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.
