sb3 sailboat

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Laser SB3: Review

• By Chuck Allen
• Updated: December 13, 2007

LaserSB3REview368

I’ve tested many sailboats while involved with Sailing World’s Boat of the Year program and one of the coolest I’ve ever encountered is the Laser SB3. The absolute simplicity of this boat is amazing. Upwind it locks into a groove, which in most boats you have to fight to maintain. Downwind is a dream; the SB3 is an incredibly stable platform with remarkable speed. Since its introduction in Europe in 2004, the SB3 has experienced tremendous growth, with more than 400 boats built. Two reasons for its popularity are that the boat has been designed to be sailed legs-in and all the controls are at the crew’s fingertips. Another key feature is that it can be rigged and launched in 45 minutes. The mast is light enough to make raising it a two-man job, allowing the third, and possibly fourth crewmember to rig the rest of the boat. The T-bulb keel, which is raised and lowered by an included, removable gantry, makes launching and hauling painless. As the boat only weighs 1,309 pounds, a mid-sized car can tow it. We sailed the SB3 twice, in 2 to 7 knots of breeze, and again in 25. Both times the SB3 found its groove easily and we found it nearly impossible to unintentionally slow down or fall off a plane. We tested moving our weight around, with the boat responding as expected. Light air and flat water required moving the crew forward and sitting close together, while in breeze and chop we moved aft. The boat sailed best in the light stuff with a lot of twist, and the long throw of the traveler made this easy; you can pull the car well to windward while easing the mainsheet for power. It was the exact opposite when the breeze was up; vang on, find the correct mainsheet tension and play the traveler up and down to control the angle of heel while maintaining good drive forward. All the controls are easily within reach and if someone needed to jump in to adjust a line, it wasn’t a big deal. You think the boat is going to tip over like a dinghy, but the high-aspect keel underneath keeps it on its feet. The boat has a great feeling upwind and because of the flared gunwales, is relatively dry.Downwind is an absolute blast; simply put, the SB3 rips! During our high-wind test we sailed consistently at around 15 to 18 knots of boatspeed. I would think when setting the 495-square foot kite at the offset in big fleets you would need to stay high, so easing the vang is a smart idea. When the kite reaches the sheave, it’s take-off time. Weight aft near the foot straps is the place to be. When driving in breeze, the helmsman is butted up against the backstay, the kite trimmer next forward (using the foot straps), and the bow person is the furthest forward, watching the vang while pumping the main. It’s quite obvious when a puff hits that you need to bear down a bit. Once you do so, the boatspeed jumps a couple of knots. A breeze spotter is the way to go, and can make a huge difference in one-design racing in a boat like this. Jibing is simple, especially with the long pole and high-clewed gennaker. I found the easiest way is to start the jibe slowly, wait until the clew got just past the centerline, and finish on the stronger side, coming out fully powered up. By starting slowly it also gives the crew some time to locate their position on the opposite side of the boat before take off. Sets and takedowns are very simple; there’s an enormous launching bag at the forward edge of the cockpit. Takedowns require a quick turn downwind to help the bow person get the kite in the boat completely. Overall, downwind sailing in the SB3 will be some of the best sailing you’ll ever do. The SB3 hull laminate is epoxy with a foam core, and there’s an internal frame and bulkheads providing strength and rigidity. The mast is an aluminum deck-stepped Proctor Selden rig with double spreaders. The boom, also by Proctor Selden, is aluminum as well, but the retractable pole is carbon fiber. The boat is mostly Harken equipped, with gear from the Carbo Block and Hexaratchet range. A Spinlock halyard cleating system offers easy lock and release even under load. The rudder is epoxy and core with carbon reinforcement, and the high-aspect ratio keel is based on a stainless steel main member with an epoxy, foam core, polyester skin, and a 770-pound lead bulb.The best thing the SB3 class has done is put a tight rein on its rules. The boats come complete from bow to stern and you cannot change anything. This ensures tight racing and keeps running costs down. One potential cost issue could be sail purchasing, which is unlimited [but sails are only available from Hyde Sails through Laser]. In Europe the top sailors are showing up with new sails for each big event. Otherwise, you are looking at a $39,000 program (includes sails, trailer, and a TackTick system), which seems high at first, but when you look at comparable boats and their costs, it’s right in line, if not better. The SB3 was clearly the best boat we sailed this year; if not the best boat we have sailed in all our BOTY years. With the buzz over the SB3 in Europe, it seems poised to take the U.S. market by storm. If you get the chance to take one for a sail, go for it; you’ll quickly see why we named the SB3 as our top choice.

For SW ‘s complete 2008 Boat of the Year coverage, click here

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• Sailboat Guide

Laser SB3 is a 20 ′ 2 ″ / 6.2 m monohull sailboat designed by Tony Castro and built by Dart Sailboats starting in 2004.

Rig and Sails

Auxilary power, accomodations, calculations.

The theoretical maximum speed that a displacement hull can move efficiently through the water is determined by it's waterline length and displacement. It may be unable to reach this speed if the boat is underpowered or heavily loaded, though it may exceed this speed given enough power. Read more.

Classic hull speed formula:

Hull Speed = 1.34 x √LWL

Max Speed/Length ratio = 8.26 ÷ Displacement/Length ratio .311 Hull Speed = Max Speed/Length ratio x √LWL

Sail Area / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the power of the sails relative to the weight of the boat. The higher the number, the higher the performance, but the harder the boat will be to handle. This ratio is a "non-dimensional" value that facilitates comparisons between boats of different types and sizes. Read more.

SA/D = SA ÷ (D ÷ 64) 2/3

• SA : Sail area in square feet, derived by adding the mainsail area to 100% of the foretriangle area (the lateral area above the deck between the mast and the forestay).
• D : Displacement in pounds.

Ballast / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the stability of a boat's hull that suggests how well a monohull will stand up to its sails. The ballast displacement ratio indicates how much of the weight of a boat is placed for maximum stability against capsizing and is an indicator of stiffness and resistance to capsize.

Ballast / Displacement * 100

Displacement / Length Ratio

A measure of the weight of the boat relative to it's length at the waterline. The higher a boat’s D/L ratio, the more easily it will carry a load and the more comfortable its motion will be. The lower a boat's ratio is, the less power it takes to drive the boat to its nominal hull speed or beyond. Read more.

D/L = (D ÷ 2240) ÷ (0.01 x LWL)³

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds.
• LWL: Waterline length in feet

Comfort Ratio

This ratio assess how quickly and abruptly a boat’s hull reacts to waves in a significant seaway, these being the elements of a boat’s motion most likely to cause seasickness. Read more.

Comfort ratio = D ÷ (.65 x (.7 LWL + .3 LOA) x Beam 1.33 )

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds
• LOA: Length overall in feet
• Beam: Width of boat at the widest point in feet

Capsize Screening Formula

This formula attempts to indicate whether a given boat might be too wide and light to readily right itself after being overturned in extreme conditions. Read more.

CSV = Beam ÷ ³√(D / 64)

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Laser SB3s on a roll

• August 3, 2005

With over 60 boats on the startline the Laser SB3 fleet with its VW Touareg connections is one of the biggest sponsorship success stories here at Skandia Cowes Week

Last year the SB3 class produced an impressive 30-boat entry and although they did have their own fleet they raced with the 1720s.

This year’s entry however, has exceeded all expectations with over 100 per cent increase making a total of 68 boats – the second largest fleet (the X One-Designs beat them with 90 boats). As well as being the official vehicle sponsor of Skandia Cowes Week, VW Touareg has played a large part in the growth of the class. The benefits of the sponsorship deal filter all the way through the SB3 fleet. Commenting on Touareg support, Jerry Hill – class committee member in charge of event organisation – said: “They [Touareg] sponsored three or four of us last year and gave us each a spinnaker. But on the Wednesday of Skandia Cowes Week last year on a perfect sailing day, the commercial director of VW who’d been watching the racing was chatting to Dave Graham [Managing Director of Laser] about what he thought about the fleet. Apparently he replied: ‘absolutely fantastic but next year I want them all to have VW spinnakers’. So that’s how it came about.”

This year with increased support, VW Touareg decided to produce 50 VW-branded spinnakers to give away with each entry together with Henri-Lloyd clothing and goodies. Little did they expect the entry would exceed 50 boats, which is why 18 boats racing here at Skandia Cowes Week (the late entries) don’t carry the sponsor’s branding. “The other thing that the sponsorship has provided,” added Hill, “is subsidised berthing at Shepherd’s Wharf to ensure we’re all based in the same place. We were very aware that it was important to ensure all competitors benefited from the deal. This I believe we’ve succeeded in.”

Throwing money at a class is not necessarily a way of guaranteeing success. Although The Laser SB3, which has now been around for three years, does have a major builder and sponsor promoting the class, ultimately it’s the boat itself that has to appeal. The design of the Laser SB3 (from the drawing board of Tony Castro) is effectively a development of the 1720 despite having a shorter waterline. Basically Castro’s taken a lot of the characteristics of the 1720 that needed improvement and come up with SB3. Hill continued: “Champion dinghy sailor Mark Rushall was also quite instrumental in the development of the design. It’s a bit lighter and more dynamic downwind – much more dinghy-like. I think one of the big benefits is only having three people. Although having said that some of the lighter crews sail four-up not exceeding the 270kg weight limit.”

Another appealing aspect over some of the larger keelboats is the handling ashore and ease of launching and rigging, it’s much more like a dinghy. You can launch off the slipway and avoid all the hassle and expense of relying on boatyards to launch and recover.

So popular is the fleet right now that even the second hand value is remaining stable at approximately £12,000/£13,000. Hill continued: “But if you’re looking at buying new, you need to budget at around £18/19,000, which includes all the safety gear ready to sail and even a trailer.”

Although still currently leading the fleet after day five Hill and his super-fast team of Tomo and Mark Richards aboard Team Touareg reckon they have a long way to go. “It’s a tough fleet and we had a very, very tricky race yesterday in that there was very little wind at the startline and a very strong tide sweeping everyone over. This caught out a lot of good people which is an advantage for us because they’ve now had a bad race to add to their overall ranking. We were leading at the last leeward mark but lost out to Southy [Ian Southworth] who took line honours with Spank the Monkey [Matt Johnston] in second. I think there’s only one point in it between us and Johnston so it’s still early days.”

The next major event on the Laser SB3 calendar, in three week’s time, is the class national championship in Torbay where 60 boats are expected to take part.

The Laser sb3 is a 20.18ft fractional sloop designed by Tony Castro and built in fiberglass by Dart Sailboats since 2004.

The Laser sb3 is a light sailboat which is a very high performer. It is very stable / stiff and has a low righting capability if capsized. It is best suited as a racing boat.

Laser sb3 for sale elsewhere on the web:

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