Ed Russo looks forward to a new era for SB20 sportsboat fleet
by Devoti Sailing 13 Dec 08:21 PST
Ed Russo helming at the 2019 Worlds in Hyères © Pierrick Contin
Ed Russo is a prime mover in the sailing world. He's the director of the French Olympic Regatta, Semaine Olympique Francaise, which takes place every April.
He's also treasurer for the FFVoile, the French Sailing Federation, and all these commitments to the sport mean he doesn't actually find much time to do his own sailing.
However, as Russo has found over the past 15 years or so, it is possible to be moderately competitive in the SB20 keelboat fleet without putting in huge chunks of training time.
"There are obviously many sportsboats and small keelboats to choose from," says Russo, "but over the past decade or so I didn't have much time to sail more than about 20 or 25 days a year. So I needed a boat that I could get up to speed very quickly for a World Championship without spending three months of training on the water."
Great global spread
It's also the worldwide distribution of the class, with strong fleets across Europe, the Middle East and Australasia. "We go from Hobart in Tasmania, where there are over 40 boats all the way across to Dun Laoghaire in Dublin where there's another 30 boats," says Russo, who also plans to compete in the upcoming Worlds in Singapore this January.
"We had the last worlds earlier at the start of this year in Dubai, and now to be going to Singapore, racing in the SB20 offers a lot of great opportunities for travelling the world and catching up with friends in different places. And our Worlds are truly international events with typically 12 to 15 nations represented."
As a Frenchman he has also been closely involved in building up and maintaining SB20 engagement in his home country. "The SB20 class offers a great opportunity for those young sailors who have been competing at a high level - maybe towards an Olympic campaign - who are moving on with their lives but still want to take part in high-quality, world-class competition."
Not only that, but it's possible to compete on a pretty affordable budget and still be fast and competitive. "We had three teams at the Dubai Worlds who got there very cheaply, and they did very well too and really enjoyed their time racing in the fleet," says Russo, who has been a passionate promoter of the class for the best part of 15 years.
Momentum building
"The SB20 was exceptionally successful in the UK and in Ireland, and there used to be a fleet of 25 or 30 British teams that would come over to race in Brittany. We'd get three or four French teams racing there, but the class never really took off. I saw that momentum just across the Channel, all these boats having great racing. So I launched the class myself in France in 2010 and we soon had a small fleet regularly racing in the North of France. I was invited to become class president in 2011 and we decided to have the Worlds in Hyères in 2013 which was a big success. We ended up with most of the SB20s being based in or very near Hyères with the other 20 per cent located in other parts of the country."
Originally launched in 2002 as the Laser SB3, the Tony Castro design has weathered the years very well. While the J/70 has since come along and done very well in the sportsboat market, Russo sees the similar boats as serving very different markets. "The SB20 is a bit lighter and easier to transport than say, a J/70 or RS21, and it's a bit quicker to get on the plane.
Different ways to make the boat go faster
"The other nice thing about the SB20 is there's not one single formula for making the boat go fast. Whereas other boats have a specific way of setting up the boat for top speed, there's a few ways of approaching the same problem and that makes the tuning and the racing very interesting."
Quite a few sailors cross between the J/70 and SB20 during the same season and enjoy both race tracks. Russo sees no problem with this. "The J/70 and SB20 are really in different markets. The racing is great in the J/70, a very high level, but at a higher price too. You're probably talking between Euros 50,000 to 60,000 and another Euros 20-30,000 of work to get it fully prepped. There was a boat up for sale recently which had achieved a podium place at the J/70 Worlds and it was priced at Euros 120,000. So we're really talking a different budget to campaigning an SB20.
"To get a top five placing in the SB20 Worlds with a new boat, you'll need to spend around Euros 50,000, and maybe a second set of sails for around Euros 6,000. But if you're buying secondhand and prepared to take on a boat where some of the sheets and halyards might need replacing, you could buy a pretty good boat for Euros 10,000 and maybe another Euros 2,000 upgrading bits and pieces. You can be on the pace for not that much money.
New boatbuilder, new motivation
With Devoti Boats in Poland recently taking over the build of new boats, Russo is excited for the future of the SB20. With discussions around a possible upgrade of various elements, possibly a carbon mast in the future, there is a real buzz around the fleet. "All these discussions are taking place with the existing fleet and owners very much in mind," Russo points out.
"Part of the reason for considering carbon is that it's not that different in price these days compared with building new aluminum rigs. Aside from the weight advantage, the other potential for a carbon rig is to have a two-piece mast which would make it easier to transport, particularly for container shipping from continent to continent."
Devoti Boats are pushing forward with the class, not just as a builder but to help promote the class to new markets, and that's what excites Russo the most. "We know Devoti is a great builder, and they're best known for their Olympic medal winning Finns and more recently ILCA dinghies which competed in the Paris 2024 Games. Their attention to detail is excellent and I hear the order book is filling up for the coming year. It's great to see the SB20 doing so well and I'm sure I'll be racing the boat for many years to come."