Dear European Laser SB3 friends,

Once again we would like to invite you to our two “big“ events 2010 in Germany:

Kiel Week, Kiel, Baltic Sea
19 – 23 June
www.kieler-woche.de

AND 

German Nationals / Travemünder Woche, Travemünde, Baltic Sea
29 – 31 July
www.travemuender-woche.net

We would be very happy if you could support us by participating in these events.

See you this year in Germany

Reinhard

After four days of racing in conditions ranging from blazing sunshine and light airs, to driving rain and 24-knot gusts, TEAM RUSSIA was the deserving winner of the GPEN Laser SB3 Eurocup, sailed at Crozon-Morgat, Brittany from May 28-31, 2010 as part of the Grand Prix Ecole Navale.
 
- Rodion Luka (Team Russia): “We’re very happy with the whole event, really enjoyed the racing”
- Mark Richards : “A bid would be welcome from France and from Crozon Morgat” 

Olympic silver medalist Rodion Luka skippered the newly formed team – along with crew Oleg Zherebtsov, founder and backer of the Team Russia Volvo Ocean Race squad, Maria Rudskaya and Alexander Lebedev – to win 5 of the 11 races, discarding two 5th places to count no result worse than a 3rd.
 
After an evening enjoying the hospitality of Morgat, with free meals and drinks provided for competitors, the 20-strong Laser SB3 fleet took to the water for an early start this morning in overcast conditions and a 10-15 knot westerly. TEAM RUSSIA went into the final day with a six-point advantage on nearest rivals DIRECT SAILING (Thomas Rouxel, FRA), and opened with another win, overhauling early leaders ROLA-TRAC (Peter Saxton, GBR), who finished second.
Race 10 of the series also saw DOOLALLI (Colin Simonds, GBR) and RIGGING GURUS (Mark Richards, GBR) pushing hard as both were in contention for the final podium place. DOOLALLI came out better in Race 10, finishing 3rd ahead of RIGGING GURUS in 5th – this put RIGGING GURUS just two points ahead of DOOLALLI overall, leaving 3rd still to play for going into the final race.
 
In the final Race 11 the sole Irish contenders SERIOUSLY BONKERS (Martin Ceppage) enjoyed an early lead, with the Russian crew taking things easy back in sixth. However, the Bay of Crozon Morgat dealt the fleet another roll of the dice, with boats on the left losing a lot of ground by the time they reconvened at the bottom mark. DIRECT SAILING took the lead, with TEAM RUSSIA back up to 2nd at the finish. British helmswoman Sarah Allan had her best result of the regatta in third with SAILBOAT SPARES.COM

Further back in the fleet RIGGING GURUS were working hard to defend their third overall position against the Simonds brothers on DOOLALLI, starting close to them in an attempt to keep them down the fleet. The tactics paid off and RIGGING GURUS crossed the line 9th, two places ahead of DOOLALLI, to take the final podium position in the GPEN Laser SB3 Eurocup.

After four days of superb racing and hospitality, the fleet had an early final prizegiving giving the visiting boats plenty of time to travel home. Next year is the 10th anniversary of the Grand Prix Ecole Navale in Morgat, which takes place from June 2-5, and the SB3 fleet are expected to return for another fantastic event next summer. 

The peninsula of Crozon and the Grand Prix Ecole Navale have now welcomed the SB3 class to their high quality racing waters for the past four years. Responding to the competitors’ enthusiasm for the venue, and the tradition of welcoming British visitors to the peninsula as a holiday destination, the Nautical Center of Crozon-Morgat is bidding to organise the 6th edition of the Laser SB3 World Championships in 2013.
 
QUOTES (GBR unless mentionned)
 
Rodion Luka (TEAM RUSSIA / RUS):
“I’m very happy. In the last race we could have been 6th, easily – the whole team was more relaxed because we knew we were first overall and could have not raced the last, but just for practice we raced and it was good, we were second by the last downwind mark. Over the week we sailed more or less conservatively, and had good speed so it’s quite easy to be in the top 5. We’re very happy with the whole event, really enjoyed the racing. The race committee did a really good job, and we’ve been very surprised by the help from the people here. When we hit a rock on the first day we got much help taking the boat out so within a couple of hours we had fixed everything, which was just perfect.”

Oleg Zherebtsov (TEAM RUSSIA / RUS):
“I’ve been really surprised by Brittany, it is our first time here. I like the fact that everyone is trying to help, people are constantly providing spare parts and little things to try to keep us in good racing condition. They’ve all worked really hard – it is only the supermarkets that are not open on Sunday here!”
 
Thomas Rouxel (DIRECT SAILING / FRA):
“The race today was fun. The Russians are strong, that’s for sure. They are fast. They made good decisions and they made less mistakes than us. At the end they are in the front [in the ranking] and they really deserve it. That was our first competition in Laser SB3. I sail in the Figaro Class. Sailing is my job, but if I have another occasion to race in Laser SB3 that would be a pleasure. My priority is the season on the Figaro though.”
 
Jerry Hill (RIGGING GURUS, and UK Laser SB3 Class Chairman):
“We said on the first day that 3rd was our target, so we’re happy with our result. Clearly the Russian and French guys sailed very well. In the last race it became apparent that our best strategy was to keep DOOLALLI low down the fleet, Colin did a very good job and nearly got through us twice, but we kept him behind and did what we needed to do (for third). It’s been a very successful event again, we love coming here. We’ve managed to get good racing every day, we’ve had a bit of everything – you just have to look at the photographs (shown every night on a big screen) to see how fantastic it’s been.”
 

Alain Daoulas (commissaire général of the Grand Prix Ecole Navale):
“We organised a nice competition. The good news today is that we could run 11 races in light and windy conditions – four races have been held in 25 knots, and we’ve managed a large range of conditions. Very competitive teams have been sailing here and the competition between the first 6-7 boats in the ranking was tough. The racing was close as all the fleet gathered at the “spreader leg” which shows the evenness of the level in the fleet. We noticed that TEAM RUSSIA went better in light winds and the crew of DIRECT SAILING gained points in stronger breeze. Not to forget about the English crew, led by Mark Richards, who were always hot on their heels. The Laser SB3 class is mainly a “British class” and the GPEN has thought globally, working with the Brittany County, Finistère and the Townhall of Crozon to develop the tradition of welcoming the English to the area.”
 
Mark Richards (Laser SB3 reprentative):
“The organisation is first-class, without equal on the water and onshore. It’s been as if the race committee has been run by professionals everyday. And it is supported by an environment which is perfect for sailing. The Bay is challenging in terms of wind, tide and changing weather. Possibly even more important for competitors who are coming from long distances is the hospitality with the restaurants, the cafes… so that’s relevant to a world championship. Our first available date is 2013 and a bid would be welcome from France and this location. Having done two years here and seen the exemplary skills here it would be well received. The French class is beginning to grow in Brittany, which would also help with a bid if there is a local fleet. It has a very good chance”.
 
GPEN – Laser SB3 EUROCUP after races 7, 8 and 9 today (7 to count.)
Details of each race HERE / Teams are GBR unless mentionned
1: “Team Russia”, Rodion Luka (RUS) 14 points  (Races: 1,5,2,1,5,3,2,1,1,1,2,)
2: “Direct Sailing”, Thomas Rouxel (FRA) 22 points  (Races: 7,3,1,6,1,1,3,2,12,4,1,)
3: “Rigging Gurus”, Mark Richards 33 points  (Races : 4,2,3,7,4,5,1,6,3,5,9,)
4: “Doolalli”, Colin Simonds 36 points  (Races: 2,1,5,2,7,4,5,10,7,3,11,)
5: “Rola-Trac”, Peter Saxton 42 points  (Races : 6,4,14,4,3,10,4,7,6,2,6,)
6: “Darling Associates”, Chris Darling 44 points  (Races: 5,8,DNF ,DNC ,2,2,6,3,5,9,4,)
7: “Sail Boat Spares.Com”, Sarah Allan 51 points  (Races: 9,6,4,5,8,6,8,5,11,6,3,)
8: “Huttons”, Ben Williamson 62 points  (Races: 11,10,9,3,11,8,7,9,2,7,7,)
9: “Morpheus”, Edward Russo (FRA) 80 points  (Races: 14,11,13,11,12,7,10,4,9,8,8,)
10: “Excuse Me Gents”, Ann Jackson 82 points  (Races: 3,13,OCS ,8,6,BFD ,9,13,4,16,10,)
11: “Laserperformance”, Philippe Peron (FRA) 99 points  (Races: 10,7,16,14,10,13,14,11,10,10,15,)
12: “Seriously Bonkers 3″, Martin Ceppage (IRL) 100 points  (Races: 8,9,11,13,16,12,19,16,15,11,5,)
13: “Tb4e”, Geoff Gritton 106 points  (Races: 18,18,10,10,9,9,15,14,8,14,17,)
14: “Cheeky Monkey”, Ian Sullivan  109 points  (Races: 13,15,8,9,15,11,12,8,18,DNC ,DNC ,)
15: “Eric”, Martin Wedge 112 points  (Races : 12,16,6,12,13,15,13,19,17,13,12,)
16: “Tad’minus”, Sebastien Bresson (FRA) 124 points  (Races: 17,12,12,15,17,19,11,15,14,15,13,)
17: “Liesl II”, Bertrand Stuyts (BEL) 140 points  (Races: 15,17,7,DNF ,14,14,16,17,19,DNC ,DNC ,)
18: “Spartacus”, Charlotte Leguillette (FRA) 141 points  (Races: 19,19,15,16,20,16,18,18,13,12,14,)
19: “Sail Army – Engineering”, Mike Barham  142 points  (Races: 16,14,17,17,18,17,17,12,16,17,16,)
20: “Tacktonic”, Cedric de Bleye (BEL) 171 points  (Races: 20,20,18,18,19,18,20,20,20,18,DNS)

The Singapore Laser SB3 Fleet held its second weekend regatta over the weekend of the 22/23 May. A competitive fleet of 8 boats took to the water, with all the boats being fully crewed up. May of the fleet had made special effort to return from foreign climes in order to make the racing. One crew arriving the Saturday morning form South Africa.

With the fleet arriving at Raffles Marina in the late morning, they were greeted with a tropical downpour, which left those who had not bimbled wondering if they would have time to complete last minute preparations. With the rain finely lifting at midday, and a one o’clock briefing scheduled there was much activity on the dock, and many new or newer sets of sails in evidence.

The first race got away very promptly at 1:00pm, with four boats being over the line due to some energetic luffing by Chris in Bandit, who also managed to put himself over the line. Whilst half the fleet went back, the remaining four boats set off for the windward mark in a pleasant 10-12 knots of wind, and little tide. The windward mark proved how close the racing was, with the majority of the fleet arriving at the same time. Fabrice on Alidade managed to get round in the clear and then led to the finish, followed by Wallace on Glasgow Kiss, and Hullaballoo in third.

With the wind starting to pick up, the fleet was once more pushing the start line, but everyone got away cleanly, with the wind shifting after the first beat, the race became a bit of a procession, with Alidade and Glasgow Kiss taking 1st and 2nd again, with Keith on slippery when wet, taking third. This race goes down as one to remember as with the wind picking up and shifting led to a storming broad reach to the finish, with control being the key to success, Hullaballoo being a fine example as Bandit surfed past them into 4th whilst they were over on their side. A couple of the newer crews / boats were seen struggling with the windier conditions, with some deep sea fishing taking place with the kite.

With the wind moderating, race three saw a change in pecking order at the top with Glasgow Kiss taking top spot from Alidade and Hullaballoo in 3rd. Keith, on Slippery When Wet, retired with a broken tiller extension which put the end to his racing on Saturday. Race 4 and 5 saw the same order for the top 3 with Alidade, Glasgow Kiss and Hullaballoo taking the top 3 spots, with Hullaballoo surrendering second place in both races due to some crew work issues. At the end of the day Alidade was sitting in top spot with Glasgow Kiss and Hullaballoo finishing up the podium places.

With 5 races complete a weary, but happy fleet returned to the marina, for some cooling off in the pool, and the Hawaiian shirt BBQ. The appearance of a bottle of rum, led to some special awards being given out: Hullaballoo for making the crew goto bed at 10am the night before, Su Me for the matching Hawaiian shirts, and Glasgow Kiss for not paying the entry fee.

Sunday dawned with clear blue skies – it was going to be a hot one! With crews arriving later to the boats there were several nervous helms standing around looking at watches and making frantic phone calls. With the fleet launching, and chasing the committee boat the racing area was set much further down the channel than before. With lighter winds and more tide, it was going to be a challenging day.

Race 6 saw Alidade and Glasgow Kiss fighting before the start, with the fleet trying to gauge which side of the beat to go some boats went in tight to the shore, some struck out in search of more wind. To be honest it didn’t seem to make much difference as the boats converged at the windward mark. Kiss finished in first spot, with Su Me, having untied the bucket from their stern, coming in second and Alidade in 3rd. With the tide now starting to have some impact, and the wind dropping further Race 7 saw the fleet adopt switch to very light wind sailing. Glasgow Kiss and Hullaballoo reveled in the conditions and had much better boat speed than the rest of the fleet finishing 1st and 2nd.

Race 8 was a tester – after the start the wind dropped, and the tide really started to rip catching quite a few boats unawares at the first mark. The second beat was even more challenging, with several periods of stationary sailing. Fortunately the downwind leg was pretty quick thanks to the tide, However Bandit only just managed to finish within the time limit in 5th with the remaining three boats being timed out. Hullabaloo caused an upset and finished first, with Glasgow Kiss in second and Aldidade in 3rd.

Coming into the final race, there was much mental calculation being done on both Alidade and Glasgow Kiss to work out the current points situation, including the discard, to see where they needed to finish in order to win. The final race was a distance race to bring the fleet back close to the marina. With so much tide running, the first boat round the windward mark would be in a great position for the remaining three reaching legs. The lightweight team on Hullaballoo led round the first mark and maintained the lead to the finish, closely followed by Glasgow Kiss and Alidade.

As the fleet arrived in the marina, no one was quite sure who had won. The anticipation mounted as the boats were put to bed, and the crews adjourned to the pool for some well earned après sail cold beer and conversation. The prizegiving was held (again) in the pool with the final results being Glasgow Kiss in first, Alidade in second and Hullaballoo in third. The remaining places saw Bandit hang on to 4th from a resurgent Su Me in 5th, Slippery When Wet in 6th, Pyxis in 7th and newcomer Marcus in 8th.

Special thanks must go to Robin (Pyxis) for organizing the regatta, the race committee for fitting in 9 races in a very efficient manner, and Prakash for doing lots of the leg work, and somehow managing to get very attractive assistance – I am not sure if the fleet will forget the start bouy being hauled up by someone wearing a mini-skirt. A final comment must goto two crew within the fleet who become victims to Singapore’s roads, Andreas, who missed the regatta due to breaking his leg in three places after coming of his scooter and Cip, who came off his push bike during the roadrace on the Sunday morning and couldn’t sail.

The SB3 fleet in Singapore is now the fleet to join for the best one-design racing in Singapore. The regular Saturday / Sunday racing has shown its worth, with the entire fleet improving its boat handling and tactics. With several new owners joining the fleet, the number of boats on the water taking part in the regular weekend racing is increasing. The third stage of the nationals regatta will be part of the Singapore Management University – Raffles Marin Western Series (15,21,22,28 August).

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The Laser SB3 Eurocup fleet was thoroughly tested with four races today, the second day of competition for this second stage to the Grand Prix Ecole Navale in Morgat. In contrast to yesterday’s sun and light airs, the Bay of Douarnenez today saw overcast conditions and rain, with 20+ knots gusting through the 20-boat fleet, resulting in mainsails flogging and a few boats struggling to stay on their feet during the kite hoists.

After six races there is a tie at the top, with both DIRECT SAILING (Thomas Rouxel, FRA) and TEAM RUSSIA (Rodion Luka, RUS) so far scoring 12 points (after one discard), British boat DOOLALLI (Colin Simonds, GBR) lies in third on 14 points, with RIGGING GURUS (Mark Richards, GBR) fourth on 18 points.

Rouxel and his French crew, which includes fellow Figarist Eric Peron, had the best of the day with three wins, coming sixth in race four whilst the bullet went to the Ukranian helm of TEAM RUSSIA, Rodion Luka, who also picked up a second, third, and fifth.

The day was marked by lots of place changes with skippers attempting to play 20-degree shifts up the beat, then hoping to catch the gusts downwind for more overtaking opportunities. Several boats picked up penalty turns attempting to lay the windward mark and squeeze in amongst the pack, and as the crews returned to shore on-water arguments were being resolved over the promise of an onshore beer!

Other incidents included an unscheduled swim for one member of crew on ‘SAIL ARMY – ENGINEERING’ in between races, a minor injury onboard HUTTONS as the crew wrestled with the loaded spinnaker halyard, and a quick repair job LIESL II, who made a brief pitstop to repair a broken halyard.

However the most dramatic day belonged to Chris Darling and crew on DARLING ASSOCIATES, when the spreader bracket on their mast broke before the first start. The team made a hasty return to port where, with the assistance of some tools from Belgian crew TACKTONIC, the local French chandleries and organizers, and a bit of measuring against the Russian boat, there were able to fashion a replacement part from steel, re-step the mast and return to the racecourse in time for race five. Apparently unfazed, the team scored a second place, and then went on to repeat the score in race six.

This evening the crews will be able to relive the day’s races as eight boats were carrying Race-Trax GPS trackers, which recorded their course enabling it to be replayed after racing on a giant screen. The competition resumes tomorrow morning with another full day’s racing scheduled.

QUOTES (GBR unless mentionned)

Thomas Rouxel (DIRECT SAILING):
“In such weather conditions as we had today we really need to work on the fine tuning of the boat, although the boat was lent to us by Direct Sailing in very good shape, Eric Peron and myself have the experience of sailing on very different boats so we adapt fairly quickly. Tomorrow we should have a bit more wind, it should be a little bit more right-handed, but it will be very unstable in direction and when we are in the pack it’s very tight racing. Tomorrow we’re going to try to play the shifts correctly, because when it’s so shifty it’s difficult to be in control.”

Rodion Luka (TEAM RUSSIA):
“The French did very well, and I hope for tomorrow we can do better, because I feel like we still have a lot of potential, making too many mistakes. We broached maybe three times today, and we had to do a 360 (penalty turn), so it was quite tough. The first two races were really good, and then we have some things to develop further. But it’s okay, we finished in the top three about from one fifth, so not too bad. I like this kind of shifty conditions, you have to think – it’s not all about boatspeed, and it’s more fun. Of course we don’t have too much advantage because our team got together not a long time ago, so we just started sailing together, but we are happy with our speed and I call the tactics – that’s how I always sail. We beat the British team in every race today I think, so tomorrow we’ll focus on the French!”

Chris Darling (DARLING ASSOCIATES):
“We went out for the start of the first race and hardened up, and then Bang! The spreader bracket broke, so we sailed in and we were thinking we’ll be going home. But we found a piece of steel that we could use to fix it with. So we de-rigged, took the mast out. Alastair Shaw, who’s our onboard engineer came in very handy, he basically fashioned a new spreader bracket, and then we riveted and bolted it on, taped it up, re-stepped the mast, hoisted the sails… and we were just in time for the third race! We managed to have a good start and we were pretty much second place all the way round. The last race, the fourth, was really exciting because we were about ninth at the first mark but downwind we managed to get up to second, and then we had a proper ding-dong with the Russian boat and the French boat Thomas Rouxel. It was very close all the way round, three boats just a couple of lengths apart. So we managed to get two second places, just when we were thinking it was regatta over, so it’s really been a memorable day. The French organisers were ever so helpful, I think we’ve got to go and buy quite a few beers now.”

Peter Saxton (ROLA-TRAC):
“I’m knackered! It was very good racing – very irritating because it was very difficult! Things would look good, but with 20-30 degree shifts going upwind you would be underneath it on minute, and then you’d be on top of them, and bands of breeze downwind. We could kind of ignore the bits where we went from 5th to 3rd, but the bits where we went from 3rd to 7th were very upsetting! Just all over the place. The same old guys still seem to be doing quite well, we’re just too inconsistent at the moment. Up the left-hand side of the beat was quite choppy, I think that was the attraction of coming inshore, but then if you happened to be on the wrong side of the shifts… And there were some quite big lulls as well, it’s just really difficult!”

GPEN – Laser SB3 EUROCUP after races 4, 5 and 6 today (5 to count.)
Teams are GBR unless mentionned
1: “Direct Sailing”, Thomas Rouxel (FRA) 12 points (Races: 7,3,1,6,1,1,)
2: “Team Russia”, Rodion Luka ( RUS ) 12 points (Races: 1,5,2,1,5,3,)
3: “Doolalli”, Colin Simonds 14 points (Races: 2,1,5,2,7,4,)
4: “Rigging Gurus”, Mark Richards 18 points  (Races: 4,2,3,7,4,5,)
5: “Rola-Trac”, Peter Saxton 27 points  (Races: 6,4,14,4,3,10,)
6: “Sail Boat Spares.Com”, Sarah Allan 29 points  (Races: 9,6,4,5,8,6,)
7: “Darling Associates”, Chris Darling 38 points  (Races: 5,8,DNF ,DNC ,2,2,)
8: “Huttons”, Ben Williamson 41 points  (Races: 11,10,9,3,11,8,)
9: “Excuse Me Gents”, Ann Jackson 51 points (Races: 3,13,OCS ,8,6,BFD ,)
10: “Seriously Bonkers 3″, Martin Ceppage (IRL) 53 points  (Races: 8,9,11,13,16,12,)
11: “Laserperformance”, Philippe Peron (FRA) 54 points  (Races: 10,7,16,14,10,13,)
12: “Morpheus”, Edward Russo (FRA) 54 points (Races: 14,11,13,11,12,7,)
13: “Cheeky Monkey”, Ian Sullivan 56 points  (Races: 13,15,8,9,15,11,)
14: “Tb4e”, Geoff Gritton 56 points (Races: 18,18,10,10,9,9,)
15: “Eric”, Martin Wedge 58 points (Races: 12,16,6,12,13,15,)
16: “Liesl II”, Bertrand Stuyts (BEL) 67 points (Races: 15,17,7,DNF ,14,14,)
17: “Tad’minus”, Sebastien Bresson (FRA) 73 points (Races: 17,12,12,15,17,19,)
18: “Sail Army – Engineering”, Mike Barham 81 points (Races: 16,14,17,17,18,17,)
19: “Spartacus”, Charlotte Leguillette (FRA) 85 points (Races: 19,19,15,16,20,16,)
20: “Tacktonic”, Cedric de Bleye (BEL) 93 points (Races: 20,20,18,18,19,18,)

Britain and Russia share the honours on Day 1 of the Laser SB3 Eurocup, the Grand Prix Ecole Navale’s second act.
 
The Bay of Douarnenez set a perfect scene for the opening day of the 2010 Laser SB3 Eurocup, the second event in the Grand Prix Ecole Navale in Crozon-Morgat, Brittany.

By lunchtime the wind had swung to around 260 degrees, with between 5-10 knots of pressure.
The race committee set a two-lap sausage course for the afternoon’s starts, with 20 SB3s lining up to bid for the Eurocup title, including a dozen British crews, as well as French teams and visitors from Ireland, Belgium and Russia. 

Many of the British entries arrived early this morning after an overnight Channel crossing, with competitors enjoying reduced rates thanks to the support of Brittany Ferries.

Taking the first gun of the championship was TEAM RUSSIA, skippered by Luka Rodion. Rodion is a Ukranian sailor who scored a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games in the 49er fleet and also helmed the VO70 ‘Team Russia’ during the last Volvo Ocean Race. In second place was Colin Simonds, who is sailing with his brothers Gavin and Raymond in DOOLALLI. Before racing he joked “We have what we call the ‘A’ crew here at the moment, ‘A’ as in Auld because our average age is 59!” Simonds is also the class’s chief measurer. Third place in Race 1 went to Ann Jackson with EXCUSE ME GENTS.

It was the turn of Peter Saxton in ROLA-TRAC to set the pace for Race 2, leading around the top mark, with Colin Simonds having a great start to the event as DOOLALLI once again lay in second place. The French team on DIRECT SAILING, skippered by Figaro sailor Thomas Rouxel, was also in the top three around the first windward buoy.

Things got even better for Simonds and the crew on DOOLALLI in the second lap, as they went into the lead, building a strong margin of 50m by the finish. On the final downwind leg the hotly-favoured British team RIGGING GURUS, skippered by Mark Richards, came down the left-hand side of the run, whilst Simonds led the fleet down the right. Richards’ tactics paid off and saw him overtake the close pack to move into second, but Simonds held on for the win. TEAM RUSSIA (Luka Rodion) tried the same tactic but couldn’t make a dent on the top places, with DIRECT SAILING tacking third.

Tomorrow conditions are forecast to change with strong southerly winds predicted for Morgat in the morning. A full day of racing is scheduled with the first start after 9.00am.
 
QUOTES (GBR unless mentionned)
Colin Simonds (DOOLALLI):
“Well that wasn’t quite in the script! It’s only our second time out this year so we weren’t expecting that, but it’s a terrific start – one for the boys of Seaview (on the Isle of Wight). The standard in the top half of the fleet seems very high – any one of those could win a race and they’re very close, with places changing all the time. We rounded the mark in second in the first race, and behind us there was just a wall of 10 or so boats breathing down on us. It’s forecast to be quite a bit more wind tomorrow, so we’re expecting to be pretty tired.” 

Mark Richards (RIGGING GURUS):
“We found a little more pressure on the left on the last downwind leg. The Russian team went out that way too, and we made up a few places – I think it was the same as what we lost in the first race, so it’s pretty shifty, as we expected, with lots of snakes and ladders out there.”

Philippe Peron (FRA / LASER PREFORMANCE):
“My crew are Ollie from Great Britain, and Florence Lebrun who twice sailed at the Olympics in 470s. We rounded the first buoy ahead in the first race, but had a problem with the spinnaker, dropping it in the water. It’s very positive that there are more French boats here than last year, with three coming from Normandy because a fleet is being created in Le Havre. Edward Russo (skipper of MORPHEUS) is the new President of the French class so we can be pleased that a quarter of the fleet is French.”

Thomas Rouxel (FRA / DIRECT SAILING):
“This was my first race on the SB3 but Direct Sailing in Brest gave me a boat, and I had to put together a crew as quickly as possible. Before I started racing on the Figaro I did a lot of 420 and 470 sailing and some Melges 24 racing, which is very close to this boat. But tomorrow it will be more difficult because there should be a lot more wind.”

GPEN Laser SB3 Eurocup RESULTS after 2 races:
1: “Doolalli”, Colin Simonds ( GBR) 3 points  (Ra courses : 2,1,)
2: “Rigging Gurus”, Mark Richards ( GBR ) 6 points  (Détail courses : 4,2,)
3: “Team Russia”, Rodion Luka ( RUS) 7 points  (Détail courses : 1,6,)
4: “Direct Sailing”, Thomas Rouxel (FRA) C V Baie D Erquy) 10 points  (Détail courses : 7,3,)
5: “Rola-Trac”, Peter Saxton (GBR) 10 points  (Détail courses : 6,4,)
6: “Darling Associates”, Chris Darling (GBR) 13 points  (Détail courses : 5,8,)
7: “Sail Boat Spares.Com”, Sarah Allan (GBR) 14 points  (Détail courses : 9,5,)
8: “Excuse Me Gents”, Ann Jackson (GBR ) 16 points  (Détail courses : 3,13,)
9: “Laserperformance”, Philippe Peron ( FRA) Ctre Naut. Crozon Morgat) 17 points  (Détail courses : 10,7,)
10: “Seriously Bonkers 3″, Martin Ceppage (GBR ) 17 points  (Détail courses : 8,9,)
11: “Huttons”, Ben Williamson (GBR) 21 points  (Détail courses : 11,10,)
12: “Morpheus”, Edward Russo (FRA) Ligue de Voile Rhone Alpes) 25 points  (Détail courses : 14,11,)
13: “Eric”, Martin Wedge (GBR ) 28 points  (Détail courses : 12,16,)
14: “Cheeky Monkey”, Ian Sullivan (GBR ) 28 points  (Détail courses : 13,15,)
15: “Tad’minus”, Sebastien Bresson ( FRA) Ligue de Voile Rhone Alpes) 29 points  (Détail courses : 17,12,)
16: “Sail Army – Engineering”, Mike Barham (GBR ) 30 points  (Détail courses : 16,14,)
17: “Liesl II”, Bertrand Stuyts ( BEL) 32 points  (Détail courses : 15,17,)
18: “Tb4e”, Geoff Gritton (GBR ) 36 points  (Détail courses : 18,18,)
19: “Spartacus”, Charlotte Leguillette ( FRA / S R Fecamp) 38 points  (Détail courses : 19,19,)
20: “Tacktonic”, Cedric de Bleye ( BEL ) 40 points  (Détail courses : 20,20,)
—: “Bartaba”, Benoit Charon ( FRA / Y C de Granville) 46 points  (Détail courses : DNC ,DNC ,)
—: “Hot Pants”, Michael Wood (  GBR ) 46 points  (Détail courses : DNC ,DNC ,)

The first stage of the Grand Prix Ecole Naval – the French One Design Cruiser Championship -was contested just over a week ago with four French titles settled in the J80, Open 5.70, the Corsaire and the Longtze that attracted up to 170 teams. (more…)

Next week-end 22-23 may will be the very expected second regatta of our Singapore National Championship and already yesterday (Sunday) we could see a lot of activity around the boats. Tool boxes were out and crew were getting their machines ready before the promising race to come.

After all this fine tuning and even if no round-the-cans were scheduled officially, 5 boats went out on the water for some unsollicited, but always welcome, sessions of speed testing and manoeuvring. “GlasgowKiss”, “Hullabaloo”, “Xoco”, “Alidade” and “Over there” enjoyed a nice breeze which typically grew to about 10knots as from 2 pm sharp. 

The day before, “Hullabaloo” (again), “Su Me” and “Bandit” did there very best to win the RM Lady’s Helm regatta even though racing on handicap is not the SB3′s cup of tea. It was surely another good training however and look forward to reading the official review (if any). 

Great News After “Pyxis”, sold to Robin Young and “Xoco”, (ex Vitra) sold to Max Hartvigsen and Ola Andersen earlier this year, we are very pleased to welcome 2 new Owners to join in the fun. “Over There” has been sold toMarcus Tehan who used to sail on “Pyxis” and “who could not resist” when “Pocapena” will very soon be driven by a new Australian owner. These fresh arrivals in the fleet are obvioulsy very good news after the 4 boats that joined the fleet in 2009 (Alidade, Bandit, Hullabaloo, Su Me). Remains now only Dutchess available for sale. She is the youngest boat of the fleet and a fast one as we can all remember.    We have 8 boats confirmed sofar for the May(hem) Regatta:

Confirmed:
Alidade
Bandit
Glasgow Kiss
Hullabaloo
Over there
Pyxis
Su Me
The Dogs 3

The Singapore SB3 Fleet held its annual dinner at the Boathouse at the Fullerton in Singapore, with the newly opened Integrated Resort providing an excellent backdrop. With the weather being kind, an outside dinner with free flow wine / beer was enjoyed by all the attendees into the wee hours.

For some the evening proved too much and with planned racing on Saturday only 50% of those committed to sailing turned up at the club. Those that did sail were rewarded with a very pleasant breeze, which removed some of the residue of the previous evening. The after sail discussion revolved around ‘what did we talk about for 6 hours the previous evening’…

Race 2 of the Laser SB3 Championship will take place on 22nd and 23rd May 2010 at Raffles Marina.

Laser SB3 Mayhem Regatta NOR & SI 2010
Laser SB3 Mayhem Regatta Entry Form 2010
 
The last Tiger cup was a great success with 13 identical boats fighting hard to get the best out of the 11 races (!) we sailed.
 
We will have a maximum of 9 starts scheduled this time and a barbecue on the saturday night.
 
We hope to see you there!
 
LASER SB3 2010 Championship ranking sofar (after 1 regatta):

  PosYachtSkipperPts
1     COMPASS RISING          COMSTOCK          21
2     GLASGOW KISS               CUTHBERTSON 21
3     ALIDADE                           PIARD                   23
4     SCUMBAG                          MAHONY            44
5     HULLABALOO                 SAMUELS            47
6     SU ME                                 PRIESTLY            56
7     TARA                                  CLANCY / BIRD 74
8     KATANA                            COX / LYDENS   77
9     BANDIT                              HOLMES               85
10  PYXIS                                 YOUNG                  103
11   DOGS 3                               STAARMAN        105
12  XOCO                                   MAX / OLA          129
13SLIPPERY WHEN WET  DUNN                      140
Reminder: Race 3 of the SB3 championship will be the Western Circuit Sailing Regatta in August and Race 4 will be the SB3 Nationals in November 2010.
 
http://sb3insg.blogspot.com
http://www.singaporelasersb3fleet.com

Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, long home to one of Australia’s most dedicated and talented sailing communities, appears to have fallen in love with the International SB3. It is more than a first date for sure !

Following in Andrew Crisp’s lead , two new RYCT teams have this week joined the SB3 fleet. Nick Rogers a former World Dragon Champion ( and still on the warpath towards Dragon World Championship glory in 2011 ) and Brett and Jacinta Cooper, J24 legends from the Apple Isle have recently ordered SB3s. They expect delivery of their boats in June ( and maybe some polar suits to sail in as well !! )

With current RYCT SB3 owner, former International 14 World Champ, Andrew Crisp, the Tassie trio will form a talented basis for the class on the Derwent.

Nick Rogers , trading as Nick Rogers Marine has also become the distributor for the class in the Apple Isle. Nick anticipates strong growth for the SB3 on the Derwent and throughout the state. The SB3 is ideal for our sailors, offering high performance, challenging sailing and an affordable price. The carrot of having the 2012 SB3 World Championships and an 80 boat fleet only a few 100kms away is an extra incentive.

Nick and his team, will join Crispy and the Coopers when they all head to Audi Hamilton Island Race Week in August. Three Tassie teams , in the tropics. Could this be a film title !!

Following the class development of an East Coast regatta circuit , with top shelf regattas in Geelong , Sydney , Port Stephens, Mooloolaba and Hamilton Island, it will be reasonable to expect a Hobart regatta will be added to the SB3 circuit in 2011.

Class growth on the East Coast has been strong over last months with new boats going to Tasmania, Victoria and Queensland.

Roll on the Aussie SB3 Worlds , part of Audi Victoria Week in January 2012 !!

Sunshine Coast sailing clubs have enthusiastically combined their resources to launch a major all classes regatta to be staged off Mooloolaba Beach on the 5-6th of June.

The initial plan introduced by the pro-active Maroochy Sailing Club to promote a major winter regatta on the Sunshine Coast has the full support of The Mooloolaba Yacht Club and the OceanBuro SB3 Dart sports boat class.

Up to twelve SB3 crews including Mooloolaba’s Lauren Calder and her all female Audi Sunshine Coast racing team have accepted the Notice of Race documents confirming they will gain test their tactical skill in a boat on boat match race for honours against some of Australia’s leading male one-design class racing skippers.

Mooloolaba’s former Australian 505 champion Phil Gray and his Dulon Polish crew will be all out to repair some minor damage to their reputations following a below par seventh in the 2010 Audi Australian championship at Port Stephens last month.

Gray, noted for his fresh wind sailing skills had some difficulty in producing consistent top three results in a series that was contested in light variable winds.

His final four race score of 10-2-7-11 was out of character while Lauren Calder’s crew generally held control on a top ten finish with their 7-3-6-7 results.

Both the Dulon Polish and Audi Sunshine Coast Girls will welcome the opportunity to test their individual crew skill and tactical strategy on their home course where Phil Gray will be hoping for a stronger and more reliable weather system to justify his ranking as the regatta favourite.

The nature of the strict one-design SB3 class racing, places a huge demand on the skipper and crew to command clear space out of the start.

This will become a top priority for Phil Gray and Lauren Calder when the ‘battle-line’ is drawn off Pt Cartwright to decide the 2010 Sail Mooloolaba champion on June 5-6th.

Naturally the tenacious Lauren Calder will not be offering any clear sailing space to her male rivals.

Instead the Audi Sunshine Coast all female crew have promised to become a front line contender for the trophy in spite of becoming a tactical target.

They also promise to emerge from the fleet racing ‘scrap’ with an improved ranking.

The clash between these two talented crews promises to be a regatta highlight with the races expected to be decided by centimetres rather than seconds.

Generally the Dulon Polish crew are considered to have a minor edge but they will need to adopt a tight defensive tactical strategy to restore their reputation as one of the best in the class.

SB3 growth continues with a solid fleet lining up in the inaugural Sail Mooloolaba regatta starting June 5.

Sail Mooloolaba, an event initiated by Maroochy Sailing Club with support from Moloolaba Yacht Club and Sunshine Coast Yacht Club will see a mixed variety of boats hit the start line. It is expected 12 SB3s will race.

Entries are expected from as far away as Victoria and Far North Queensland.

The program for the SB3′s, racing on the keelboat course, is six races over the first two days of the regatta.

Nominally Phil Gray and the Dulon team will be favourites but will be hard pressed by team WAGOP of Mike McLean and A-Play team headed by Dean Joel.

As part of the fleet building program, recent Nationals runner up team of Rod Jones , Sean O’Rourke and Greg McAllansmth will lend their CLUB MARINE BLUE boat to another team and will support the fleet with coaching and mentoring advice.

After the SB3s wrap up at Mooloolaba, the next planned event will be at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week wth 12 boats expected in the tropic paradise.

Again the SB3 fleet is being proactive by enlisting the support of Adrian Finglas in a two day coaching clinic for the class. This will be prior to three hard days of racing in the Whitsundays ! ( Life is tough for an SB3 sailor !! ).

The fleet in Australia is building towards its first Worlds to be held outside of Europe, the 2012 Worlds to be held in Geelong in late January 2012.

These Geelong Worlds will be the fifth SB3 Worlds and a great opportunity to Aussie sailor’s to test themselves against the best of the rest on

Another glorious day meets the Singapore SB3 sailors at Raffles Marina. A few of the crews even arrived early to do some performance tweaking. However, certain people will have wished they hadn’t bothered after getting rope burn in rather sensitive areas after a boat righting happened a bit quicker than planned. Don’t worry Wallace, we mention it was you or your nipple we are talking about.

After a slightly delayed start all 6 boats made it to the start of the first race. The fact they all arrived at the starboard end led to a slight dispute between Bandit and Komodo. The rights and wrongs of which were still being debated late into the afternoon. After the start the fleet split left and right with Bandit doing particularly well going right. However it was to no avail as after the fleet rounded the windward mark the wind first died and then switched 180 degrees filling in from the south. After some rapid kite handling to tack round the leeward mark the boats were running again back to the windward mark. Add to this some sporadic horn blowing and calls of “sorry” from the race committee, it all resulted in a tricky first race. Hullabaloo brought it home first, Bandit benefiting from their first leg gains in second and Pyxis in third.

With the wind now steady from the south the second race was set in the opposite direction to mark ???? A longer than usual beat meant there were some good opportunities for tactics and boat speed to come to the fore. Hullabaloo made it to the windward mark first after keeping right up the beat, closely followed by Su me and Pyxis. The run back was pretty nerve wrecking with plenty of gusts blowing through the course giving opportunities for overtaking. Hullabaloo held on for another win with Pyxis showing some good speed to grab second. The top three being round off by Su me.

After a quick on water debate about the third race it was decided to do a running start towards our original windward mark from the first race. With people still trying to get their heads round a downwind start Glasgow Kiss and Hullabaloo were off and running with good starts. All the boats were back together again by the first mark, a bit too close for Bandit who ended up in a no win port and starboard scenario with at least other three boats. The resulting penalty turn leaving them at the back.  A good reach back to the light house to finish resulted in a clean sweep for Hullabaloo, a much improved second for Glasgow Kiss and a third for Su me.

The best thing about the light house finish is it means minimum race course to bar time with all crews looking forward to a cool beer and refreshing swim. Congratulations to Hullabaloo for a clean sweep and thanks to Bill and the crew of Komodo for laying the marks and being race officer for the day. 

Overall Results

Hullabaloo 1, 1, 1, 3
Pyxis 3, 2, 4, 9
Su me 4, 3, 3, 10
Bandit 2, 4, 6, 12
GK 6, 5, 2, 13
Komodo 5, 6, 5, 16