Update Saturday 14 March: Due to the evolving situation with the COVID-19 Virus and that all schools are currently closed, this event is postponed for this term.

Royal St George sailing manager Ronan Adams says: “Discussions are ongoing as to when the Leinster Championships and National Championships will take place and the Irish Team Racing Association will update all school representatives as soon as is reasonably possible.”

Dun Laoghaire's Royal Saint George Yacht Club is once again hosting the Leinster Schools Team Racing event on Wednesday the 11th of March.

The event is open to all schools in the Province of Leinster. In the event of bad weather, there is a fall back date for the 25th of March.

As Afloat reported in 2019, Gonzaga College were Leinster Championship victors after eight teams competed in Firefly dinghies for the title in mostly light airs in Dun Laoghaire harbour.

The Royal St. George leads the way in Irish Team Racing affairs with Junior, Schools, Youth and Adult Team Racing squads training and competing locally, nationally and internationally from the club. Queries can be made to Eunice Kennedy, Leinster Schools Team Racing Representative at the following email:- [email protected]

Representatives from clubs, schools and centres have been working tirelessly throughout the winter to develop a calendar of events for Team Racing throughout Ireland. The first schools’ event is to be held on 12th February where teams from around the country will compete in the hotly contested Shanahan Cup. Now in its second year, the team racing event is growing in popularity amongst local schools. Organised by Gonzaga College and hosted at the Irish National Sailing and Powerboating School the event will be sailed in Topaz’s in Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

The Inaugural event won by Gonzaga College in 2019 is sponsored by the Shanahan family from the National Yacht Club. The family have a long sailing history and a close association with Gonzaga College, the organising school. The event is intended to promote the sport of team racing in schools. It particularly aims to attract less experienced sailors with all schools encouraged to “give it a go” as Fiachra Etchingham – Event Organiser suggests; “We had 9 teams from 6 Dublin schools and 54 competitors braving the cooler weather last year which is a great turnout for any inaugural event. We hope to build on that this year and have had interest from some of the North Dublin schools as well. It was great to see some recently formed teams at the last event just getting started in team racing. It’s important that we continue to increase participation in such a fun and social sport.”

Indeed, the first event welcomed participants from Holy Child, Blackrock College, Loreto on the Green, Gonzaga College, St Gerard's and Loreto Foxrock. However, interest in Team Racing is increasing as Rory Martin – Irish Sailing’s Team Racing contractor highlights “Irish Sailing is rolling out the BIM FLAG (Bord Iascaigh Mhara) funded Team Racing Roadshow where clubs, centres and schools can avail of free Team Racing coaching. With interest from 37 venues to date, interest is building nationwide. We have spoken to several local schools and hope to get some more programmes delivered in the coming weeks as a lead up to the event.”

Dublin Bay is often considered the home of Team Racing in Ireland. With many of the local clubs and training centres purchasing boats and organising training courses and events. The family-run Irish National Sailing and Powerboat School welcomes 8000 participants per year on training courses and is delighted to be hosting the event as Kenneth Rumball – Chief Instructor explains;

“We offer the ideal venue for Team Racing with all the equipment, support and facilities to run a successful event. Last year the kids enjoyed the great racing on the water and the social in between races on our Mothership the ‘Lula Belle’. We’ll be offering Hot Chocolate and tasty treats to all competitors and have enlisted the help of a great race team including umpires, race officer and volunteers”

The event is the first in the calendar of schools’ events in 2020. Provisional dates for The Leinster and National Schools Team Racing Championships were released for March and April respectively.

With an increased in demand for Team Racing amongst clubs and training centres, Irish Sailing are delighted to receive their brand-new fleet of six Fireflies writes Treasa Cox.

The boats were partly funded by BIM FLAG (Bord Iascaigh Mhara, Fisheries Local Action Group) as part of the Irish Sailing Team Racing Development Programme.

The boats are part of the Irish Sailing Team Racing Roadshow and will be made available for clubs to hire at a heavily discounted rate to cover transport, damage and upkeep. With a 6- stacker trailer, distinctive sail colour scheme and upgraded rudder assembly, the boats are robust, attractive and transportable.

"The boats are part of the Irish Sailing Team Racing Roadshow" 

Rory Martin, Irish Sailing’s Team Racing contractor commented “with several clinics provided to date and interest building nationwide, we are really looking forward to getting out and delivering the workshops with the new fleet. Whilst many clubs have their own training boats, the Fireflies enable those that don’t to avail of the programme with this top-class equipment. Our experienced team racing coaches make the clinics interesting, fun and informative and they are receiving great feedback. The boats have been highly spec’d and look really cool with green and gold striped sails, so should be pretty noticeable from the shore.”

Bookings are coming in already for 2020. With over thirty clubs interested throughout the country, it is likely that availability during weekends and holidays will book up quickly. To find out how your club or training centre can get involved, or to express an interest in sponsorship, get in touch with Rory Martin [email protected]

The 71st annual National Team Racing Championship hosted by Royal St George YC in the mid-November weekend attracted 16 squads from all over Ireland, and it was one of the furthest-travelled teams - Baltimore Sailing Club - which went home with the honours after a convincing 3-0 win in the finals against a hyper-talented squad – including an Olympic sailor – which sailed under the moniker of Fast Not Furious. Ably led by West Cork-based sailor Mark Hassett, Baltimore kept their cool against everything that the rest of Ireland and particularly Leinster could throw at them, and Captain Mark Hassett carries the “Sailor of the Month” honour on behalf of his team-mates Fionnn Lyden, Johnny Durcan, Amy Harrington, Trudy O’Hara and Adam Hyland.

This Saturday 30th of November, UCD Sailing Club are running a charity team racing event in aid of the Movember Foundation.

Teams have been going head to head throughout the past month seeing who can grow the best moustache, and they will continue to battle it out on the water during the racing. The participants will spend the last few hours with their furry friends on the water, and on recovery, we will have a ceremonial shaving.

There will be free tea and coffee all day for UCD, kindly provided by the Royal Irish Yacht Club. After racing there will be mince pies and mulled wine waiting inside, for a celebration for the freshly shaved faces.

If you know anyone who would be interested in entering a team in this event, or can be of any help sponsoring prizes, please email [email protected]. If November sailing isn’t for you, we also have a donation link for our team and we really appreciate all donations here

The Royal St George Yacht Club hosted 16 teams at the 71st National Team Racing Championships last weekend in Dun Laoghaire.

Near perfect team racing conditions of 8-12 knots breeze allowed a full round-robin competition of 120 races to be sailed. Each team completed 15 races against their opponents. Baltimore SC conceded one loss to Not Fast Just Furious and Royal St George Knights conceded to Baltimore SC who both emerged on top with 14 wins apiece. In their wake were’ Not Fast Just Furious’ on 13 wins and Howth YC and Poppa J and Hoochie Men on 10 wins apiece.

HYC won the tie on lowest points to qualify for the Semi Finals against Baltimore. Not Fast Just Furious faced the George Knights in the other semi-final leg. Time was limited by the sailing instructions and consent had to be sought from the leading two teams to permit a semi final after 3pm: sportingly both Baltimore and the Knights agreed. Surprisingly ‘Fast not Furious’ overturned the Knights 2-0 to face Baltimore who despatched Howth 2-0; all races were fought frenetically with the umpire team fully engaged in sorting out the flurry of flags during racing.

Near perfect team racing conditions of 8-12 knots breeze allowed a full round-robin competition of 120 races to be sailed

‘Fast and Furious’ were true to their moniker but calm and collected the Baltimore team comprising Mark Hassett with Adam Hyland, Fionn Lyden with Amy Harrington and Johnny Durcan with Trudy O’Hara controlled the races from the starts and systematically ground their opponents back to convincingly claim the title 3-0 in the final races. Fast not Furious comprised Finn Lynch, Liam Glynn, Conor O'Beirne, Cora McDowell, Sally Bell and Graine Young...... George Knights comprised John Sheehy with Rachel McManus, Nick Smyth with Jodie Jane Tingle, and Gerald Owens with Melanie Morris. The Knights despatched Howth YC in the petit final to claim the bronze medals. H.Y.C. Simon Rattigan, Lynn Reilly, Darragh O'Connor, Kerrie O'Leary, Aidan McLaverty & Jenny Andreason. The Youth division was won by RCYC Lola! Lola kohl, Eva Spillane, Justin Lucas, Killian Oregan, Rory O'Sullivan & Rob Keal

Results are downloadable below.

Irish Sailing’s Team Racing Programme is well underway with interest building across the country at clubs and centres each looking for bespoke training for instructors and sailors of all ages and abilities writes Gail McAllister

Team Racing is a fun and inexpensive way for clubs to retain young dinghy sailors after they have left the structured environs of class youth racing or the Irish Sailing Training Schemes. With a focus on rules knowledge, boat handling, tactics and teambuilding, the programme will further develop transferable skills and give rise to skilled and competitive racing in a very sociable environment.

The BIM FLAG funded initiative (Bord Iascaigh Mhara Fisheries Local Area Group Development), organised by Irish Sailing’s Team Racing Contractor and delivered by experienced Club Race Coaches is gaining traction following the successful delivery of Irish Sailing’s mid-term team racing clinics and demand is increasing.

Clubs getting involved

Last Wednesday, 22 sailors, ranging in ages from 11 to 16 turned out at Royal Irish Yacht Club for their first junior team racing clinic in RS Fevas. Unfortunately, on-water coaching was abandoned due to high winds, but team racing coach Greg Arrowsmith delivered a great interactive shore-based workshop introducing the team racing format, rules and tactics with the aid of video and games to keep the sailors interested and engaged. The RIYC offer a great setup for young people new to team racing or want to improve their sailing and are aiming to deliver further team racing clinics and a regular programme.

The Royal St George Yacht Club enjoyed an intensive two-day clinic with a group of improvers. As the wind abated, the group were able to get afloat on both days applying tactics and team racing manoeuvres. There was great sailor engagement and a huge improvement throughout the two days

Cork Boat Club in Blackrock are a fledgeling club with a fleet of Fireflys who race on the River Lee. Team Racing Coach Noah McCarthy visited last Sunday to provide a seminar on rules and tactics
Malahide Yacht Club has booked a clinic for mid November using their fleet of Topaz and Feva dinghies with club instructors shadowing Irish Sailing team racing coaches Aaron Jones and Noah McCarthy as part of their continuous professional development.

Umpires Courses

This weekend sees the first Local Umpires Course which is now fully booked with 14 participants. The course will be delivered by International Umpires Cxema Pico and Chris Lindsay and participants will have a great opportunity to practice their newly learnt skills on the Trinity Alumni event at Royal St George Yacht Club. A further local umpires course is planned for early 2020.

Rolling out around the country

Irish Sailing have also received interest from clubs including Spiddal, Glandore, Baltimore, Waterford, Rush, Wicklow, Sligo, Galway Bay, Dublin Bay, Sutton, Malahide, Killaloe and Carlingford. With a new fleet of Fireflys due to arrive by the end of November the Irish Sailing Roadshow will be rolled out further over coming months.

Clubs and training centres wishing to be part of the programme can avail of free team racing coaching in existing club boats. In the absence of existing matched club boats, the team racing contractor and coaches can visit your club with a fleet of Fireflys for a small charge to cover transport, damage deposit and expenses. The fleet are to be delivered later this month.

To register your club’s interest in the roadshow, please contact Rory Martin for more information [email protected]

The National Yacht Club’s new fleet of Elliot 6 high-performance keelboats were in action last weekend in Dun Laoghaire for a 2K team racing invitational writes Roisin O'Brien

30 sailors took to the water in Dun Laoghaire Harbour for the day, including teams from The National Yacht Club (U30 and U25 teams), The Royal St George Yacht Club, Royal Cork Yacht Club, and the Sorento Sailing Club from Australia who travelled for the event.

The light, shifty conditions made for challenging racing, and an ever-changing race course where sharp tactics made all the difference. Luckily the wind picked up as the day went on and the teams successfully completed two round robins overall. 

The first of many mini events to come making use of the new fleet on the block, the Elliot 6’s, known for their match racing, adapted well to the 2K racing format which was fast paced and kept competitors on their toes.

2k team racing in the new Elliots at Dun Laoghaire Harbour

Race organiser Will Byrne (left) with the Sorento Team Racing sailors from Australia

"Curious George" from the host yacht club emerged the winners of the fifth Elmo Team Racing Trophy sailed this weekend at the Royal St George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire Harbour. 22 teams from all over Ireland competed in the event, with most of Ireland's top youth sailors enjoying sailing with and against each other in almost perfect team racing conditions.

Despite a slight delay waiting for wind on Sunday morning, the race team successfully completed almost 120 races over the two days.

Almost 120 races took place over the two days

After the initial round-robin on Saturday, the teams were split into seeded fleets for racing on Sunday. Curious George (Toby Hudson Fowler, Kathy Kelly, Henry Higgins, Isabelle Kearney, Jack Fahy and Emily Riordan) narrowly beat Goats in Boats, led by last years winning captain, Tom Higgins. Showing the competitiveness of the sailing, and how our youth sailors are developing as keen team racers, the next three places had to be decided on count backs, with Morgan Lyttle's 420 Blaze it just edging ahead of George Clooney (captained by Helen O'Beirne) and Atlee Kohl's 3 Amigos. First in the Silver Fleet was Harry Twomey's RCYC team.

22 teams from all over Ireland competed in the event

Raced in four flights for the first time in its 5 year history, the organisers hope this event will grow to a fifth flight and even more teams next year as youth team racing grows around the country.

The Royal St George Yacht Club took delivery yesterday of its new fleet of yellow and green Firefly dinghies, just in time for next weekend’s youth team racing event- the Elmo Trophy.

Now in its fifth year, this Dun Laoghaire Harbour based event has been hugely successful at encouraging team racing among school-aged sailors, giving them valuable experience before moving on to college sailing.

Entries are already in from teams from Northern Ireland, RCYC, Academy, the Laser and 420 classes and the RSGYC itself.

All entrants must be 19 or under on December, with 2 team members 16 or under. Entry is open here