AP Hotel & Resorts brilliantly wins SB20 World Championship
What a week it has been at the Provident CRM SB20 World Championship! The participants have experienced all types of Irish weather from rainy squalls to blasting sunshine. If the wind worked more on a decline from howling 30 knots on Monday to a light and shifty breeze on the last day, the emotions, on the contrary, kept heating up.
Day 4 finished with John Pollard’s team Xcellent at the top of the leaderboard with a four point advantage. Day 5 was decisive, because after the top two teams the 3rd place could be taken by at least three teams. With three races on Day 5 the participants gained another discard and that’s when their top results earlier this week became crucial.
On Day 5 the Race Committee was determined to run thee races to complete the planned 12 races schedule for this Championship. The first race of the day was won by French Youth team of Ian Garreta from Antibes, their only bullet this week. Race 11 started with a general recall after the RC recorded a 30 degree wind shift. The race ended with TED and Vasco Serpa scoring 1 and 2nd accordingly, having battled with each other several times.
A week before the event some of the Class members shared their thoughts on who can win this Championship. They wanted to see Nils Razmilovic improve his last year’s result and not only his team Glasgow Kiss won the bronze, but also topped the Corinthian fleet. The guessing of John Pollard with Jack and Henry Wetherell taking a top spot resulted in Xcellent’s silver. Back then team AP Hotels & Resorts in its winning setup of one of the best Portuguese helmsman and the best tactician in the fleet didn’t even exist. Congratulations, Jose Paulo, Artem Basalkin, Gonçalo Lopes and Carlota Gala!
And here we are a week later with an amazing fleet of sailors of all ages and genders. Three young local sailors joined our international teams this week stepping in for last minute drop outs. The female part of the fleet is growing and we are happy to congratulate Julia Freespirit from Ukraine, who despite all obstacles found a crew and joined the event almost last minute. #GameChanger was the winner in the Female category out of 5 other teams: KIDZINK with Libby Greenhalgh helming and YALLA SHAMAL! of Rachel Blackburn both from the UAE, Lupi d’Irlanda of Emma Crane and Sneaky B of Charlotte O’Kelly both from Ireland.
With the SB20 Worlds 2024 coming in Dubai it was great to have all the UAE teams and welcome them to the international level of SB20 racing. “See you in Dubai 2024” spinnakers took over the racecourse showing a good level of competitive sailing and we hope to see them at our international events until February 2024. We are grateful to the Royal Irish Yacht Club for great hospitality and all the technical support that has been as brilliant as ever.
The 2023 World Championship is less than a year away, which means that the rollercoaster of emotions, catching up with friends and making new ones, picking up crew (and maybe winning the Championship) will be again on the table.
And then, we’ll see you in Dubai 2024!
Overall Results stood as follows:
1st: AP Hotel's and Resort from Portugal Helmed by Jose Paulo Ramada, Crew Artem Basalkin, Goncalo Lopes, Cartola Gala
2nd: Xcellent from GBR Helmed by John Pollard, Crew Jack Wetherell, Henry Wetherell
3rd: Glasgow Kiss from Singapore Helmed by Nils Razmilovic Crew David Salembier and Nik Burfoot
4th Ted from IRL (The Royal St. George YC) Helmed by Michael O'Connor Crew Davy Taylor and Edward Cook!
Congratulations to all the Irish boats who finished inside the top 30 of the fleet!
DAY 2 at the World Championships
On the second day of the Provident CRM SB20 World Championships the expectation were high to go out after a day of waiting for the wind to drop. Just as boats started to dock out AP over H was displayed sending the fleet back to harbour as the wind was blowing 24 and gusting 28 knots at the time. Some boats confirming afterwards that “it was rather brutal out there”. The sailors prepared to wait and after about 2 hours, when the wind dropped to 16-18 knots, they were blessed with the AP flag going down!
First warning signal was given at 14:15 with broaches and breakages happening even before the boats crossed the starting line. Clear on the line 53 boats rushed into the waves in a 20 knots breeze.
PRO David Lovegrove and his team did a fantastic job on this difficult day resulting in three windy and action-packed races. Strong winds prevail on Dublin Bay and we all hope that racing will start at 12h00 as scheduled on Day 3 of the championship.
DAY 1 at the SP20 World Championships
The opening day of the SB20 world's got of to a slow start with no racing due to high winds in Dublin Bay. However, it was a great day of good news for the future of the class. It was announced that the current Class President Jerry Dowling will be stepping down after three years and handing over to the class's first Southern Hemisphere appointment, Scott Glanville.
“It’s been a pleasure to serve the Tony Castro designed SB20 Class over the last three tumultuous years. The Class has proved to be resilient, to say the least. We’ve grown in Australia, Singapore and the UAE, as well as in Malta & Finland. I am very proud that my club RIYC, is hosting this year’s World Championships with an entry of 58 boats from 12 nations,” - said Jerry Dowling at the announcement.
With the Class expanding the appointment of Australia-based president seems perfect. After next year’s World Championship in the Netherlands (17th-23rd June 2023) the fleet will travel south, to Dubai, in February 2024. And more great news for the SB20 Class, is that the SB20 Singapore World Championship is back on the agenda, having won the bid to host the event in January 2025! Dates are still to be announced, but with three years ahead it leaves enough time for planning.
All the latest news and announcements can be found on the official website of the SB20 Class: https://www.sb20class.org/