Luca Bacci – Day 5

Jerry Hill – Day 4

Andrea Airo – Day 4

Luca Rodion – Day 3

Vincenzo Graci0tti – Day 3

Germana Tognella – Day 2

Pietro Negri – Day 2

Ian Ainslie – Day 2

Craig Burlton – Day 1

Luca Bacci – Day 1

info@andreacarloni.com & stefanograssophoto@gmail.com

A small selection of images will be published on www.stefanograsso.it however a full listing of images of your boat will be available on request.

Stefano and Andrea took some amazing images during the event, I am sure that they would make a wonderful keepsake of the event.

Competitors took to Lake Garda this morning for races 13 and 14 of the Volvo Laser SB3 World Championships. The Gold Fleet to the Yellow/Torbole course and the Silver Fleet to the Blue/Riva course. The fleet was full of tired but determined faces as the fleets cast off the pontoons. Hill (GBR) and Burlton (GBR) both “appeared” remarkably cool going into the final day of racing, with just 4 crucial points separating them, it seems appearances were deceptive.

Conditions were lively on both race courses, with a constant 18 knots of wind at the start of racing. The Gold Fleet, enthusiastic as ever to get race 13 underway were recalled having jumped the line with 15 seconds to the gun. With the well worn black flag raised, and the course re-set after a 20 degree wind shift the Gold Fleet were underway for their penultimate race of the Championship. Ian Ainslie (RSA) and crew pulled out a great lead on the fleet in the first lap of the windward leeward course and finished the race over a minute ahead of Geoff Carveth (GBR) in second place. Jerry Hill (GBR) finished eighth, Luca Rodion (RUS) finished ninth and Craig Burlton (GBR) finished tenth. It was all to play for in the final race.

Yet again the fleet were recalled on the first attempt of starting the final race of the championships and only got away after the black flag was hoisted. The glorious Garda sunshine finally ran out as the fleet beat to the windward mark, the black clouds burst and the wind dropped to 8 knots and swung back 30 degrees. The Race Officer was in a quandary; finish the race in unstable conditions or shorten the course after the first lap? As the fleet were making their final approaches to the leeward gate, the race committee raised the Tango flag and signalled to the fleet to finish. Unfortunately for many of the fleet, the flag was not recognised and only a canny few held their kites and carried on to the finish line.

Adrian Peach, Niall Myant, Nathan Batchelor and Ian Mills (GBR) won the final race of the Championship. “I think that half the fleet didn’t read their sailing instructions! I was sailing with 3 coaches, who had ALL read the SI’s! My tactician, Nathan used to coach the Topper fleet, and immediately recognised the “T” flag!” explained Peach. “My son has been on the phone asking me to get him a bullet; I didn’t think it was going to be possible but it was a great way to finish the event!”

32 boats in the Gold Fleet did not react to the Tango flag and continued to sail the course leaving them outside the 15 minute time limit for the Championship and as a result added a “Did Not Finish” (DNF) results to their score sheet. As the fleet came ashore and realised their mistake, their faces feel and disappointment soared. A disappointing finish for many Championship campaigns.

Ben Saxton, Tim Saxton, Nicola Brook and Matt Rainback (GBR) the young crew onboard Rola-Trac were scored DNF in the final race, but in spite of this, finished the Volvo Laser SB3 World Championship in third place, a fantastic achievement considering this is the crew’s first season in the boat. Rola-Trac will be a boat to be watched in the future and we look forward to seeing them on the podium this evening.

Ian Ainslie, Roger Hudson and Adam Martin (RAS) from Proximo finished in second place. “A hatrick of second’s for me at the SB3 Worlds!” claimed Hudson. The South African’s are always a favourite at SB3 events, will their luck change in time for the UK Worlds?

After 14 races, with scores including 3, 5, 1, 4, 1, 11, 1, 1, 27, 18, 1, 2, 8, 9 Jerry Hill, Joe Lewellyn and Grant Rollerson (GBR) are World Champions in the Laser SB3 Class. Catching up with Jerry Hill after racing, he explained, “We’ve been fast all week and we’ve sailed really well together. We’ve had 5 first and lots of other top 5 results. Our problem at previous World Championships has been carrying “big results”. I have to admit, I was in pieces this morning and I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to hold it together, I really didn’t think I could cope. But we sailed really well today, we didn’t have a great start to the first race today, we found ourselves quite deep, but we pulled back places and managed to get in front of  Craig [Burlton].  Going into the last race we had 6 points on Craig [Burlton] and 8 points on Ian [Ainslie]. We sailed really well up wind and stayed with Ian [Ainslie] and Craig [Burlton]. At the leeward gate we saw the “T” flag, but also saw that nobody was going to the finish, so we headed up wind and tried to find the Sailing Instructions…they were soggy, but when we saw some of the back markers of the fleet sailing for the finish, we hoisted the chute. Our World Championship title rested on this decision. I am ecstatic that we were right and I am looking forward to celebrating tonight!”

The Silver Fleet is won by Vincenzo Graciotti who racked up an impressive 6 first places in the finals.

With 14 races completed and a great time had by all, the 2010 Volvo Laser SB3 World Championships concludes this evening with the prize giving ceremony at the Circolo Vela Torbole.

In 2011 the Laser SB3 World Championships will be hosted by the Royal Torbay Yacht Club, Torquay, UK from Monday 16th – Friday 20th May.

Championship website with full results, images and video can be found at: http://worlds2010.lasersb3.com

For races 10, 11 and 12 of the Volvo Laser SB3 World Championships the Gold Fleet moved to the winder Bravo Course underneath the Riva cliffs. With increased wind strengths of 20 knots, the Gold Fleet were in for some spectacular racing. With points separation tight at the top of the fleet, everyone left the dock looking for some success.

Consistency is often the key factor in Laser SB3 racing. Jerry Hill (GBR), Craig Burlton (GBR) and John Pollard (GBR) are testament to this. Each team carries some hefty discard results, but at present these three boats lead the gold fleet. Jerry Hill, Joe Llewellyn and Grant Rollerson currently hold a 4 point lead over Burlton and a 14 point lead over Pollard. Consistency for Hill will be key for the two final races of the Championship.

Both South African entries to the event lie in the top 10 leading into the final day of racing. Ian Ainslie, Roger Hudson and Adam Martin (RSA) on Team Proximo lie fifth overall and David Hudson, David Rae, Marlon Jones and Roscoe Cupido (RSA) enjoyed a better day today onboard Spirit of Cape Town leaving them in tenth position. “We managed a repeat performance today of our results on the first day of racing, a first a second! Our tactics have been to take a mid line starts, gaining us clear air which seems to have benefitted us today. We’ve been the first boat onto port, and although we’ve had to duck a few boats on our way to the cliffs, it seems to have worked,” explained helm David Hudson. “Our crew had been working really hard. It is the first time that Roscoe has sailed a Laser SB3 which has been a great learning experience for him, he’s a regular Mirror sailor and will hopefully take his experience from this event to the Mirror World Championships.”

Luca Rodion, Oleg Zherebtsov, Maria Rudskaja and Alexander Lebedev had a difficult day today. After rounding the windward mark first in the final race of the day, they dropped to third position. Luca Rodion described his day, “We are really enjoying the Laser SB3, but we know that we have a lot to learn. Small things make a huge difference in this boat, especially in this wind. It’s great practice for us and we hope to have improved a lot more for the Worlds in 2011.” 

Vincenzo Graciotti had another great day in the Silver Fleet posting a 1, 1, 1. When asked as he came ashore if he’d had a good day he answered, “even better than yesterday!”

Ukrainian team, Transbunker, crewed by Valeri Polovoy, Valentin Klymentyer and Valdimir Stasiyk are showing their metal in the finals races of the silver fleet, scoring 4, 2, 4, 3, 2, 4. Having travelled for 4 days from the Ukraine the team are enjoying their sailing on Lake Garda, “We think the event is great, we are enjoying sailing in a big fleet but we didn’t expect so much wind, it’s not very common on the Black Sea.”

Tomorrow sees the final 2 rac