SB20 Asian Grand Slam and Asia Pacific Championship - Overall
by One15 Marina 7 Feb 2018 12:54 GMT
1-4 February 2018
The participating teams on the way to race area at East Coast © Howie Choo
The highly anticipated SB20 Asian Grand Slam and Asia Pacific Championships was held at the Asia's Finest Marina – ONE degrees15 Marina Sentosa Cove, Singapore for the third consecutive year from 1 – 4 February 2018.
The regatta is organised by ONE degrees15 Marina, supported by the SB20 Class Association, and sanctioned by the Singapore Sailing Federation (SSF). Once again, the championships set a participating record of 23 teams this year, with competitive fleet from various parts of the world including Australia, Austria, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Netherlands, United Kingdom and Singapore.
The teams put their skills to test over the three racing days; manoeuvring the SB20 with moderate breeze and occasional squally rain clouds bringing through light (but warm) drizzle with 20-25 knots of pressure.
The entry list this year saw the usual suspects joining the line-up with local crowd favourite and last year's winner, Glasgow Kiss (Nils Razmilovic / Nik Burfoot / David Salembier) returning. With no surprise, the team was awarded the title of "Asia Pacific Grand Slam" once again. At the end of the last race, Pocapena and Walababy had tied for equal second overall on 19 points. After the tie-break rules were applied it was announced that Walababy (Agoston Sipos/ Boniface Constant/ Freddie Hall) prevailed over the well-campaigned Pocapena (Mike Buchanan/ Jordan Smith/ Christian Englert). Fourth place in the overall went to the English crew on Tara (Paddy Bettesworth/ Jamie Binmore/ Adrian Peach) on 28 points and fifth overall went to the SMU Alumni (Colin Lim/ Pascal Radue/ Tan Wei Chong/ Ching Pu Feng).
After clinching second place in the overall championship, Le Petit Admiral said that "(it was an) epic battle for second place. There were no easy points but we really enjoyed the racing." Nils Razmilovic, SB20 Singapore Class Chairman, from Glasgow Kiss was pleased with his result but had great praise for the regatta commenting that "These are the real monsoon season conditions that the regatta should be well known for; we hope to get more visitors next year." Jamie Binmore (sailing Tara with fellow English compatriots) visited Singapore for the first time and could not have been more enthusiastic commenting that he "loved sailing in the sun rather than the cold and the rain and am not looking forward to going back to the Royal Torbay in England where it is cold, grey, miserable and sometime before we can get back out on the water. The sailing was fantastic and I really enjoyed seeing the spectacular skyline we sailed under. This truly was a world class event and it would be superb to have an SB20 Worlds in Singapore – for me at least, it would be a pleasure to attend".
For the winners and the participants alike, the champagne flowed on the way back to the ONE degrees15 Marina on 4 February 2018. A closing party and awards ceremony was held in the evening and praises upon deserved praises were heaped upon the regatta organisers, race committee, participants, supporters and sponsors.
ONEº15 Marina announced the dates for the fourth edition of SB20 Asian Grand Slam and Asia Pacific Championship; set to be held from 24 – 27 January 2019. As the regatta continues to cement itself as the region's pre-eminent SB20 regatta, the organiser is confident that the participation will once again see an increase in number next year.
The annual regatta is an initiative set into motion by ONE°15 Marina Sentosa Cove, Singapore which underscores the Club's commitment to growing yachting lifestyle and sailing as a sport in Singapore. The Club has hosted several major commercial events with national and international exposure over the years, including the SB20 AGS and inaugural Volvo Ocean Race at its premise.
Teo Joo Leng, General Manager of ONEº15 Marina, said "The Club was first established with the vision of becoming one of the boating hubs in Asia and events like SB20 AGS moves the Club one step closer to fulfilling its goal. The Club is committed to promoting sailing as a sport in the Asia Pacific region and will continue to support the country's sailing and boating associations to encourage more to pick up the sport and to nurture future sailing champions."
The Asia's Finest Marina is also at the forefront of promoting the yachting and sailing lifestyle in the region not only through supporting events but also through lining the Asian coastline with a pearl string of ONEº15 Marinas, with marinas already in progress at Puteri Harbor, Malaysia, Guishan & Suzhou, China, and Jakarta, Indonesia.