned out) a little early while Sin Bin held out a boatlength more before tacking. The boats charged for the line on port with Sin Bin hitching into a little more pressure to squeeze over the line at the pin with about a foot to spare over Two Men and a Monkey in second. Lia came in fourth with Bango (James, Jerry and Jimmy) rounding off the top five. In sixth place were SB20 newbees Diana Kissane and Clara Hynes with the old (SB) head of Ronan Downing overseeing proceedings on Manamana. They showed some very impressive turns of speed and we hope to see a lot more of them over the coming season.

Race 2 saw the breeze abate slightly and become increasingly shifty. The tide was almost slack meaning pressure and shifts were the top priority. A good competitive start by the fleet once more meant that it was neck and neck going up the first beat. A massive left hander half way up the first beat that refused to go back again left those on the right including Bango, Lia and Sin Bin way out the back of the fleet with much work to do. At the first weather mark Venuesworld.com along with Project Mayhem (Davey Taylor et al), Seriously Bonkers (Peter Lee et al), Two Men and a Monkey, Manamana and Martin Reilly Motors (Colin Galavan, Chris Arrowsmith et al) were all battling it out for the lead. The decrease in pressure and massive left hander meant the second run was all about soaking down to the leeward mark on a long starboard gybe. With the boats ahead going higher to protect their breeze, this gave the boats behind to catch up and the fleet compressed towards the leeward mark once more.

The second beat was, in a word, brutal. Massive unforgiving shifts meant either huge gains or massive losses. The two rockstars of the second beat were Bango (James, Jerry and Jimmy) and Lia (Dave, Ollie and Patrick) (so good we’ve named them twice!). Bango went from last place at the leeward mark to 4th at the weather while Lia went from 9th to 2nd on the second beat and we still have no clue quite how they both managed it! By the second weather mark, the wind had now swung around to the right meaning a long soak on port gybe this time down to the leeward mark. Some boats tried unsuccessfully to “heat it up” and get on the plane but those that soaked seemed to fare better in the end with the least distance sailed.

Venuesworld.com won handsomely for their maiden win in their shiny new tub followed by Lia and Two Men and a Monkey in third. Behind the first three places, the fleet behind were compressing at the leeward mark with six boats in fourth to ninth places within approximately six boatlengths of each other rounding the last mark for the short beat to finish. Right in the mix was Monkey, helmed for the first time in a series by Mikey with SB20 regular Morrough Kavanagh keeping him focused. In the end it was all about getting a lane with some clear air on the short beat to finish. With so many boats in such a small area, going out right after the leeward mark paid dividends as these boats had starboard tack advantage coming in to the finish line. Bango crossed the line in fourth just ahead of Sin Bin in fifth with Seriously Bonkers, Project Mayhem, Monkey and Corona Extra all finishing within approximately 2 boatlengths of each other.

The Race Committee were anxious to try and get a third race in (and fourth for the series) to allow the discard to kick in and they gave the wind every opportunity to settle. However by now the wind had dropped further and at one stage was down to three knots and shifting through 40 degrees. When a hailstorm went through, pelting the competitors, the Race Committee obviously took this as an omen that it was just not meant to be and they called the fleet ashore. With three races and no discard, the win went to Sin Bin on 8 points by the slenderest of margins from Two Men and a Monkey on 9 points. In third was Venuesworld on 11 points and Lia pipped Bango for the fourth place tiebreaker on 12 points.

After racing, Mark Rhodes debriefed the fleet and used some video footage to good effect to demonstrate bailing out techniques at the start, faster gybing techniques in a blow and tactical considerations both upwind and downwind. The fleet already has shown remarkable progress after dusting off the cobwebs last weekend and the next event is expected to be a lively affair.

Next up for the class is the Northern Championships in Carlingford Lough on 23rd/24th April. We hope to see a strong fleet there for an exciting new venue for the class. Word has it that Venuesworld.com will no longer be the newest kid on the block with Jerry and Jimmy taking delivery of their new hull this week. Exciting times ahead for the SB20