12-13th June 2010

The Sharkbait team of Ben Duncan,Brian Moran and Ric Morris retained the Sb3 Airtricity sponsored SB3 Northern Championships.This was sweet revenge to coming second to Gareth Flanagan in the Easterns. The event was hosted by the Royal North of Ireland Y.C. whose hospitality was second to none. The whole weekend was a real adventure, from the launching in Belfast Lough on Friday night to the bar on Saturday night. The launch drivers need special mention for their skill in getting us in off the water safe and sound on the Friday night.

We shared the course with RS Elites, which added a positive dimension to the weekend of racing.
The PRO, Alister Hunter performed brilliantly with his team, giving us superb courses and never once kept us waiting around, on behalf of the SB3 fleet I want to convey our thanks for a job really well done.

23 boats competed, an increase on the 17 last year, a real testament that the SB3 fleet is as progressive as ever. This was in no small part down to the great work that Gordan Patterson put in, his reward was line honours in the last race on Saturday. All race winners were rewarded a bottle of champagne, Gordan had his drunk before he hit the dock !!!!

The racing was extremely close with a point separating 4/5/6 and 7th positions. Greg Bell on Duff Beer was unlucky to have sail damage on the Sunday, and was pipped for fourth spot by Bád/Kilcullen. Emmet Ryan sailed supremely to be edged into third spot by Gareth Flanagan in McCready Sailboats. Peter Kennedy our current Irish Champion finished sixth.

We hope its not too long before we return to the Royal North, they gave the SB3 class a real welcome which we will never forget. Its off to Crookhaven for the Southerns, hope to see you all there for more fun and games.

J.Dowling
Sb3 National Chairman

2010 Northerns Results (pdf file)

This is gonna be mighty.

Crookhaven Harbour Sailing Club takes pleasure in inviting you to compete in the SB3 Ireland Southern Championship which will be held in Crookhaven, Co. Cork on 3rd & 4th July 2010

Away oh we go to far west Cork for Atlantic swell, good winds, great pints and brilliant craic.

Notice of Race is here.

Yes, there will be a crane, details and Google map in the NoR…bring mooring lines and good fenders.  Don’t need the jib to pick up a mooring!

Yes, there will be perfect pints and superb seafood in O’Sullivan’s right on the water front.

Yes, there will be great racing, wonderfully wacky story telling and did I mention the perfect pints?

Ronan Collins has kindly supplied a Google maps link which shows:

A: Crookhaven.
B: Free camping.
C: Official camping.
D: Barley Cove Beach Hotel.

Click here.

Driving:  Make your way from wherever to the Dunkettle Roundabout at the bottom of the N8 Cork Road from Dublin, go through the Jack Lynch Tunnel, past Douglas, over the Kinsale Road Roundabout, following the N71 to Bandon, then to Clonakilty, then Rosscarbery, Leap and Skibbereen (handy town bypass).

Next is Ballydehob, turn left on to the R592 direction Schull, through the village and drive on to Altar, turn left on to the R591 direction Goleen, Leenane and Crookhaven.  You’ll see the Crook fjord on your left, and then around the other side as you go on.  Whew, you’ve made it!

Lots of small west Cork towns, purchase a pound of patience for driving through their narrowlanes.  But then, most are seaside towns and are well used to boats moored on Main Street.

Be there!

The organisers of cork week are very anxious to have a good turn out from the sb3 class.

To encourage us to attend they have offered the fleet some special rates with a view to getting the numbers up.

We need  at least 10 boats to have our own start.

If we achieve 15 boats the entry is  reduced from € 420 to € 350.

In excess of 20 boats and the entry is reduced to € 300.

This is a great offer for five days racing.

Please contact :  aileen@corkweek.ie

Our National Championships, sponsored by Investwise, will be held at Howth Yacht Club on 3 – 5 September.

Summary of the SB3 event (pdf file)

ONLINE ENTRY FORM

Notice of Race has been published (pdf file)

Amendment 1 to SB3 Nationals NOR – 4th August

Facebook page with crew wanted / available.

The 2010 World Championship for the Laser SB3 will be hosted by Circolo Vela Torbole, Lake Garda, Italy from 19 – 23 July 2010. The entry list has topped 100 boats, and is still growing. No surprises there then! Entries flooded into Circolo Vela Torbole as soon as the entry list opened in February, a clear demonstration of the popularity of Lake Garda as a venue for major events.

Representatives from sixteen nations will compete in the World Championships, the largest spread of that the Laser SB3 class has ever enjoyed. Forty boats will attend from the UK, still the largest national entry and the host nation field a twenty boat entry, their largest turn out to a World Championships yet. Entries come from as far afield as Australia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and South Africa. Ireland, France, The Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, Germany, Ukraine and Russia will all be represented in Torbole in July.

The two Laser SB3 World Champions, Geoff Carveth (2008 Champion, Dun Laoghaire) and Craig Burlton (2009 Champion, Cascais) will both compete again for the Championship title and the honour of lifting the Waterford Crystal Trophy on Friday 23 July. Both Carveth and Burlton are British and so far the Laser SB3 World Championship has not been won by another nation. John Pollard, another British sailor recently won the Laser SB3 Volvo Cup on Lake Garda by a good margin and will be gunning hard for the top of the fleet.

However, this event is far from a walk over for the Brits! Tough competition will be provided by the Russian entry helmed by Ukrainian Rodion Luka who recently won the Laser SB3 Eurocup in Morgat, France. Luka, who took silver at the 2004 Olympics in Athens in the 49er class has already demonstrated good boat speed and hot tactics on the race course. Father and son, David and Roger Hudson, the founders of the South African sailing foundation “Race Ahead”, will field two entries, crewed by sailors from the foundation. Race Ahead has achieved second at the World Championships in 2008 and 2009. Will it be third time lucky for them?

For a number of the crews taking part in the 2010 Laser SB3 World Championships, this will be their first trip to Lake Garda, but for many, a trip down memory lane. Laser SB3 World Class President Dave Cheyne (IRL) can barely contain his excitement! “We have some mouth watering racing ahead of us! There are forty seven entries already for the Italian Nationals, we have an absolutely incredible few weeks of sailing coming up!”

Entrants will be split into two qualifying fleets for the first six races of the World Championships. Gold and silver fleet finals will begin on Wednesday 21st July. For anybody still wanting to enter, there is still time. Please contact Katie Ashworth via the website for further details.

The Laser SB3 Italian National Championships will take place in Torbole, from 25th – 27th June. A number of keen teams from across Europe will travel to Italy early for a pre-match warm up and to eye up the local competition.

LaserPerformance through Italian dealer Negri Nautica will provide event support to the Italian Nationals and the World Championships ensuring every boat is able to race each day. Negri Nautica will also be making special offers to the fleet on spares and sails.

The Laser SB3 Class proudly claims to be one of the most tightly restricted one design keelboat classes in the world with little variation from the builder’s final product permitted. With minimal maintenance, easy to trail and low campaign cost, the class thrives on its philosophy of providing inclusive, high intensity, great fun and easily attainable, quality racing for it’s members.

Further news and developments can be followed at the new SB3 International Website.