#youthsailing – In a major boost for Irish Laser youth sailing, Seafra Guilfoyle finished in sixth place from 155–starters at the European Laser Youth Championships in Denmark yesterday. The result is a promising indicator of form for this month's ISAF Youth Worlds in Portugal, in which Guilfoyle will represent Ireland also in the Laser class.

There were other top Irish results at the Danish venue too in both the boys and girls fleets.

Five Irish girls finished in the top 30. The girls, all under 19 years, completed 12 races over the week and finished in strong conditions with winds over 20 knots.

Erika Ruigrok finished in 10th position followed by 6 other girl sailors Aisling Keller 14th, Sorcha Ni Shuilleabhain 23rd, Sorcha Donnelly 27th, Sarah Eames 29th & Laura Gilmore 40th out of a fleet of 77 boats.

In the larger boys fleet of 155 boats. Guilfoyle was followed by Cian Byrne 20th, Liam Glynn 27th & Conor O'Beirne. 56th.

#lasersailing – Four race wins from six sailed at the Ulster Laser Championships at East Antrim Boat Club gave 2016 Olympic contender Finn Lynch of the National Yacht Club a clean sweep of the 15–boat standard fleet. It's the 17–year–old's second regional title this season he picked up Munster honours at Baltimore a month ago.  

In the 15–boat radial division, youth national champion Seafra Guilfoyle of Royal Cork went one better to seal the title with five race wins.

In the 4.7s, there was a similar domination as Guilfoyle's club mate Johnny Durcan took four wins. His twin brother, Harry, was also in winning form at the weekend at the Optimist Connaughts.

Full results are available to download below. 

The National Champion is Seafra Guilfoyle (Royal Cork YC). Second is Darragh O’Sullivan (Kinsale YC). Third is Finn Lynch (NYC/Blessington SC) The first Girl is Sian Kneafsey (National YC. Laser 4.7 CLASS Sailed: 8, Discards: 1, To count: 7, Entries: 42,

Rank	SAIL NO	HELM	CLUB
1st	199421	Seafra Guilfoyle	Royal Cork YC
2nd	189216	Darragh O'Sullivan	Kinsale YC
3rd	182600	Finn Lynch	National YC/BSC
4th	196981	Sian Kneafsey	National YC
5th	200637	Ruairi Finnegan	Waterford Harbour SC
6th	198561	Tadgh Donnelly	National YC
7th	198552	Ryan Glynn	Ballyholme YC
8th	189215	Eoin Curran	East Down YC
9th	197315	Cillian McGreer	Howth YC
10th	198518	Dara O'Shea	Kinsale YC
11th	190759	Conor Murphy	Kinsale YC
12th	188016	Patrick Young	National YC
13th	188084	John Durcan	Royal Cork YC
14th	198555	Cian Byrne	Royal Cork YC
15th	183948	Ross O'Sullivan	Kinsale YC
16th	180596	Katherine Geoghegan	Royal Cork YC
17th	196982	Emma Cooney	National YC/LDYC
18th	166433	Max van der Lee	Royal St George YC
19th	198551	Alex Delamer	Howth YC
20th	173059	Michael Magowan	Tralee Bay SC
21st	192852	Rónan Jones	Wexford Harbour BTC
22nd	184757	William Shanahan	National YC
23rd	195271	Vikki Cudmore	Royal Cork YC
24th	191306	David Hopkins	Cushendall S&BC
25th	198435	Sorcha Ni Shuilleabhain	Kinsale YC
26th	193591	Susie O'Neill	National YC
27th	183231	Dan O'Beirne	Royal St George YC
28th	198563	Dara O'Connor	Carlingford Lough YC
29th	198562	James Eggers	Royal St George YC
30th	174830	Helen Mc Parland	Carlingford Lough YC
31st	193531	William Potterton	Waterford Harbour SC
32nd	197894	Nathaniel Gillett	Royal St George YC/LDYC
33rd	180353	Patrick Cahill	Royal St George YC
34th	192861	Andrew Levie	Lough Derg YC/KYC
35th	190758	Julie Power	Royal St George YC
36th	190584	Luke, Murphy	Wicklow SC
37th	196741	Claire Lambert	National YC/LDYC
38th	196732	Cliodhna O'Regan	Kinsale YC
39th	175654	Laura McGettigan	Royal Irish YC
40th	178694	Florence Lydon	Baltimore SC/Schull CC
41st	180324	Tallula Dunne	National YC
42nd	31908	Roddy Fitzpatrick	Royal St George YC

Over the next few days hundreds of boats will arrive in Dun Laoghaire in preparation for the Mitsubishi Youth National Championships over the May Bank Holiday weekend (29 April – 02 May).

Over 300 sailors will compete in Dublin Bay in seven different classes (Laser Radial, Laser 4.7, 420, Feva, Topper, SL16 and Optimist). For youth sailors, this event is the most important in the annual calendar as it is the decider for the top Irish sailors to compete internationally during 2011 and is the pathway for future Olympic sailors. Podcast with Olympic Team Manager James O'Callaghan here.

The 420 fleet is already in situ as the Leinster Championships were held over Easter and the girls team Emma Geary and Niamh Connolly won the event in style. This team is the only 420 crew to qualify internationally for a place on the Irish team to compete in the ISAF Youth Worlds in Zadar, Croatia and will be looking to win next weekend to secure this honour.

Dublin Bay will host the 2012 ISAF Youth World Championships and this year's ISA Mitsubishi Youth National event is an important test event with representatives from the international sailing authority visiting Dun Laoghaire to view plans and test logistics.

In addition to the 420 fleet the Laser radial fleet will also be competing to qualify to represent Ireland in Croatia. Philip Doran aged 17 from Courtown in Wexford is the current former under 17 World Champion in the Laser Radial fleet although the National title has eluded him so far. In the girls fleet it will be a toss up between Saskia Tidey (RIYC) and Sophie Murphy (Quoile YC) as both already have a national title each under their belts.

A fleet of top Optimists are expected. Photo: Bob Bateman

The younger Optimist fleet is also celebrating this week after two top 5 positions at the Easter Regatta in Braassemermeer, the Netherlands. In fact an Irish team has competed at this event for 23 years and this is the first time that Ireland has won the country prize. Sean Donnelly from Dun Laoghaire who finished fourth in Braassemermeer is also leading the Optimist fleet in the trials and will be anxious to hold on to first position during the ISA Mitsubishi Youth Nationals.

In other fleets, the laser 4.7 fleet is enjoying record numbers with many ex-Optimist and Topper sailors choosing this boat. Finn Lynch from Blessington and Seafra Guilfoyle from Cork will be firm favourites to win the class.

Overall Dublin Bay will be a spectacle of sail over the May Bank holiday weekend with light winds forecast.

Mitsubishi Motors have been a proud supporter of junior sailing in Ireland for the last 7 years. In recent years Ireland has had successes at youth level with winner of the girls under 21 Laser World Championships and a top 10 at the 2010 ISAF Youth Worlds and wins at the British National Optimist Championships.