SB20 Australian Championship 2025 at Bellerive Yacht Club - Day 1
by Jane Austin 21 Feb 13:38 UTC
21-23 February 2025
Team Porco Rosso showed why they are second in the world with a classy performance on the first day of the 2025 SB20 Australian Championship in Hobart.
Skipper Paul McCartney, Will Sargent and Eddie Reid, fresh from the 2025 World Championship in Singapore, won the first two races of the regatta and placed second in the final race of the day to go into the second day of sailing on four points.
Hot on their heels are the reigning champions Nick Rogers, Simon Burrows and Cole Dabner (Karabos) with one win and two seconds to finish the day on five points.
Rob Davis, David Chapman and Jack Acton sailed Nutcracker consistently taking third place in each race and sit in third on nine points.
Rebellion led the fleet to the first mark in the first race after a glamour start benefiting from the pressure on the left hand side of the course but gave ground to Porco Rosso and Karabos on the downwind leg, ultimately finishing in fifth place.
Skipper Stephen Catchpool was pretty happy with his young team's performance which was brought together at the eleventh hour following an injury to a regular crew, but he was certainly in good hands picking up top ILCA Laser sailor Sam King and young gun Nick Jones.
The 15-20 knot sea breeze and messy chop made for hard going on the upwind legs, with teams pushing their boats hard downwind on the edge of control.
A few boats narrowly avoided wipeouts in the blustery conditions, especially those new to the Class, but overall, the fleet managed the conditions well.
Big Ted, skippered by newcomer Emma Maertens from the Sandringham Yacht Club in Victoria, is leading on performance handicap in her first SB20 regatta.
Ten races are scheduled for the regatta.
Warm to hot conditions are forecast for Saturday with north to north easterly winds under ten knots becoming easterly at 10 to 15 knots in the afternoon.
The regatta is sailed as part of the Banjo's Shoreline Crown Series Bellerive Regatta, hosted by the Bellerive Yacht Club.
Results after day 1:
| Place | Boat Name | Sail No | Skipper | Club | R3 | R2 | R1 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | BIG TED | AUS3229 | Emma Maertens | SYC | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 2 | FAHAN SCHOOL | AUS3385 | Sarah Reynolds | DSS | 7 | 2 | 3 | 12 |
| 3 | KARABOS | 3743 | Nick Rogers | DSS/RYCT | 2 | 5 | 5 | 12 |
| 4 | PORCO ROSSO | AUS3819 | Paul McCartney | DSS | 4.5 | 4 | 4 | 12.5 |
| 5 | NUTCRACKER | AUS3731 | Rob Davis | RSYS | 4.5 | 7 | 9 | 20.5 |
| 6 | WEDGEWOOD | AUS3395 | Tom Stearnes | RYCT/DSS | 1 | Q | 7 | 24 |
| 7 | COOK YOUR OWN DINNER | 3658 | Felicity Allison | DSS | 13 | 9 | 2 | 24 |
| 8 | BLACK | 3746 | Andrew Smith | DSS | 8 | 13 | 6 | 27 |
| 9 | MIND GAMES | 3390 | Phil Reid | RYCT | 9 | 8 | 10 | 27 |
| 10 | STORMTROOPER | 3747 | Matt Bugg | DSS/RYCT | 12 | 3 | 13 | 28 |
| 11 | SILVER GULL | AUS3742 | Scott Glanville | DSS | 10 | 6 | 12 | 28 |
| 12 | EL PEZ | 3389 | Dylan Gore | DSS | 6 | 10 | 14 | 30 |
| 13 | REBELLION | AUS3744 | Stephen Catchpool | DSS | 11 | 12 | 8 | 31 |
| 14 | CASCADE DRAUGHT | 3030 | Duncan Hine | DSS | 14 | 11 | 11 | 36 |
| 15 | RED & BLACK | 3368 | Mark Wolfenden | LSC | 15 | 14 | 15 | 44 |