Welcome to PB Racing, the site to map our progress through the 2011 sailing season.
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LaserSB3 World Championships 2011 : PBII finishes 19th Overall
At the conclusion of 5 days of intensive racing, Poor Buoy finished a respectable 19th overall out of the 108 boat international fleet. Three top 5 placings during the gold fleet series including a close fought 2nd takes PBII into the second half of the year with confidence against the best.
Geoff Carveth on Race Team Gill won overall, with Rob Greenhalgh on Red taking the runners up spot after leading for the final few days.
Event video round-up at http://www.zhiksb3worlds2011.com/2011/05/video-zhik-sb3-worlds-2011-round-up/
LaserSB3 World Championships 2011 (Torquay, UK)
PBracing's Mark Gillett and crew head for Torquay this Saturday to complete preparations for the start of Zhik LaserSB3 World Championships which commence on Monday 16th May. 120 identical boats are primed to do battle over 5 days of intense racing, with the last couple of days culminating in the gold fleet crowning a 2011 World Champion.
Crews from Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Ukraine, South Africa and many of the leading European sailing countries will be ascending on Torquay intent on reveling in the tough competition and toppling the GBR fleet who have walked away with the trophy for the past 3 years.
Results, reports and photos for the 2011 Worlds at www.zhiksb3worlds2011.com/
Mark, Ade, Graham and Fran will be sailing "Poor Buoy" GBR3149...........great photo's by CubeImages, so check out the website
A video of the 2010 Worlds in Lake Garda, Italy at http://vimeo.com/20279978
Kick Starting 2011
PBracing crew will be bolstered at the start of the 2011 season with the inclusion of Ade Layton, Graham Camm and Fran Gifford in the build up to the Laser SB3 World Championships that will take place in Torbay from 16-20th May 2011.
PBII "Poor Buoy" will be out on the water in early spring for the start of the Warash Spring Series, and in particular for the Spring Championship weekends on 9/10-Apr and 16/17-Apr where approximately 40-50 boats are expected.
Torbay Open meeting event is over the first May Bank Holiday weekend, and then 120 boats will decend on the Royal Torbay Yacht Club for the 2011 Worlds Championships starting on 16th May.
Rock on !
Preparations for the 2011 Season
PBII "Poor Buoy" looks forward to the start of 2011 with events in the spring around Hamble, followed by the planned trip to Torbay in early May in readiness for the 2011 World Championships.
Garmin Hamble Winter Series 2010
The Garmin Hamble Winter Series runs from 10th October - 5th December this year, with the Laser SB3 class set to be the most popular and hotly contested class again with 25-40 boats racing regularly through the 24 races series !
The first weekend kicked-off successfully for PBracing notching up a 5,4,3 scoreline for the 3 races. Dave Cummins in Rubbleflurg 3032 continued his good form with an exceptional 1,1,1, with new face Jo Llewellyn 3082 striking 2,9,2 and Russell Peters on 3379 striking 4,3,6
UK National Championships 2010 - Brighton, UK
Day 1 - PBII ("Pambere") had a consistent first day with 15,13,15 having not sailed for a few months. Mark is joined by brother-in-law Ade Layton, Barbados fireball worlds helm Simon Lomas-Clarke and "M" who is the new secret weapon sailing at the wet end of the boat as the 4th person this week. "We enjoyed the good breeze today" commented Mark, "and we look forward to some front end racing tomorrow."
Day 2 - PBII 3149 improved on day 2, posting a 7,6,23 to maintain 11th place and keep the top ten within striking distance. Results can be found at www.bmyc.org.uk/racing/SB3%20Nationals/results.asp
Day 3 - PBII 3149 had an up and down day 3, leading one race for a while before finishing 4th on the final leg. The days posting on the score board were 22, 4, 27, 7 to remain tightly bunched with 5 boats fighting for a good top ten finish.
Day 4 - PBII 3149 finished with two difficult races to the championship, with a result in the top ten at the Nationals slipping away. With the top 8-10 boats from the worlds racing here at the Nationals, it was always going to be a tough regatta and so it proved. Good racing and great weather also helps make for a nice week away, and Brighton did not disappoint. Results can be found at www.bmyc.org.uk/racing/SB3%20Nationals/results.asp
Laser SB3 World Championships 2010 - Garda, Italy
Jerry Hill was crowned the 2010 World Champion in Lake Garda, Italy amongst a fleet of 110 boats.
Garmin Hamble Winter Series 2009
The last solent event of the year is fast approaching, with the start of the Garmin Hamble Winter Series scheduled for Sunday 4th October. PBII........PamBere 3149......will be competing in the Laser SB3 class, with the full series spread over eight sequential Sundays and consisting of a total of 24 races !
Laser SB3 World Championships 2009 - Cascais, Portugal
Congratulations to Craig Burlton, Steve 'AB' White & Adam Heeley on Gill Race Team 3042 on winning the 2009 World Championships in Portugal. The Worlds in 2010 will take place on lake Garda in Torbole, Italy from 19-23 July 2010.
PBII's Top Speed Record Falls on 19th July 2009
Following a day of close racing at the Yarmouth GP on Saturday, PBII finished sixth overall after racing was cancelled on the Sunday due to high winds and rough weather in the Solent. With a forecast for increasing wind during the day, the fleet of SB3s returning to Hamble set-off for the sleigh ride home at 10am as the race officer confirmed racing was cancelled. In an attempt to break the previous top speed of 18.64kts, Mark, Nick and James launched the yellow kite at the mouth of Yarmouth harbour and charged home at speeds regularly between 15-19kts. As the waves built in mid-Solent, the opportunity eventually arrived on the back of a large roller in a 30+ kt gust to surf through the 20kt barrier to achieve a top speed of 20.34kts. Wow..........the quest for speed continues......roll on Cowes Week.
2009 PB Racing Season Starts on 15th March
PB Racing is joined by James Ross for the start of the 2009 season which kicks off on 15th March with the Raymarine Warsash Spring Series. The Laser SB3 will be largest class again to take to the water for the 6 week series, culminating in the hotly contested spring championships which take place during the final two weekends of April.
PB Racing at Irish Nationals & World Championships
Irish Nationals run from 29-31 August.........see news section for result
World Championships run from 22-26 September.....see news section for result
PB Racing Summer Break 2008
Following a busy start to the 2008 season, PB Racing's Mark Gillett and Nick Jones are enjoying a break from the water to earn some "pink" tickets in preparation for a hectic schedule which commences in late August with the SB3 Irish Nationals and followed in late September by the SB3 Worlds in Dublin.
SB3 Grand Prix Series 2008
The 2008 Laser SB3 Grand Prix series started with the Cowes GP1 event over the May Bank Holiday weekend. With 45 boats racing, PamBere 3149 finished 11th equal with only one discard allowed during the 8 races sailed. Craig Burlton on Car Jacked 3042 had a fantasic weekend finishing first overall with a worst place discard of a 6th. The next event is GP2 Sunderland in early June.
Raymarine Warsash Spring Series 2008
The 2008 sailing season finally kicked off with the start of the spring series on 16th March. The series is sailed over eight Sundays and combines the final two Saturdays in April to provide a Spring Championships.
PamBere 3149 started the season well to finsh second overall after only one discard in the 12 race series. Palava 3053 sailed by Geoff Carveth finshed first overall.
Results can be found via the following link http://www.warsashspringseries.org.uk/
SB3 Autumn Championships 2007
3149 PamBere finished this weekends Autumn Championships in an impressive second place overall having posted a 2,6,6,13,3 scoreline amongst the fleet of 45 competitive Laser SB3s. First place went to Chris Jennings on Selden Masts, third to Geoff Carveth on Earls Court Boat Show and fourth to Craig Burlton on Team Toureg. Results can be found via the following link http://www.garminhamblewinterseries.co.uk
SB3 National Championships 2007
2007 SB3 National Champions are Glenn Bourke, Jeremy Troughton and Tony Kilby sailing Musto. Results and reports can be found via the link below. http://www.hisc.co.uk/payentry/laserSB3_nationals.htm
Swan45 World Championships 2007
The Swan45 World Championships start on 2nd July 07 in Cowes, with 21 boats entered and fierce competition expected in this tight one-design class. PB racings Mark Gillett and Ian Harrison are joining the BetterThan USA18 team for this event, and you can follow the results via http://www.rys.org.uk/da/42631
SB3 European Championships 2007
This years European Championships are being held in Weymouth UK, with over 80 boats expected to take up the challenge on 19th June 2007. Follow the progress of PB racing at http://www.wpnsa.org.uk/results.htm , selecting the Laser SB3 Europeans Results and looking for PamBere sail no. 3149
Raymarine Warsash Spring Series 2007
Following on from Cowes Week 2006, PBracing and Dyer Burdett & Co have linked up once again with www.MARINEontheWEB.co.uk to enter the Laser SB3 class in the Raymarine Warsash Spring Series which runs from 11-Mar to 22-Apr 2007.
Reports and results can be found in the NEWS section.
Photos from Eddie Mays at http://www.eddiemays.com
New Addition to the Shore Crew
Happy days for the Gillett family as baby Amelie finally arrived on Friday 22nd Dec 2006 at 9:11pm. A baby girl weighing 7lb 7oz with lots of lovely dark brown hair. Looks like PB III or PB IV could be an opi !!
Garmin Hamble Winter Series - Results
After a long 8 week series of 16 races, Royal Thames Lucky Lady hung on to take the win in the SB3 class at this years Garmin Hamble Winter Series as well as taking the overall "Sports Boat of the Series" title for 2006. With PamBere missing a couple of weekends and having a number of "retires" this meant that the overall series score didn't look to healthy.
Speaking after the event Mark Gillett said, "Once again the Hamble River Sailing Club and event sponsors Garmin have put on an excellent series. If we had managed to follow my advice and sail the whole series then our overall position would have looked alot healthier. We are pleased with our speed and set-up now, so a little more practice on the big starts and we should be in good shape for 2007."
Garmin Hamble Winter Series from 8-Oct
Having missed the last couple of regatta's of the summer season, SB3 PamBere and co-owners Ian Harrison, Nick Jones and Mark Gillett are itching to get back out on the water when the Garmin Hamble Winter Series starts on Sunday 8th October.
Speaking to Yachts&Yachting magazine, Mark Gillett commented on his memories of last years success having won "Sports Boat of the Series" in the 707 Class, aswell as providing some insight into what it takes to win your class in this competitive 16 race series.
"My best memory from last year sailing 707 Pocket Battleship is from week six. Towards the end of any long series, things always get a lot tighter at the top of the fleets. Within the White Group, with two races per day this presents lots of opportunities for the leading boats to attack each other and this is especially true within the competitive one-design classes. In theory we all have equally matched equipment and therefore the top boats have generally all worked out how to go at the same speed in all directions around the course.
"During week six, I recall having our hands full on Pocket Battleship with our nearest competitors Sword and Royal Thames both working to sail us off in different directions around the course. We managed to jump out early and escape in the first race of the day to take the win, but the second race was a totally different story. Rounding the leeward mark behind Royal Thames and with Sword in hot pursuit we chose to tack soon after rounding as Sword peeled early to work the favoured left shift. What ensued up the entire length of the beat was the sailing equivalent of ping-pong as Sword and Royal Thames forced us to sail up the middle out of phase with the shifts as they lee-bow tacked or slam-dunked us each time we tried to escape to the favoured side. We finished the beat some way back in third place, but with good downwind speed and a lucky break as the breeze dropped coming into the final leeward mark we were able to sneak back thro into the lead and hold this to the finish. Great racing, and something we hope gets served up in large white group platefuls during this years Garmin Hamble Winter Series."
Asking about some pointers for this year, "There are many tips I could list about the Hamble Winter Series…after all this will be our 5th year in a row…and at the last count the boat has only ever missed two Sundays" commented Mark.
(1) This might sound obvious, but maximising the number of races that you sail will improve on your chances to win the overall series, so if you feel comfortable get the crew organised to sail the boat in your absence.
(2) With two races per day within the white group, we have found that carrying a few key spares prevents you from losing races due to simple breakages. We always carry the spare spinnaker, and a spare rachet block aswell as main top batten and jib batten are good bets.
(3) Early dock times and early starts are things we all struggle to contend with, but we have consistently always been out on the course 30mins before our start time. This is important to give you time to set-up the boat, get the crew warmed up and the rig tuned for the days forecasted conditions. Sail a good lengthy upwind leg to pick up on any wind phases and work out your favoured side of the course – tide and wind.
(4) Lastly, and I am sure I say this every year…...once the starting sequence has commenced make sure you pay a great deal of attention to the first fleets that start. Watching who starts where and how they progress up the first beat is one of the most valuable sources of “real” information you are going to get. Validate this against your thoughts and use it to help you fine tune that all important first beat strategy.
Full Y&Y article covering the Garmin Hamble Winter Series can be found in the 22-Sept issue of Y&Y magazine.
MARINEONTHEWEB.co.uk - 14th Overall
After retiring from the final day of racing at Skandia Cowes Week, MARINEONTHEWEB.co.uk finished in 14th place overall amongst the competitive class of 89 Laser SB3s.
Reports are available on the Cowes Week 2006 page, with full results at www.cowesweek.co.uk
SB3 PamBere to fly the flag for Dyer Burdett & Co at Cowes Week 2006
With just over two weeks to go before Cowes Week starts, PBracing are very pleased to confirm that they will be sailing under the black & gold colours of Marine Law Specialists - Dyer Burdett & Co for the duration of Skandia Cowes Week 2006.
“This is an exciting prospect for both Dyer Burdett & Co. and PBracing at such a prestigious event as Skandia Cowes Week “ commented Mark Gillett. “Sailing in what will be the largest fleet with 85 boats racing in the LaserSB3 class it should provide lots of exposure and excitement.”
The boat is entered under name of MARINE ON THE WEB.co.uk with sail no. 3149
http://www.marineontheweb.co.uk/
707 Pocket Battleship finds a new home
After a fantastic 4½ years racing in the 707 One-Design Class, and a successful 2006 campaign it is a little sad to report that 707 Pocket Battleship has departed for a new home back up in Burnham on the East Coast. Although the 707 Nationals title still eludes the PBracing team, I am pleased to report that new owner Andrew Prestwich and his keen family plan to be out racing regularly in Burnham as the local fleet there continues to grow in strength & numbers. Perhaps we might see the Pocket Battleship name back on the 707 East Coast Championship trophy in the years to come.
707 PB wins Southern Area Championships
Despite some strong competition from the East Coast teams of Cacciatore, Beaver Hunter and Emu, Pocket Battleship came away with the overall win in the 5 race no-discard series run by Royal London YC at Cowes. See "News" for a brief report.
707 PB wins RTI
After an 11hr marathon, Pocket Battleship won the 707 class in the 2006 Round the Island race. Begorrah were second and Star Born 3 were third. See "News" for a full report.