Royal Cork's Johnny Durcan & Nicole Hemeryck, National YC Are New Laser Radial National Champions

22nd August 2016

Royal Cork's Johnny Durcan is heading for the Youth Worlds in New Zealand in December having won the cut–short Laser championships in GBSC at the weekend Credit: Afloat.ie

Following on from their success at the Laser Radial Worlds in Dublin this July, where they finished seventh in their respective fleets, Royal Cork Yacht Club's Johnny Durcan and Nicole Hemeryck of the National Yacht Club will now represent Ireland at the 2016 World Sailing Youth Worlds in New Zealand in December.

This highly contested honour came down to the last race, with everything to play for, at the Laser Nationals at Galway Bay Sailing Club this weekend.

With only four races being sailed over four days all the competitors were very close on points leading to some very tense racing.

laser nats2 Minister Simon Coveney TD was one of a large Cork contingent in the 110-strong fleet taking part in the Laser Nats 2016 at Galway. He is seen here in the midst of the shore-bound crowd on the Friday, supported by a clear message for Class President Annalise Murphy.

Only one race was completed in light winds on the first day, and then the second and third of four days were cancelled due to high winds and poor race conditions.

Day four brought all the action with everything to play for in the last race, with conditions on the last day ranging from 12 to 18 knots.

Johnny Durcan took the overall National Championship title, winning two of the event’s four races, and Nicole Hemeryck is First Lady, in the Laser Radial fleet.

laser nats1 With only one light breeze raced sailed on the Thursday, everything in the Laser Nats 2016 at GBSC hinged on getting three races sailed on the Sunday, as Friday and Saturday were comprehensively blown out

This year’s National Championship was the home qualifier in the selection process for the ISAF Youth Worlds, with both sailor’s 7th overall result in the Laser Worlds easily securing their international qualification requirement. Since the Worlds, both sailors have continued with their training and competition, with Durcan taking second overall place at the recent UK Laser Nationals, while Hemeryck came 13th at the Under 21 Worlds in Kiel earlier this week.

In the 4.7 fleet the winner was Jamie Mc Mahon (HYC), upcoming younger brother of Ewan MacMahon (silver medallist at this year’s Laser Youth Worlds), who sailed a consistent series. First Lady and second overall was NYC’s Clare Gorman, a former national champion in the Optimist fleet.

laser nats3 Simon Coveney and Pierce Purcell, ISA Board member and former GBSC Commodore, at the Laser Nats discussing how Annalise Murphy’s Olympic Silver Medal will benefit the future of Irish sailing

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About the ILCA/Laser Dinghy

The ILCA, formerly known as the Laser, is the most produced boat in the world, with 220,000 units built since 1971.

It's easy to see why the single-handed dinghy has won the title of the most widely distributed boat of all time.

The Laser is a one-design dinghy, the hulls being identical but three rigs that can be used according to the size and weight of the sailor.

The class is international, with sailors from 120 countries. The boat has also been an Olympic class since 1996, being both the men's and women's singlehanded dinghy.

Three rigs are recognised by the International Laser Class Association (ILCA):