The one-class dinghy with gennaker has already been sold over 650 times worldwide, and sales figures have also risen in Germany in recent years after a second-hand boat market gradually emerged. The fast, sporty boat also shone at world championships and regattas with high-calibre fields of participants and regattas, and even professional sailors enjoyed competing there time and again. In this respect, the separation came as something of a surprise.
However, the transition went quite smoothly. Tony Castro, designer of the SB3, took over the rights and production under the newly founded umbrella of Sportsboat World. In the same breath, the SB3 was renamed the SB 20, for a simple reason: originally the abbreviation stood for "three-person sports boat", but it is increasingly being sailed by four-person crews, which is easy to realise due to the maximum crew weight limit. The new name SB 20 now stands for the length of the boat, namely 20 feet. The new class association is here to find.
The production of the boats was brought back to England with the change from Asia, and the first new SB 20s will be produced there from the summer. It is important for German SB 20 sailors that the distribution of new boats and spare parts will continue to be handled by the Ziegelmayer company in Hamburg.
Andreas Fritsch
Editor Travel
