Photos: Hamilton Island Photography

Final day leaves three boats tied at the top

But on countback Geoff Carveth scores an unprecidented third SB20 World Championship title

Thursday December 20th 2012, Author: Lisa Ratcliff, Location: Australia

It was a gripping finish on the deciding day at the UON SB20 World Championships at Hamilton Island with Geoff Carveth sailing into the class history books, crowned SB20 world champion for the third time.

It was the closest finish at any SB20 worlds with Carveth’s British WKD team, Glenn Bourke’s Australian entry, Club Marine, and the Rodion Luka skippered Team Russia all wrapping up their series tied on 41 points after six days and 12 races. A countback was needed to separate the ultimate victor from second and third.

“Going into race two today we decided to take a risk. We gambled for a better ranking and took the right hand side of the course,” said Carveth. “It's the only time, during the whole event that the right hand side paid off. Glenn and Rodion went left and suddenly the chance came. When we finished we were in disbelief that we'd put the number of boats between us.

“The crew have worked really hard. We trained hard here just days before the event started. Lesley and Squirrel really got up to speed and Roger has been fantastic. He's broken his run of seconds at SB20 world championships!”

WKD’s South African bowman, Jim Asenathi, leapt off the boat once the result was known while the crew of Roger Hudson, Lesley Dhonau and Carveth embraced, then fell in, joining Jim for a victory swim.

“We've got to say a huge thank you to WKD and Joe Woods for making it possible for us to be here,” Carveth added.

Hamilton Island CEO Glenn Bourke almost added another world title to his belt: “I have the utmost respect for the two guys we tied with,” said Bourke. “It’s testament to Geoff’s talent and their crew work that they kept working their way out of deep positions, particularly in the last six races."

Team Russia’s helmsman Rodion Luka was gracious in defeat, “Geoff is a great mate and I am happy that he won. We'll be back for another event and we look forward to that. Hamilton Island is beautiful and a great place to sail. The competition has been so tight, it's not often you have three boats tied on points at a world championship”.

Winds were easterly and shifty for the final day of competition at 7-9 knots for the first race and up to 14 knots for the decider. Denis Thompson pulled his black flag out again in race 11 after three general recalls due to wind shifts and antsy crews. On the fourth attempt the fleet got away cleanly. Three SB20s were pinged and individually recalled in the final race 12.

A countback separated first and second, Team Russia and Club Marine, with WKD, a mere three points off the frontrunners heading into today’s final two sprints. The tension on the dock this morning was palpable with a world title riding on the final act for the three contenders, and points still to be claimed for those with their sights on the minor placings.

Competition at the UON SB20 World Championships began last Friday in light to moderate ESE breezes and after Monday’s layday, midway through the competition, fresher ENE winds made for a very different set of conditions and a change in gears for the one design fleet of 42 international entries representing nine countries.

“I’m very pleased for Hamilton Island that we’ve had a range of conditions and such depth of talent for this truly international competition,” said Bourke. “I think the island put on a great regatta and the race management was outstanding. I feel Hamilton Island has come of age in terms of running world class sailing events.”

Bourke also took the opportunity to acknowledge a number of valuable event partners. “I would like to acknowledge UON not only for their naming rights, but for entering two boats and being an active part of these world titles. Events Queensland gave us tremendous support to run a truly international event by assisting with shipping the SB20s to the island, which in turn attracted many overseas competitors and their families to the Whitsundays.”

The SB20 class will hold their 2013 World Championship in Hyeres in the south of France next September.

Full results below

 

Latest Comments

Add a comment - Members log in

EmailPrintTwitterFacebookLinkedInStumbleDigg

Latest news!

Back to top

Results:

Pos Boat Skipper Nat R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10 R11 R12 Tot
1 WKD Geoff Carveth GBR [17.0] 5 2 1 10 1 1 4 8 4 3 2 41
2 Club Marine Glenn Bourke AUS 3 [10.0] 4 5 6 2 6 2 4 1 1 7 41
3 Team Russia Rodion Luka RUS 6 4 1 3 2 8 4 3 2 [15.0] 2 6 41
4 The Beard Robert Greenhalgh GBR 4 8 [15.0] 9 9 4 6.0G 1 1 7 5 4 58
5 Bango Powered bySLAM Ben Saxton GBR 1 1 9 11 1 6 7.0G [15.0] 5 11 8 10 70
6 Hyeres2013 Rouxel Thomas FRA [13.0] 6 10 8 11 13 2 11 3 3 7 3 77
7 One Design Sailing Ian Brown AUS 8 15 3 4 5 5 [43.0B] 6 7 2 16 13 84
8 Aquaholics Anna Basalkina RUS 12 7 14 6 3 9 8 7 12 5 [19.0] 9 92
9 ALTEA Andrea Racchelli ITA 10 3 [24.0] 7 13 7 5 10 13 9 15 1 93
10 Stenghele Pietro Negri ITA 5 2 8 15 [22.0A] 3 3 13 22 22 17 19 129
11 Darling Associates Chris Darling SCO 15 9 12 10 7 17 19 [21.0] 11 6 20 8 134
12 sportsboatworld.com Jerry Hill GBR 2 16 17 2 8 11 7 17 17 16 24 [27.0] 137
13 Harry powered by Und Andrew Oddie GBR 21 23 6 [35.0] 4 16 16 5 10 10 10 25 146
14 Karabos Nick Rogers AUS 11 17 [21.0] 13 19 10 11 16 14 13 13 21 158
15 UBER3 Adrian Peach GBR 9 11 27 [31.0] 20 12 9 12 6 21 25 14 166
16 Sailboat Deliveries Sarah Allan GBR 7 25 32 [43.0S] 31 14 10 9 15 14 11 12 180
17 Zeus Ed Russo FRA 28 14 11 25 21 22 15 [32.0] 9 31 6 15 197
18 Flirtatious Chris Dare AUS 18 18 18 17 [33.0] 21 29 14 19 26 9 17 206
19 And Then Peter Jones AUS [34.0] 12 7 30 17 18 24 20 27 19 23 11 208
20 Typhoon Craig Nicholls AUS [33.0] 29 25 21 22 19 13 8 28 12 21 22 220
21 New Caledonia1 TUGDUAL Piriou FRANC 22 19 19 28 12 20 14 19 24 23 22 [43.0C] 222
22 WYSIWYG V Stephen Fries AUS 20 20 5 20 34 24 12 25 34 [37.0] 30 20 244
23 New Caledonia2 Alan Quere FRANC [31.0] 27 22 14 28 15 22 30 25 27 4 31 245
24 Black Rat Troy Forrest AUS 16 21 31 12 18 23 21 31 21 30 [33.0] 30 254
25 Jump! Dennis Winstanley AUS 25 [33.0] 30 16 24 25 17 27 31 29 32 5 261
26 Marine Tech Gareth Owen UAE 32 22 [42.0] 29 25 32 20 29 16 8 26 23 262
27 Blue Tac Trevor Martin AUS 26 31 13 26 29 28 35 [36.0] 26 20 12 16 262
28 Still Out of control Mark Wolfenden AUS 14 30 20 24 16 29 27 38 [39.0] 24 35 28 285
29 Wedgewood David Graney AUS 30 28 [36.0] 34 23 33 28 22 23 25 18 24 288
30 Geronimo Simon Hume GBR [43.0R] 40 26 23 14 26 18 33 36 32 14 32 294
31 Borgo Scopeto Giulia Tobia ITA [38.0] 13 37 27 30 27 31 26 30 18 27 29 295
32 Cube II Martijn Buitenhuis NED 24 24 23 22 27 35 [43.0B] 28 33 33 31 18 298
33 Dart Vader Mark Prince AUS 23 [37.0] 34 18 32 37 25 24 29 17 29 35 303
34 Purple Patch Callum Burns AUS 19 32 28 37 35 [43.0B] 43.0B 18 20 28 34 26 320
35 Got a bit on Matt Wenke AUS 27 26 40 40 26 [43.0F] 26 23 18 38 28 36 328
36 Mountain Goat Racing Mike McLean AUS 35 34 16 33 [42.0] 31 23 35 35 34 38 37 351
37 Chota Hazri Chris Kameen AUS 29 35 33 19 [41.0] 30 30 37 32 36 36 34 351
38 UON Hamilton Island Tim Henderson AUS 36 36 [41.0] 32 39 39 33 40 37 35 39 33 399
39 NURI Andrea Zanforlin ITA 37 38 38 38 37 34 32 [41.0] 40 40 37 39 410
40 Squalo Bianco Paris Stowell AUS 39 [42.0] 39 39 36 36 34 34 38 39 40 38 412
41 Sidewinder Declan Keogh AUS 41 39 29 36 40 38 [43.0B] 39 41 41 41 40 425
42 Oceanburo Discover S John Gardiner AUS 40 41 35 41 38 40 36 42 42 42 [43.0C] 43.0C 440
    Back to top