#hyc – Up to 250 of Ireland's top young sailors sail from the Fingal port of Howth in County Dublin this morning for the annual four-day Youth National Championships. Three separate race areas will be laid north of Ireland's Eye in order to accommodate the large number of competitors.
From the 24th to the 27th of April, Howth Yacht Club is hosting the annual youth sailing event on the domestic calendar.
In the Laser Radial class, many of last year's top performing sailors have progressed on to the senior Standard class. This has opened up the competition to the new wave of younger ambitious athletes eager to take the prized podium places. In the two-person 420 class, locals Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove will be the ones to watch. The 2013 champions are currently in transition year and have spent their academic year studying in France where they have also been able to put in a lot of training and competition time on the water.
On a separate race course for the week, the 60 strong Optimist fleet will contest the first leg of their annual trials for representing Ireland abroad at a host of summer events. One of the pinnacle events will be the Optimist European Championship which this year will be hosted in Ireland by the Royal St George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire. With just under three months to go to the opening ceremony there are currently 250 registered sailors in the Dun Laoghaire event from 43 countries from as far afield as Bermuda, Japan, India and Iceland. They will arrive with 80 coaches and support personnel and many travelling with their families.
The ISA championships will also be complemented by Howth's annual Dublin Bay Prawn Festival, which will see the entire harbour front filled with tents and stalls offering various culinary delights related to the world-famous crustaceans. There will also be a carnival on the green of the harbour for the children and their families.
