COUNTDOWN TO THE #SB20WORLDS2023

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With less than 50 days left until the 2023 SB20 World Championships we count nearly 55 teams that are ready to compete for the beautiful SB20 Class trophy. After the SB20 Worlds 2022 in Ireland the Dutch SB20 association had less than a year to organise the event and they are working hard on preparations to ensure the international SB20 fleet experience the best of what Holland has to offer! 

Our 2023 SB20 Worlds hosting Scheveningen Yacht Club is also preparing for a busy season with its first renowned event of the season, the North Sea Race, happening in about two weeks time. The Club house has been recently build as part of the marina renovation project in 2020-2021. The yacht club with over 600 members has found its new home floating among sailboats on a pontoon. SB20 boats will be docked right next to the club and you can enjoy your morning coffee just before going out and a nice cold beer right on the pontoon. There are plenty of restaurants and bars in the marina and the Dutch SB20 team is working on a nice social programme that will be announced as we get closer to the event!

Restaurant Suzie Q in Scheveningen Harbour

While we wait for the details on the social activities some of the top attractions in The Hague are just a quick bike ride away. Everyone cycles in the Netherlands so don’t you try it yourself? It is easy to rent a bike per hour or per day. Check out couple of bike rentals in The Hague and choose your favourite: Donkey Republic or Black bikes. Alternatively, you can rent a bicycle any main train station (Like Den Haag Centraal) from NS.nl – the Dutch railroad operator.

If you choose to travel to the Hague about a week earlier, you have a chance to visit the Ocean Race village and follow the In-Port races (13-14th June) as well as the departure of the VO65 and IMOCA fleet for Leg 7 (15th June). If you are looking for inspiration of what to do in the Hague during your stay, check this link about the Hague attractions collected by the Ocean Race.

Dubarry of Ireland will contribute to the prize-giving ceremony and you can expect to win some great Irish boots, which is always a high necessity if you are a sailor. Sailmon, the Dutch manufacturer of sailing instruments, will support the event with their Sailmon MAX device for tracking and allow you to taste its data-driven product that also connects you to the sailing community through their innovative mobile app. You can compare your stats to other SB20 sailors as well as view and download your data for analysis. 

Hein Ruyten, the Dutch SB20 dealer and boats charter will once again support the SB20 fleet with boats and logistics as well as spares ahead of and during the event. Promotex and Hein Ruyten will provide every competitor with nice event clothing. SportsboatWorld will be also present onsite with supplies, so you can expect full support on the technical side!

This event is run on crowdfunding basis where entities contribute their share. It wouldn’t be possible without the support of Martijn Buitenhuis from Buitenhuis Advies and Jeroen van der Velden from Maxwise, who put a lot of effort into helping younger teams as well as bringing in cash money.

The money side of organising an event like this is always a challenge and the Dutch SB20 association has opened the doors to more sponsors and individuals to support them*. As a reward for their generosity they have prepared a special gift from a Dutch socially responsible & carbon neutral business called Secrid.

27 years ago Secrid responded to the needs of the changing world with mobile technology revolutionising what we carry around in our pockets. They created a wallet that not only protects your cards from bending with RFID / NFC security, but has an elegant design and top quality with leather that is tanned using only plant-based dyes from Italy.

“Since the start of the Secrid journey 27 years ago, we have continued to merge our backgrounds in fashion and product design to create pocket-sized essentials, right here in the Netherlands. Behind this pocketwear lies a new world. A practical and innovative product line which has received multiple international awards for its quality and innovative features.”

We are very happy to see and welcome the participation of a number of overseas teams, including

two Australian entries and teams from Singapore and Dubai!

All the way from Tasmania we will see Will Sargent and his youth team Ares (Eddie Reid, Paige Caldecoat, Eirini Marios) who have been winning pretty much all local events and finished as top Youth team in 2022 in Ireland. It is with great pleasure that we also welcome Paul McCartney and team Porco Rosso back to the international racing! Second-placed at the 2018 Europeans in Ireland Paul will be helming this time brining the Bronze tactician at SB20 Worlds 2019 onboard Andrew Smith’s The Imp, David Chapman, and Edward Snowball as crew.

The Singaporean fleet will be represented by three teams with bronze SB20 Worlds 2022 winner team Glasgow Kiss in its winning setup (Nils Razmilovic, Nik Burfoot and David Salembier) and team Tara (Agoston Sipos, Magnus Ekbom and Jeremy Chase), who have recently won the Singapore Asia Pacific Grand Slam & Nationals 2023. Third team from SB20 Singapore belongs to Daire O’REILLY on Sin Bád. Daire, Ben and Myles are dinghy sailors at their core having represented their countries (IRL, AUS and UK) in various divisions and all having progressed to international yacht racing. SB20s marks a return to thier roots.

Dubai mission is represented so far by three teams so far (Ragged Edge Racing of Bekky Britton, superSONIC of Michal Pajak, Yalla Shamal! of Rachel Blackburn), but we hope to see more teams signing up as SB20 UAE is starting to prepare for their own SB20 World Championships 2024!

The closest neighbours have signed up with 7 UK teams and 4 Irish teams so far. Among the top British teams we will see Breaking Bod of Charles Whelan with the same crew as at the Worlds 2022 of Richard McAdam and Arran Holman where they finished 6h, our silver medallist in 2022 coming for revenge team Xcellent of John Pollard who hasn’t announced his crew yet, PBII Twenty with Paul Hine, Mark Gillet helming and Richard Anderton.

On the Irish side we will see team TED of Michael O’Connor, Davey Taylor and Edward Cook – 4th at the Worlds in 2022 and 3rd at the Europeans in 2018 and recent runners-up in Cascais, Provident CRM of John Malone and Leviathan of 49er Tadgh Donnely, who scored a couple of bullets at the SB20 Worlds 2022, as well as the ex-Irish SB20 Class chairman Colin Galavan, on Carpe Diem.

Five teams from France, including two FFVoile France Jeune, that have already shown their sailing skills at the SB20 Worlds 2022 and at the Dubai Duty Free regatta – Ian Garreta and Ange Delerce from SR Antibes.

Portugal has signed up with three teams, including SailCascais of Vasco Serpa, Class veteran André Gray and our own SB20 World Champion 2022 – Jose Paulo Ramada. This year Jose Paulo will bring a 100% Portuguese crew that includes top Cascais sailors Henrique Brites & Luis Pinheiro (10th at the SB20 Worlds 2021 in Cascais) and Miguel Leal de Faria with whom Jose Paulo has been sailing for many years on Dom Pedro Hotels. 

Jose Paulo’s 2022 winning crew of Artem Basalkin, Gonçalo Lopes and Carlota Gala will be racing with a different skipper this time – Martin Estlander, representing Finland, but mostly sailing in Portugal on a lucky Irish boat called SinBin.

As expected the majority of the fleet are represented by the Dutch and Belgian teams, where we will see a lot of familiar names as well as some young and promising talent. The Dutch SB20 has recently opened its season with the first regatta counting 20 boats! You can view the results here.

You can expect strong competition from Bart Tytgat (BEL3762) who won the recent season opener 2023 and Dutch Nationals in 2022, Marco van Driel (NED 3714) – winner and runner up in many local events as well as one of the top Dutch teams 3J’s of  Jeroen van der Velden (NED 3754) – winners in the Masters category at SB20 Worlds 2022 and owners of the National champion title in the Netherlands and in the open championship in Belgium.

“Great to see how close the teams are racing. The level in the class is high and the sportsmanship great. At the moment the SB20 class is one of the most leading classes in the Netherlands, — said Jeroen van der Velden. — “We are really looking forward to the upcoming pre-Worlds North Sea Regatta and the 2023 SB20 Worlds in Scheveningen!”

* If you still wish to become a sponsor of the event, please email Jeroen van der Velden at +31 6 55 11 69 93 or worlds@sb20.nl