2010 SB3 World Champs

best bit was the headlines...

Hey this was pretty crazy. Jerry rang half a year ago and asked what I was up to mid July 2010. The end result was going to Lago di Garda for a week and winning the SB3 World Champs with Jerry and the very talented Joe Lewellyn.

bow 03 on the nose,
kite sheets out of water!

100+ boats, 15+ nations and many highly rated proven performers, this was an amazing win. Above and beyond all that we had Great Fun and showed me that sailing non-skiff boats can be top notch too.

It was an absolute education sailing with Jerry and Joe, and sailing against so many closely matched competitors. Marvellous contrast to the wham bam thank you ma'am world of 18s and 14s.

The fleet was another eye-opener; top notch and ruthless on the water and friendly as pie once ashore.

view from the hotel room

What are these boats? Firstly; no hiking... what is hiking, whats the point.... either sit or trapeze... anything in between is a bit odd, isn't it? I mean real hiking, be it moth or laser or finn is part of the gig but wrapping your body around a wire and leaning until your nerves are cut off... how is that fun? From what I can see they're the most popular (read cheapest) of the sports boat genre... amazingly close up wind and down, top speed every day was between 15 and 19 knots, three or four short races a day. Short races.... and lots of them.... much better than the bad days of one long long long day afloat for one crumby race result.

Joe loved scrubbing the keel

Torbole Sailing Club remains an incredible place to sail out of; they are a low key, well greased machine and nothing was too much effort. They even produce a little movie of the action, here's the link.

Thankfully one of us
wasn't scared of the water

Photos - Andrea Carloni / Stefano Grasso, see his web site, including here and presentation night