www.SPINNAKERWEB.net - Irelands Premier Sailing Website - First with news, reviews, forums and surveys from the Irish sailing scene. - 80 Boats set to do battle at SB3 Ireland National Championships

The second season for the Laser SB3 in Ireland is currently in full swing with three very successful regional events already completed this year. There has been a meteoric rise in the SB3 class in Ireland in the last two years and the class now has a following of over 70 boats. 80 boats from 8 different nations will compete in this years Irish National Championships to be held from the 29th to the 31st of August.

The strong international flavour to the event sees boats entered from as far away as the Netherlands, Italy and Dubai. The event is being organised by SB3 Ireland and the Royal St George Yacht Club and racing will take place in Dublin Bay.

Many sailors are using the Irish Nationals as a Pre-Worlds as the Inaugural SB3 World Championships will take place three weeks later also on Dublin Bay. The World Championships have attracted 150 entries and it will be one of the main events on this year’s Irish sailing calendar. Among the top contenders for the Nationals are Geoff Carveth, the reigning European Champion, Gareth Flanagan on McCready Sailboats fresh from a win at last weekends Southern Champs in Cork, along with class stalwarts Dave Cheyne, Ronan Collins, Dave Quinn and Ben Duncan.

Fleets prizes have very kindly been sponsored for the season by Helly Hansen and prizes will be awarded for the top three places in the Gold, Silver & Bronze fleets. A full social programme has been arranged by the Royal St George Yacht Club with the highlight of the weekend being the Class Drinks Party and Championship Dinner on Friday night. The SB3 Ireland AGM will be held in the club at 1900 on Saturday evening.

For further details see http://www.rsgyc.ie/sb3/ , www.sb3ireland.com and a full entry list can be seen at http://www.rsgyc.ie/sb3/entrants.asp