#sb20 – This Friday sees the kick off for the 2013 SB20 Nationals, this year hosted by Galway Bay Sailing Club, Galway Harbour Company and race HQ provided by the Harbour Hotel.
The fleet are well used to Galway Bay having had 3 previous Western Championships run from the city centre docks location. Galway has proven an ideal location for the fleet as it provides good deep water marina berthing, on-site crane and perfect Atlantic sailing.
The Irish SB20 fleet is still one of the most competitive and thriving SB20 Fleets in the world.
It is a measure of this success which warrants a visit from the SB20 World Council President Ed Russo, to compete in his run up campaign to the SB20 Worlds to be held in September in Hyeres in the South of France. Of the 90 boats entered so far to the French spectacular, over 10% of these entries come from the Irish fleet.
Ed is going to find it tough at the top end of the fleet in this dog eat dog environment where the last two events have gone down to tied points at the lead and count back wins. Alan Hillman of Sportsboat world is putting in an appearance on Friday also to see what the fuss is about.
As usual, Ben Duncan (Sharkbait) and crew will be a force to be reckoned with as they've won the last two nationals and won here three times in a row, but the Kiwi native hasn't had it all his own way this year. John O'Driscoll (Boomchickawahwah) from RSGYC has really been on form and only a quick tack away from winning the Westerns and Southerns this year. Each event going to tied points with Duncan. John and crew also had a good event at the recent Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta coming second to club mate Michael O'Connor on "Should Be". But can Michael convert "should be" to "could be" for the nationals? Certainly based on his dominance at VDLR 2013 we would have to say yes he could. Michael has had an unlucky start to his SB20 career with some damage but hopefully he can now concentrate on matters at hand and prove to be a force in the class.
On recent form a number of contenders will be well in with a chance at the title. Emmet Ryan's recent successes at the RS400 circuit and a good showing at VDLR for example. Aidan O'Connell who won the Eastern title at Howth, Mel Collins, Kieran Dorgan, Darren Martin all have their eyes on the title but at the end of the day it'll be a numbers game and a top 5 slot in the Irish fleet is a hard place to be. Ed Russo needs his jousting gloves on for this one.
Racing starts on Friday with 3 races scheduled. Conditions at the moment are light to variable so it should be a technically challenging event for all 25 boats expected to cross the starting line.
