Following are compiled extracts from AsianYachting Event Media. 
 
DAY 1: August 15th
In the wake of last nights dazzling Youth Olympic Games opening ceremony, fifty sailing craft took to the waters in front of Raffles Marina on the west coast of Singapore to celebrate this auspicious occasion with their own long standing Western Circuit Regatta.(…) Nevertheless the light SW breeze did pick up more than the forecast and stayed for the whole day, which allowed the race committee to complete the scheduled 4 races for SB3s
The Laser SB3 sailors had the busiest day of all the classes by completing four races on the trot. With a 1, 2, 1, 3 scoreline Bob Comstock’s COMPASS RISING came out on top after a long and painstakingly hard day of racing. Wallace Cuthbertson’s GLASGOW KISS scored 3, 1, 2, 4 to claim second overall from Jonathan Mahony’s SCUMBAG that scored 2, 5, 3, 1 to spread the wins and podium places around amongst the leaders. It does not get much closer than that.
 
DAY 2: August 21st
All morning the sky was heavily overcast and releasing light drizzling rain, even the Malaysian coastline was shrouded in fog. Then as if on queue, a light SSW breeze sprung up on the way to the start line. (…) The Laser SB3 and the International Moth classes continued on with the short windward/leeward race program. As it turned out the breeze did not get much above 6 knots the whole day and probably averaged around 3-4 knots leaving big patches of little or no wind to contend with. When the breeze fluctuates up and down it also changes direction, so it is paramount that tacticians keep there head out of the boat and pick the best wind lanes to sail the boat in.
Three more short course races in the Laser SB3 class, saw Fabrice Piard’s ALIDADE pull off the trifecta with three bullets and go to directly the top of the leaderboard. With a 2, 3, 4 scoreline Wallace Cuthbertson’s GLASGOW KISS puts them in contention for the overall podium places. A slip up in Race 6 saw Bob Comstock’s COMPASS RISING drop to second overall and can’t afford any more mistakes. Two boats that did not race last week Ola Strand Andersen’s XOCO and John Priestly’s SUME rapped up the placing’s and threw a spanner into the very completive fleet by mixing up the pointscore.
 
Day 3: August 22nd
Despite the many weather forecasts available these days, the sailors have come to the conclusion that the best solution for local waters is “What you see is what you get”. Yesterdays dreary, wet and sufferable light conditions were replaced with a warm, sunny, clear blue sky and a building 8 to 10 knot SSW breeze that saw the IRC A & B, PY and SB3 keelboat classes away on the same short passage race. Picking the best course on the first windward beat ultimately set the pace and awarded the skippers that chose the correct side with podium places.  
As the Laser SB3 class tackled the passage race, Fabrice Piard’s ALIDADE led the fleet for the entire race by a comfortable margin and stays on top of the leaderboard. Second home for Bob Comstock’s COMPASS RISING has them tied on points for second overall with Wallace Cuthbertson’s GLASGOW KISS that could only manage fourth place today. Third place for Chris Holmes on BANDIT has lifted their confidence but leaves them in the middle of the table.
 
Day 4: August 28th
After the overnight thunder storm and howling wind had abated, it left the west coast shrouded in heavy cloud cover and vacuum like conditions on the water. The sailors were ready for the last day of racing but had to wait almost two hours before the breeze materialized and racing could get underway. It was make or break time for most the class titles and the race committee took it in their stride to provide the maximum number of races in the prevailing conditions to produce the fairest of results.
 
None of the Laser SB3 class leaders won any races today as mid table John Priestly’s SUME won two races and Ola Strand Andersen’s XOCO won the other. Despite juggling the places Fabrice Piard’s ALIDADE continued on top of the table to secure overall victory from Bob Comstock’s COMPASS RISING that broke the overnight tie with Wallace Cuthbertson’s GLASGOW KISS to secure second and third places on the podium.
 
Unfortunately the wind for the whole regatta never got above 10 knots and sailors had to contend with strong tidal currents and pick the wind lanes correctly. This makes it a real test of their sailing skills and boat handling abilities. Combined with the youthful enthusiasm of the SMU organising team that signed up for another three years, this regatta has a bright future and will remain the premier event on Singapore’s racing calendar.

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Author: Susan Boyd, Location: Australia

If you were mixing the perfect sailing cocktail it would be made up of one part 15 knot trade winds, one part sunny skies and a temperature of 24degC and one part frolicking humpback whales with the main ingredient 200 boats racing on turquoise waters with the stunning Whitsunday Islands their backdrop.

Following a postponement ashore this morning while the breeze settled, that exact recipe was what was served up at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week for day four of racing, the best sailing conditions so far. With the promise of a 20-25 knot southeast change tomorrow the grins are this afternoon even wider on the sun-tinged faces of the two thousand odd sailors contesting the 27th edition of Australia’s premier keelboat regatta.

The huge fleet was split up today with the race committee, under the leadership of Principal Race Officer Denis Thompson, running a number of different start areas and courses.

For the first time at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week the SB3 class took to the waters, their designated course area to the north of Plum Pudding Island, and with a couple of sailing celebrities in their midst. Round the world sailor Jessica Watson was on the bow of Lumix and the CEO of Hamilton Island, Glenn Bourke, a multiple world champion, Olympic and America’s Cup sailor stepped off the 30m Wild Oats XI to skipper Rod Jones’ SB3, Club Marine Blue.

The Superyachts took a day off racing today, creating an opportunity for the SB3 class to benefit from Bourke’s considerable expertise in one design racing, and with three wins from three races he hasn’t lost his touch. Being the gentleman he is, Bourke subsequently retired from all three races putting Phillip Gray’s Dulon Polish into first place on the SB3’s progressive pointscore.

Stephen Ainsworth’s RP63 Loki sailed another impeccable race, the 24 nautical mile course taking the Grand Prix fleet around Baynham and Pentecost islands, to maintain their leading edge in the series pointscore seven points clear of the nearest threat, the Iain Murray-skippered RP66 Wild Oats X owned by Bob Oatley.

With round the world sailor Anthony ‘Youngster’ Merrington calling tactics, respected Irish born Gordon Maguire on the helm, and a crew that has a champion’s aura, Loki is making a big imprint on the Race Week scoresheet, clocking up four overall wins and a fourth, their worst result.

Peter Millard’s 98-footer Lahana from Sydney is leading the IRC Grand Prix ‘gun boat’ for the most number of line honours scalps from five races.

The Performance Racing fleet had their first windward/leeward races today on the eastern course area to the south of Fitzalan Passage in the 12-15 knot south east breeze and bumpy seas. Points are tight at the top of the division two results with just two points separating the first four places, led by Ian Ford’s Beneteau 40.7 Whalewatchingsydney, and a similar situation in division one.

Racing in Performance Racing is immediate past CYCA Commodore Matt Allen and Warwick Rooklyn’s Melges 24 Bandit, and the three Sydney black 32s – Hamilton Mentor, Lincoln Mentor and Ocean Mentor – donated by local resident Peter Teakle to Port Lincoln Yacht Club, Southport Yacht Club and Hamilton Island Yacht Club to foster youth sailing at those clubs.

With today’s results factored in, Harvey Milne’s Archambault 31 Aroona has reclaimed the Audi IRC Australian Championship lead from Loki, out in front on 9.99 points, Loki on 13.21 points and Peter Horn’s King 40 Canute on 21.75 points including one drop for each.

Crews only have one more day to prepare their boats and outfits for the Prix D ‘Elegance which will take place this Friday between 9am and 10am as the fleet leaves the harbour for racing. Prizes will be awarded in two categories:

The Best Presented Yacht and Crew (yacht in first-class trim, and matching crew uniforms)
The Best Fun-Themed Yacht and Crew (let your imagination run wild)

Tasmanian former world Dragon champion Nick Rogers felt right at home on the SB3 course at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week today. The dark skies, cooler temperatures minus the snow peaked mountain in the background and a top puff of 22 knots created conditions similar to those experienced by the hardy Derwent River sailors, and the Tasmanian’s shined.

‘They were the strongest conditions we’ve sailed in so far in the class,’ said Rogers, who is steering the SB3 called Toll Shipping with Chris Keil and Julian Salter, a well known International Moth sailor.

Toll Shipping is leading the series pointscore after seven races thanks to today’s two firsts, a second and a third.

Their third result came in today’s opening race, the same race in which Rogers thought he’d take a quick dip at the top mark.

‘We went around the top mark and I kept going,’ said Rogers. ‘Luckily I was still hanging onto the mainsheet but by the time the crew realised I was gone I was being dragged about three boat lengths behind.

‘The crew went to put the kite up then turned around and saw I wasn’t where I was supposed to be,’ laughed Rogers who indignantly had to haul himself back to the boat while the crew looked on, finding the whole situation amusing.

Rogers’ usual ride is back at home so for this regatta he chartered the SB3 just purchased by Hobart’s Steven Chow.

Having road tested the new boat during the three day SB3 Wild Oats Challenge, Rogers will trailer Chow’s pre-loved boat to Hobart and deliver it to him.

With SB3 world champion Glenn Bourke, the island’s CEO, making a guest appearance on the course yesterday, Rogers took the opportunity to ask him for a bit of advice so prior to joining the crew of Wild Oats XI today for the Superyacht race, Bourke went through Toll Shipping’s set up with the keen skipper.

‘Glenn really helped me, I could feel the difference straight away. Yesterday we didn’t have the boat sailing nearly as well.’

Talking about the strength of the SB3 class in Hobart, Rogers says they’ve managed to get the fleet to seven in just three months.

It seems the SB3 class is full of chivalry with Bourke giving up his three wins yesterday and today Rod Jones, the boat charterer, gave his SB3 Club Marine Blue to round the world sailor Jessica Watson’s crew after they found a crack in their spinnaker pole before the opening race of the day.

‘I’m not sure whether I’m a knight in shining armour or just an obligated boat charterer,’ laughed Jones.

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The final day of the SB3 Wild Oats Challenge, with the prize the winning skipper’s weight in Wild Oats wine, will wrap up tomorrow with two races scheduled.

All competitors of the UK National Championships need to download and read the following documents, including Sailing Instructions.

General Information Getting There
General Information Lift In Out & Berthing
Sailing Instructions

The picturesque warm and friendly waters of the Whitsunday Islands will present Sunshine Coast teenage solo sailor Jessica Watson with different sailing experience today.

Jessica captured the admiration of supporters around the world after successfully steering the little sloop Ella’s Pink Lady through some of the wildest sailing places on the planet.

This time, the energetic teenager, who has proved her passion for mastering the physically and mentally demanding challenge of solo sailing will not be alone, as she will crew for friend Matthew Jones as his for’ard hand aboard Lumix by Panasonic in the SB3 class which is racing at Hamilton Island for the first time.

“I will be up the front of the boat as the wind and wave shield,” Watson said.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” she added during a press conference at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week, after she was named Ambassador of Tourism Queensland’s 2010 -2011 Season of Sailing.

“Jessica is a genuine Queensland inspiration and has developed an international profile which makes her the fit for the Season of Sailing campaign,” Tourism parliamentary secretary Steve Wettenhall said.

“I’m happy to encourage more people to take up the sport of sailing.

Responding, Watson said: “The Season of Sailing offers everyone, from all age groups, to get out there and give it a go.”

Watson will try to help Jones defeat his uncle Rod, who is also the Australian distributor of the SB3. Jones Snr is a dab hand who was the inaugural winner of the Audi IRC Australian Championship in 2007, which he won again in 2009.

She and Jones will also be competing against big names including Australian Dragon champion Nick Rogers from Tasmania, and former Australian 505 champion Phil Gray from Mooloolaba. Hamilton Island’s multiple National title winning boardsailor Dennis Whinstanly will also be hard to beat.

Rod Jones has left nothing to chance in his title challenge with his high performance sports boat Club Marine Blue. He will have Australian Olympic and Paralympic coach Adrian Finglas is on trim and tactics and Greg Macallansmith in the bow.

The series will be sailed on windward/leeward courses off Catseye Bay starting today.

The Royal Southern Yacht Club announces the first competition for the Royal Southern Academy Match Cup to be held in November 2010 and March 2011 in Laser SB3 keel boats. 

The new event follows the formation of the Royal Southern Academy in March 2010 and the success of one of its first events, the jointly run Southampton Solent University match racing championship.  Building on that success and the growing popularity of match racing, the Royal Southern Academy Match Cup is planned as an annual Open ISAF graded event.

The event is open to all international and national sailors.  The maximum crew weight is 270kg, which is the Laser SB3 class weight. This allows teams to enter with a maximum of 4 people and a minimum of 3.  Although the event is Open, some invitations will be reserved for University teams and there will be supplementary prizes for the best University and Under-25 teams. 

There will be two qualifier rounds on 20/21 November 2010 and 5/6 March 2011, with 12 places available for each qualifier.  The top 6 teams from each round will qualify for a place in the finals to be held on 26/27 March 2011.

The event will be sailed in Laser SB3’s supplied by Pelican Racing. An application has been made to ISAF for the event to be graded at level 4 and all matches will be umpired. 

The Notice of Race will be published on the Royal Southern Yacht Club’s website, www.royal-southern.co.uk  in September.  Entrants will be able to charter SB3s for practice from Pelican Racing at special rates prior to each round.

Potential entrants can register an interest at sailing@royal-southern.co.uk and will be sent further details when available

Dual Audi Australian IRC ocean racing champion Rod Jones will further test his tactical racing skill on familiar waters when he contests the SB3 sports boat championship at Hamilton Island.

The Sunshine Coast skipper who has set a high bench mark on the Mooloolaba Yacht Club honour board has left nothing to chance when he contests the inaugural SB3 championship at the prestigious Audi Hamilton Island Race Week.

His tactician will be the Beijing Olympic coach Adrian Finglas who has just returned from the Australian Teams successful World championship campaign in England and Europe.

Finglas besides being a highly respected coach is an outstanding sailor and a master tactician and his inclusion with skipper Rod Jones and the Club Marine Blue crew lists them as a short priced favourite to win the weeklong series starting on Saturday.

“I’m looking forward to racing with Rod again it’s been awhile but we have a good understanding”.

“The racing will be very competitive with every crew holding the chance to win in this strict one-design class”. Finglas said.

Rod Jones has proved to be a crafty ocean racing sailor but his talent will be tested by former Australian Sailboard champion Dennis Winstanley in Jump and Australian 505 champion Phil Gray in Dulon.

Both Winstanley and Gray like Rod Jones possess the tactical skill to add an interesting mix to the championship.

Winstanley will be racing in his own playground and his knowledge of the local conditions could provide him with a marginal edge in selecting the best options in sailing against the swift flowing current.

Naturally he has gathered all the important tactical data but will need to protect his sailing space because he will surely have some followers when they line up for the first race on Saturday.

Phil Gray who has contested an Australian 505 dinghy championship off Catseye Bay is also tactically well prepared.

Interest will also focus on the all female crew challenge headed by Lauren Calder and her Audi Sailing Girls racing team.

Calder has been known never to offer any favours to her male rivals and this is not expected to change when the battle lines are drawn off Hamilton Island.

Her crew list yet to be confirmed by Race Week officials is expected to include teenage Solo Globe sailor Jessica Watson.

Should this be the case it will be the first SB3 championship event for Jessica Watson.

However she certainly has the proven endurance and the super human will to beat the odds as proved during her seven month globe sailing adventure.

Racing in a warm water environment will also be a welcome change and in complete contrast to experiencing wild knockdowns in the cold Atlantic Ocean.

Ian Grant.

Following generous support from our many sponsors we have been able to hold open the entry to this year’s Nationals at £290 until Friday 27th August 2010.
 
This allows any last minute entries to join the strong entry and lively entertainment that this years Nationals will offer.
 
Many thanks to  Neilson Active Holidays for their generous support along with our other sponsors Gill, LaserPerformance Sussex Yachts and Day 1. We look forward to seeing you all in a couple of weeks.

Enter online here: http://www.bmyc.org.uk/racing/SB3%20Nationals/online_entry.asp

In their first season on the River Derwent, two SB3 sports boats are leading Division two of the Derwent Sailing Squadron’s Boat Sales Tasmania Winter Series going into Sunday’s race four of the five-race series.

Brett and Jacinta Cooper’s Harcourts is on five points from a second and a third while Nick Rogers Tolling Shipping has six points from a first and a fifth on corrected time. The opening race was abandoned because of lack of wind.

Sunday’s race will be a final tune-up before the two Tasmanian crews fly to Hamilton Island to compete in the SB3 division at Race Week from 21-28 August. Among their opposition will be round-the-world teenage sailor Jessica Watson who has entered an SB3 for the regatta.

Two more SB3s are expected to join Sunday’s race – Wedgewood, now owned by David Graney and Steve Henley, and a brand new, as yet un-named boat, launched this week for David Kirkland.

The two SB3s to be helmed by Nick Rogers and Brett Cooper at Hamilton Island will be brought to Tasmania following Race Week for their new owners, Steve Chau and Stephen Catchpool. This will boost the local fleet to six boasts and enable the SB3s to race as a class in the Summer Pennants on the Derwent.

‘If we can get to ten boats this summer this class will take off on the Derwent as the major one-design class,’ said Rogers, a former world and Australian champion in the International Dragon class. ‘I’m certain we will have six or seven boats racing here by the start of summer.’

In contrast to the two SB3 sports boats, the veteran ocean racing yacht Natelle II is third overall on nine points going into Sunday’s Division two race with the DSS, with skipper Glen Roper notched up a third and a sixth on handicap.

The pointscore situation is also close in Division one and Division three. The former Sydney Hobart yacht Dump Truck, a Ker 11.3 now owned by Edward Fader and Justin Wells, heads Division one with a first and a fourth, while a close second is the Farr 40 Voodoo Chile, owned by Lloyd Clark and Andrew Hunn, so far placing scond and fifth. A close third is the Sydney 38 Ciao Baby (Chau/Borlase) with a seventh and a first.

Three yachts are locked on six points in Division three – Storm Petrel (Roger Jackson) with a first and a fifth, Epoxy Warrior (Ross Mannering) with a fourth and a second, and Ragtime (Tom Kirkland) with a 2-4 scorecard. Just one point back is Rotary (Norm Brundle) with a 6-1 result.