#optimisttraining – IODAI, the International Optimist Dinghy Association of Ireland has over 160 signed up for its Spring training week (15th February – Friday 20th February) which is open to all IODAI members and will be held in Baltimore Sailing Club writes the IODAI's Aidan Staunton.

As Afloat reported previously last October the village of Baltimore will be taken over by approximately 160 sailors and their families for the week of February mid-term. Coaches have all been booked and typically they are a mix of the top Irish and international coaches; from Greece, Portugal, Sweden and Poland,

Training will be provided daily for sailors from Regatta fleet level (must be able to sail a triangle)- to those who are competing internationally. We particularly would like to encourage sailors who have not attended an event outside their own club in the past, to consider coming to Baltimore, which is a non-competitive, fun week intended to build enthusiasm for sailing and to allow sailors from around the country to get to know each other. The Baltimore event is considered to be one of the top International clinics in Europe and ends with a one day regatta on the last day.

It is very much a family-oriented event, with a programme of activities for children too young to sail (Fitbones), and events also organised for adults, such as the 'How to Rig an Oppi' class for novice parents!

The event is organised by IODAI which is comprised of volunteers, mainly parents of sailors, who organise the Optimist events calendar. Because everyone is a volunteer, Baltimore is an 'all hands on deck' week, with parents encouraged to lend a hand with the work that goes into making it such a special event. Helping out with sailors lunches, doing slip duty, rescue on the water, and helping at the social activities, means that all parents will get to know each other just as well as the sailors do.

An IODAI forum takes place during the Baltimore week where all parents are invited to express their views or seek information on the running of the Optimist class.

#euromed2014 – The Royal St. George's Grace O'Beirne was the top Irish youth sailor at the Malta based Euromed 2014 Optimist championships held immediately before Christmas. Nine races were sailed with two discards In a series sailed largely in winds from five to ten knots that were shifty and gusty. 

Unfortnuately, some of the Maltese series sailed at Mellieha Bay left a lot to be desired with only 13 finishers and 90 plus blackflag disqualifications in one afternoon on the water. 

O'Beirne finished 14th with a seventh in race four as her best result. Next – in a team of 17 Irish sailors – was Michael Carroll in 33rd place. Full results here

The Irish ambassador to Malta, Mr Padraig MacCoscair was at Mellieha Bay to welcome all the Irish sailors off the water at Euromed 2014.

#irishsailingreview – 2014 has been the year in which Irish sailing regained its international confidence afloat by re-capturing the Commodore's Cup. Having won it in 2010, the national economic collapse prevented any defence in 2012, but in July 2014 the stain and shame of 2012's non-appearance was emphatically wiped from memory with a convincing team victory led by Anthony O'Leary.

Ashore meanwhile, it had taken longer in some quarters for the economic realities to become fully evident and accepted. But for the Irish Sailing Association, a grassroots revolution within the national authority and sailing in general in 2014 resulted in a root-and-branch analysis of the workings of the Association, which had been heading towards financial disaster through a combination of over-staffing, grandiose schemes of expansion and empire-building, and an emphasis on activities and programmes which were remote from the needs of ordinary sailors throughout Ireland.

It took six months to turn round the course of the Association. But on November 5th 2014 the new ISA President, David Lovegrove, was able to announce a far-reaching re-structuring which is already resulting in a leaner and fitter body, better able to provide a realistic service for clubs and the huge diversity of recreational activity on Ireland's seas and lakes.

While all this high profile activity and action has been taking place at international and national level, those Irish sailors who had managed to keep up their sport through the financial downturn – albeit in often very reduced circumstances – continued to sail their boats with the attitude that, while the economic situation was disastrous, it mustn't be allowed to become serious, and in some ways the best course out of the recession was to sail through it. W M Nixon casts an eye over the year's main activities.

In the Irish sailing year, Christmas Day is New Year's Eve. Next morning, on December 26th – St Stephen's Day or Boxing Day or whatever you're having yourself – the annual 628-mile Sydney-Hobart Race starts. It may be on the other side of the world, and it may still be in the very last days of the old year. But Irish interest at home and in Irish-Australia is always high, and in the sailing community it's seen as the start of the new season.

December 26th 2013 was in line with this, as we'd ex-Pat superstar Gordon Maguire – a previous Hobart race overall winner – very much in contention with Matt Allen's totally new Carkeek 60 Ichi Ban, we also had Sean McCarter of Lough Swilly YC skippering Derry/Londonderry in the warmly-welcomed Clipper Fleet of 70-footers designed by Tony Castro (formerly of Crosshaven) which were taking in the Hobart race as part of their global circumnavigating race, and we'd Barry Hurley and Kenny Rumball on the First 40 Breakthrough knowing that in the 2010 Hobart race, the new design's race debut, First 40s had taken first and second overall.

In a rugged race in which the wind got up to gale force and more towards the end, it was a much-loved hundred footer, Bob Oatley's continually-modified Wild Oats XI, which stole all the headlines with line honours, a course record, and a class win. Irish hopes were best met by Sean McCarter, who logged a very clear win in the Clippers. As for Ichi Ban, while she was third in IRC Div 1 and 8th overall, it wasn't quite a stellar performance, reinforcing the views of those of us who think the boat may be just a little too plump by today's lean and hungry standards. And aboard Breakthrough, they'd 8th in class and 29th overall, a useful performance perhaps, but Barry Hurley will be back on December 26th 2014, boosted by his first in class and second overall in October's Middle Sea Race.

Matt Allen's Ichi Ban in the Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race of 2013, with Gordon Maguire as sailing master. To some observers, the very new Carkeek 60 seemed distinctly plump in her hull form forward compared to her closest competitors

In late January 2014, attention focused on the Quantum Key West Regatta in the Florida Keys, where Irish Olympic sailor Peter O'Leary of Cork was on the strength of New York art dealer Marc Glimcher's completely new and very potent looking Ker 40 Catapult. The boat did the business afloat in Florida, but further business was done ashore, as Anthony O'Leary himself was in Key West to see if he could sign up Catapult to be the secret ingredient in Ireland's Commodore's Cup team, for which at that stage the only certainty was his own older Ker 39 Antix. There seemed to be agreement, but in the volatile world of international trading and snap decisions in which top modern sailing operates, there can be sudden reversals of fortune, and O'Leary later admitted that until Catapult was actually unloaded from a ship in Europe, he hadn't been a hundred per cent certain she'd show.

Key West had further Irish interest in that veteran skipper Piet Vroon's Ker 46 Tonnere de Breskens – a former Round Ireland Race winner – was another star in the show, but much was to happen in Irish sailing before the Round Ireland 2014 got under way in Wicklow on June 28th.

With March slowly showing signs of Spring, university racing came centre stage, and it was University College Dublin which came through on top to qualify as Ireland's representatives in the Student Yachting Worlds in France in October, the team led by Philip Doran.

Another team was emerging as the Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) announced that our Commodore's Cup squad would be Anthony O'Leary's Ker 39 Antix, Marc Glimcher's Catapult, and the Grand Soleil 43 Quokka chartered by Michael Boyd and Niall Dowling, with Anthony O'Leary as team captain. He in turn would be supported by the shore management team, for a very intense week of racing, of Barry Rose and Fintan Cairns, with Mike Broughton in what would prove to be the particularly onerous task of Team Meteorologist.

As 2014 was exactly midway between two Olympiads, top level international dinghy sailing to Olympic standards might have been expected to be on the back burner. But Ireland's Olympians were very much on track on the international scene, and busy with their own programmes which culminated in the ISAF Worlds in Santander where Olympic places in Rio de Janeiro for 2016 were secured by James Espey in the Laser, Ryan Seaton & Matt McGovern in the 49er, and Annalise Murphy in the Women's Laser Radial. All were of course also seen in other boat types from time to time, with Annalise in particular bringing some glamour to the growing class of foiling Moths in Ireland.

Annalise on the foiling Moth

Other top international women sailors had descended on Ireland in early June with the ISAF Women's Match Race Worlds at Crosshaven. It's very much a specialist sailing interest, but aspiring Irish woman sailors attracted to this discipline found that this successful regatta provided some very useful networking contacts and future crewing possibilities, while the racing itself saw Sweden's Anna Kjellberg of the Royal Gothenburg YC become the new champion after defeating Camilla Ulrikkeholm of Denmark in the final.

In an entirely different area of sailing and life afloat, the traditional boat scene had come early to life with the Baltimore Wooden Boat Festival at the end of May. In the Irish climate after a particularly damp Spring, it reflected great credit on those involved that there was such a good turnout, ranging from the Shannon Gandelows from Limerick recently returned from their historic visit to Venice, through the many restored classic yachts of the region, also including the lovely Shannon cutter Sally O'Keeffe from Kilrush, and going on into the restored traditional mackerel and lobster yawls which make West Cork their home.

Shortly after their historic visit to Venice, the Shannon gandelows built by the Ilen School took part in the Baltimore Wooden Boat Festival at the end of May. The gandelow here, rowed by Liam O'Donghue, Anthony Kenny and Robert Samlle, is headed across Baltimore Harbour towards the gaff ketch Sile a Do.

The pride of the Shannon Estuary - Sally O'Keeffe was built in a community effort in Querrin on the Loop Head peninsula.

The traditional lobster boat Saoirse Muireann (left, Cormac Levis) and the mackerel yawl An tiscaire (Uilliam O'Lorcain) are a familiar sight in the waters of West Cork. Photo: Brian Marten

They were to re-appear in even greater numbers at the Ballydehob Gathering of the Boats in early August, a month during which the classic Galway Hookers of the West Coast were at their busiest on their home Atlantic waters, but the East Coast also had its moments with the Riverfest in Dublin's Liffey in early June seeing traditional and classic craft in a lively mix.

Sails in the City – two of the 1898 Howth Seventeens racing in the heart of Dublin in the Liffey Riverfest. Photo: W M Nixon

It could almost be Connemara, were it not for the Puppeteer 22s – the Galway Hooker Naomh Cronan in the new Classics & Traditional Division in Howth's annual Lambay Race, which was marking its 110th anniversary in 2014. Photo: W M Nixon

Indeed, so strong is the growing interest in classics and trads on the East Coast that to celebrate the centenary of the Lynch family's Howth 17 Echo (one of the newest of the class, the most senior ones were built in 1898) Howth YC provided a traditional Lambay Race course – simply up around Lambay and back to Howth Harbour – for the Seventeens and a new Classics Division, with the Howth 17s seeing the first two places taken by 1898 boats – Rita (John Curley & Marcus Lynch) and Aura (Ian Malcolm) – while Old Gaffers Association International president Sean Walsh won the classics with his Heard 28 Tir na nOg from the Clondalkin team's Galway Hooker Naomh Cronan. As for the overall prize among the large fleet of more modern boats sailing their more complex course, that was won by Colm Bermingham's Bite the Bullet.

The countdown to the Commodore's Cup had continued with inspirational performances by Anthony O'Leary in the Easter Challenge in the Solent, where he won his class with Antix, and then in June he did the same again with the British IRC Championship. Back home, ICRA held their Nationals with the Royal Irish YC in Dun Laoghaire in mid-June, and out of a fleet of a hundred plus boats it was the vintage Marcus Hutchinson/Rob Humphreys designed Quarter Tonner Quest (Jonathan Skerritt, RIYC) which was best overall scorer, a notably impressive performance also being put in by the Ker 36 Jump Juice (Denise Phelan) from Crosshaven.

The 27-year-old Quarter Tonner Quest (Jonathan Skerritt) was overall winner in the ICRA Nats at the RIYC in Dun Laoghaire. Photo: David O'Brien

Downhill battle at the ICRA Nats with the Mills 36 Raptor (ex-Aztec) in foreground, while beyond is Peter Dunlop of Pwllheli's J/109 Mojito against the XP33 Bon Exemple (Colin Byrne, RIYC). Photo: Davd O'Brien

The Ker 36 Jump Juice (Denise Phelan) dominated Class 0 at the ICRA Nats. Photo: David O'Brien

The end of June, and it was Round Ireland time. Thirty-six boats started from Wicklow, 33 finished in a race which was mostly on the slow side, with mid-size boats having their day. The winner was Richard Harris's Sydney 36 Tanit from Scotland by just six minutes from the home favourite, Liam Shanahan's J/109 Ruth from the NYC in Dun Laoghaire. The French defending champion, Laurent Gouy's Ker 39 Inis Mor which sails in Ireland under the burgee of Clifden Boat Club, placed third while Frank Doyle of Cork, second generation round Ireland aristocracy as son of Denis of Moonduster fame, was fourth with his A35 Endgame.

The start of the Round Ireland Race 2014 well illustrates the eclectic nature of the fleet. In right foreground is Richard Harris's Sydney 36 Tanit which was overall winner by just six minutes from the J/109 Ruth (Liam Shanahan), just beyond with the black jib, while the Volvo 70 Monster Project (David Ryan) comes thundering through the fleet at the beginning of a performance whch would see her take line honours win and thd class win in the CK Div.. Photo: Kevin Tracey

The same weekend as the Round Ireland race started, Lough Foyle sent the Clipper Fleet on their way after a week's festivities in Derry/Londonderry, made even more festive by the fact that Sean McCarter and his crew with the home town's boat had crowned their win in the Sydney-Hobart race with victory in the Transatlantic leg to Derry.

Crosshaven fairly leaped to life with Cork Week in July, and after several hitches in various boat-shipping plans, it was notable as the first time the Irish Commodore's Cup Team 2014 were seen together, and mighty impressive they looked too, with Quokka proving best on the Cork Week leaderboard.

Michael Boyd (centre behind cup) and his Quokka crew, a member of Ireland's Commodore's Cup team, were overall winners of Cork week 2014. Photo: Bob Bateman

In the F18 Worlds at Ballyholme, Dutch skipper Gunnar Larssen (crewed by Ferdinand van West) is seen here putting in the smooth performance which saw him winning the worlds at his thirteenth attempt. Photo: W M Nixon

While all this excitement in racing boats with lids was building on the south coast in July, up north on Belfast Lough at Ballyholme the F18 Worlds were held for one of global sailing's most popular catamaran classes. Though the entry of 56 boats didn't match the 150-plus entries they get when the class has its worlds in its Mediterranean heartlands, the sailing was good and a popular winner emerged in longtime F18 sailor Gunnar Larsen, who is Dutch despite his Scandinavian name.

Dinghy attention was also very closely focused on Dublin Bay, with an enormous fleet of Optimists at the Europeans hosted by Royal St George YC from 12th to 20th July, and Dun Laoghaire really showing what it can do in being a major international regatta centre. France's Enzo Balanger was tops from Sweden's Kasper Nordenram, while best of the Irish in the Gold Division was Royal Cork's James McCann in tenth – not surprisingly, he was to go on to win the Nationals at his home club in August.

Nations from across Europe and beyond were at the Optimist Euros at Dun Laoghaire

Finn Lynch racing at Douarnenez in France where be became the new U19 Laser Standard world championPhoto: Trevor Millar/Sail Coach

On the broader international scene, former Opty stars Finn Lynch (National YC) and Seafra Guifoyle (Royal Cork) were to turn in outstanding results during 2014, with Guilfoyle firmly in the frame through the ISAF Youth Worlds in the Laser, eventually coming home from Tavira in Portugal with the Silver, while Finn Lynch was on top form to clinch the Gold in the Under 19 Laser Standard Worlds at Douarnenez in Brittany.

Back aboard the boats with lids, late July had brought the Commodore's Cup in the Solent, and if anyone out there doesn't know who won, we'd like to hear from them, as the state of total seclusion which this implies is surely something which could be packaged and marketed to our hyper-informed and over-crowded world. The comprehensive Irish victory just seems better and better with the passage of time, and for Anthony O'Leary it was the highlight of a fantastic season which in September was to see him win the Helmsman's Championship of Ireland (admittedly by just a whisker) in J/80s in Howth to set up a national double for Royal Cork, as young Harry Durcan of Crosshaven was winner of the Junior Helmsmans. O'Leary meanwhile went on to win the 1720 Nationals in Baltimore later that month, and then in November his beloved Antix was named RORC Yacht of the Year.

Antix in the Commodore's Cup, hanging in well coming to the weather mark to stay ahead of the newer Ker 40 Cutting Edge. Photo: Rick Tomlinson)

Even as Antix and her team mates were racing on towards glory in the Solent, in Clew Bay the West of Ireland Offshore Racing Association (WIORA) were staging their annual championship at hospitable Mayo SC, and it saw a good spread of results, with the overall winner being Galway's Liam Burke with his Corby 25 Tribal, while the runner-up was the McGibneys' Dehler Optimum 101 Dis-a-Ray, which sails under the Foynes YC burgee, but her home port is Tarbert further west along the Shannon Estuary.

August was busy with events for enjoyment. Eighty boats raced in Calves Week in West Cork, which has now been compressed to a four day regatta which means, as one sage family man observed, that you can take a house in Schull for a week's holiday, and then just as the wife and kids are getting fed up with having the ould fella always about the place, doesn't he absolutely have to go off and spend the last four days of the holiday sailing with his mates? That one of the top boats was Colman Garvey's True Penance maybe says it all.

Calves Week 2014 entries were up 25% in 2014. Photo: Bob Bateman

The GP14 Worlds at East Down YC in Strangford Lough launched a hundred boats every day in smooth style. Photo: W M Nixon

The biggest dinghy event of all (other than the Laser Nationals, which as ever are in a league of their own) was the GP 14 Worlds in mid-August at East Down YC in Strangford Lough, which had its excitement in a sudden storm on the Monday, but it all turned out okay. Boats involved were just over the hundred mark, the best boats were built in Northern Ireland by Alistair Duffin, and winners were English crew of Ian Dobson and Andy Tunnicliffe from Burwain, while top Irish were John and Donal McGuinness of Moville in Donegal, they were sixth.

At the other end of the intensity scale, down in Howth they had their first cruiser-racer two-hander for the Aqua Restaurant Challenge. Despite very restrained pre-publicity, it attracted 34 boats for a race round Lambay and the Kish. Stephen O'Flaherty's elegant Spirit 54 Soufriere, fresh from a win in the Panerai Classics in Cowes and co-sailed by David Cagney, took line honours and almost won, but the vintage Humphreys Half Tonner Harmony (Peter Freyne and Jonny Swann) just pipped them at the end.

Sailed in summery weather, the new Howth two-handed was about as different as possible from another two-handed experience in August, that of Liam Coyne (NYC) and Brin Flahive (Wicklow) in the 1800 mile RORC Seven Star Round Britain and Ireland. They didn't have to be two-handed, there were fully crew boats involved including the 70ft–trimaran Musandam in which Ireland's Damian Foxall played a leading role in taking line honours in record time, but aboard the First 36.7 Lula Belle the Irish duo just toughed it out despite sailing the last 500 miles with virtually nothing functional, they simply decided to see it through, and to their amazement found they'd won Classes V & VI.

Lula Belle on her way out of the Solent with 1800 miles to race. Photo: Rick Tomlinson

Brian Flahive & Liam Coyne back in Dun Laoghaire on the morning of their return from the finish of the Round Britain & Ireland Race. Photo: W M Nixon

As for the Laser Nats, they were at the end of August and another Ballyholme event, with Johnny Durcan of Royal Cork winning from Rory Fekkes of the home club, while the radials saw Annalise Murphy keep her hand in with a win from Cork's Cian Byrne.

After some rugged August weather, particularly on Ireland's East Coast, September was utterly blissful and it sweetly rounded out Dublin Bay Sailing Club's 130th season, the birthday being marked by a fairly epic dinner in the National YC. September also saw the conclusion of the slowly but steadily reviving Irish Sea Offshore Racing programme, with the end-of-season race from Pwllheli to Dun Laoghaire seeing Liam Shanahan's J/109 Ruth confirmed as the overall winner of the series. Among locally campaigned dinghies, meanwhile, Dun Laoghaire's keen Fireball Class kept its annual programme in lively shape, and the season drew a close with Barry McCartin and Conor Kinsella winning overall from Noel Butler and Stephen Oram.

ISORA Champion Ruth skippered by Liam Shanahan jnr from the National Yacht Club

Across country in Limerick, the CityOne dinghies and the traditional Shannon gandelows created in projects of the Ilen Boatbuilding School made their debut in the city centre on one of the last days of the Indian summer, and then they were put on display in a Naumachia in St Mary's Cathedral which was officially opened by Michael Noonan TD, and later formally visited by President Higgins.

The hopeful new spirit of Irish sailing in 2014 was evident in St Mary's Cathedral in Limerick, when the CityOne dinghies built by volunteers in an inner city revitalisation project went on display in a Naumachia in the Cathedral on September 26th, after their first regatta on the Shannon in the heart of Ireland's City of Culture 2014. With the boats in the cathedral were (left) Brother Anthony Keane of Glenstal Abbey (Director, the Ilen School), Limerick's senior TD and Ireland's Minister for Finance Michael Noonan, and Gary MacMahon (right) Director of the Ilen School & Network for Wooden Boatbuilding. Photo: Press22

And then more vigorous winds returned in October, with the Freshwater Keelboat event on Lough Derg – originally just an exclusive Dragon thing – finding itself swamped with sixty and more boats from five classes and increasingly rugged conditions, such that only the Dragons and Squibs managed to get in any meaningful racing, with Neil Hegarty (RStGYC) winning the Dragons while James Matthews and Rob Jacob of Kinsale topped the Squibs.

Dragons in Autumn action on Lough Derg – Neil Hegarty (right) was overall winner from runner-up Richard Goodbody (left) Photo: Gareth Craig

Squibs on Lough Derg – it may look like perfect sailing, but the top came off the weather very soon afterwads. Photo: Gareth Craig

The Student Yachting Worlds in La Rochelle in October had some hiccups in UCD's campaign for Ireland, but while they very narrowly missed the podium in a truly international event, they stayed put at fourth overall. And round in the Mediterranean, a record fleet for the Rolex Middle Sea Race from Malta saw entries soar through the 120 mark for the first time, and the 606 mile race had its first half in light breezes, but the second half was in pure Mistral, with people talking of "winds easing to 44 knots....." A Maltese-owned J/122 won, but second overall and first in her class was the Xp44 XpAct (Josef Schultheis) with a strong Irish emphasis in her crew including Barry Hurley, Andy Boyle, Kenny Rumball and Phillip Connor.

Soon afterwards, the Volvo World Race got under way with first stage from the Med to Cape Town, and Ireland's Justin Slattery on the winning boat on Leg 1. Back home, Autumn leagues had seen renewed enthusiasm as though people had suddenly re-discovered their sport, and the great sailing year of 2014 drew towards its close with the Lasers in Howth starting their 40th winter of annual frostbite racing. This means that HYC have now had a continuous sailing programme since April 1974, while across in Dun Laoghaire the DMYC Frostbite Series must be the most senior of all winter events. Winter Leagues attract more aficionados, with the popularity of the Dublin Bay Turkey Shoot in particular providing a forceful reminder that Dun Laoghaire is the principal sea access for a notably affluent and very large population in South Dublin. With the Turkey on its way, soon it's Christmas. And then the new Irish sailing season will begin on the blue waters of Sydney Harbour.

Justin Slattery on Volvo World Race 2014. Photo: Volvo Ocean Race

#optimistworlds – After eight races sailed of the Optimist World Championship at Club Nautico San Isidro, Argentina, Royal Cork's Harry Durcan is lying 22nd from 70 in his red flight of a massive 210–boats. The Munster youth had a difficult start to his regatta counting two starting penalties in his first two races but by race eight had bounced back to take a ninth, his best result so far. Durcan's scores to date: (70.0 UFD) 70.0 BFD 54.0 53.0 12.0 39.0 9.0. Full score–sheet here.

Six races were sailed last week and the fleet was divided into Gold, Silver and Bronze. Each fleet has 70 sailors. This first part of this championship had light winds, lot of current and little waves but today it changed completely: The wind gauge marked 23Knts on the race area, the waves were high and short, there were current and it was cloudy. The changes made a turn on the results. The Gold Fleet had two races: The Brazilian sailor, Gustavo Abdulklech won the first race and then Voravong Rachrattanaruk from Thailand won the second race.

The Silver fleet made two races also and the bronze fleet only made one because of the strong winds. The final results: 1st Nicolaz Rolaz from Switzerland, 2nd Dimitris Papadimitriou from Greece and third place Gustavo Abdilklech from Brazil. Mara Turin who was winning the OptiWorld is 8th after a very hard day.

Top five, Gold fleet after Tuesday's racing:

1. Nicolas Rolaz, SUI, 28.0 points
2. Dimitris Papadimitriou, GRE, 31.0
3. Gustavo Abdulklech, BRA, 43.0
4. Jelmer Velds, NED, 45.0
5. Aina Colom, ESP, 55.0

#opti –The Irish Optimist Dinghy Association of Ireland (IODAI) will hold its spring training week at Baltimore Sailing Club in West Cork over the February 2015 Mid-term break. This is Ireland's largest sailing camp and generally caters for up to 160 sailors from 8 – 15 yrs old.
Organisers say this is a tremendous family week as Baltimore has accommodation to suit everyone with a wide selection of Holiday Homes, Apartments, Bed & Breakfast and Casey's Hotel.
The village of Baltimore will be effectively taken over by approximately 160 keen sailors and their families for the week. A team of International coaches from Greece, Sweden, Spain & Poland are joined by top Irish coaches to provide training for sailors of all competencies, from those who have only recently started to sail to those who are competing internationally.
We particularly encourage sailors who have not attended an event outside their own club in the past, to consider coming to Baltimore, which is a non-competitive, fun week intended to build enthusiasm for sailing and to allow sailors from around the country to get to know each other.
It is very much a family-oriented event, with a programme of activities for children too young to sail, and events also organised for adults, such as the 'How to Rig an Oppi' class for novice parents! Schull & Fitbones provides activities for those 5 years and upwards who are not yet sailing, they do Baltimore Treasure Hunt and Playground games, Sherkin Island trip and an Adventure Challenge in Lough Hyne Woods .
The event is organised by IODAI which is comprised of volunteers, which are the parents of sailors. It takes 25 – 30 volunteers per day to run the event efficiently and the overall event is managed by Mandy Kelly and assisted by Jill Sommerville both parents of sailors. Because everyone is a volunteer, Baltimore is an 'all hands on deck' week, with parents encouraged to lend a hand with the work that goes into making it such a special event. Helping out with making sailors lunches, doing slip duty, rescue on the water, or safety checking of boats, means that parents will get to know each other just as well as the sailors do.
Evening activities are also on offer, including the ever-popular 'a cinema night, disco night and of course the cake competition on the last day of sailing. In addition the week finishes off with a one day regatta which helps sailors consolidate all they have learnt during the week & to put it into practice.
An IODAI forum takes place during the Baltimore week where all parents are invited to express their views or seek information on the running of the Optimist class.
The IODAI spring training week is an event not to be missed if you have a child who sails an Optimist. We will be announcing our key sponsors shortly.
Additional Information from
Mandy Kelly: 0868467129 or email [email protected]
Jill Sommerville: 0862340359 or email [email protected]

#youthsailing – ISAF youth silver medallist Seafra Guilfoyle is a wild card entry into this weekend's All Ireland youth sailing event at Kinsale Yacht Club this Saturday. Crosshaven based Guilfoyle, who won world silver in Portugal in July, is slated against 19 other top Irish youth sailors who will compete in the double–handed Topaz dinghy fleet. 

Over 30 sailors from 11 classes were considered and the Irish Sailing Association organisers say their selection process allocated places based on the numbers of boats declared by the classes attending their national championships. The full list on invitees for the weekend fixture is published below (with some crew names missing).

The host Topaz dinghy has two nominees from its own national championships held in Dingle and the RS Feva also has two sailors attending. The Optimist class has three sailors slated including top European championships perfomers, Clare Gorman of the National Yacht Club and James McCann of Royal Cork. 420 dinghy youths are represented by national champion Peter McCann and girls champion Cliodhna NiShuillebhain of the host club.

The Mirror dinghy is also included with teams coming from Lough Ree  YC and Sutton Dinghy Club.

#oppie – For the first time since 1983, the National Yacht Club (NYC) won the best senior team award at the Optimist National Championships held at the Royal Cork Yacht Club last weekend.

The award is presented to the club whose three highest ranked sailors (boy or girl) have the lowest cumulative score.

The team of Dara Donnelly (7th overall) Ella Hemeryck (6th overall) and Clare Gorman (2nd overall) were presented with the hard won trophy by Admiral Pat Lyons at the CH Marine sponsored event.

#optimist – Royal Cork's James McCann built on his fine European Optimist performance in Dun Laoghaire a month ago by winning the Irish Optimist dinghy class title on his home waters of Cork Harbour yesterday writes Claire Bateman.

Scroll down for photo gallery of the event below by Bob Bateman.

The wind gods left the best wine for last and it certainly tasted good on the last day of racing at the CH Marine Irish Optimist National and Open Championships wirtes Claire Bateman. The wind was up to about 15 knots most of the time and the sun was shining most of the time. What more could anyone ask! PRO David O'Brien again set the course for the Senior and Junior Fleets on the Eastern Bank and to cater for the north west wind set the committee boat close to the Aghada shore. Two races were sailed for both Senior and Junior fleets and it was all over by 14.30hrs to allow competitors make their way home. However a number of protests were received and the Protest Committee was convened for hearings.

Meanwhile , PRO Eddie Rice's Regatta Fleet again sailed on the Curlane Bank. Not all of the 52 competitors in this fleet sailed today as the conditions were a bit trying for the inexperienced.

The scene after racing had finished was a veritable hive of activity as the competitors, their families and helpers rushed to get away after the prize giving. However, it soon became apparent this was not to be as a protest was going ahead and meant a delay was unavoidable. As many people had ferries to catch and long journeys this meant they could not wait for the prize giving and among these was the new Open Senior Champion Vita Heathcote RIYMYC.

The array of prizes handed out was huge and as the prizes for today were also sponsored by CH Marine Nicholas Bendon MD of the company was there to do the honours in presenting these prizes.

In the Regatta Fleet the overall champion is Moss Simmington RStGYC .

1st Junior Silver Rory O'Sullivan RCYC. 2nd Junior Silver Conor Gorman NYC. 3rd Junior Silver James Hassett RCYC. Best Local Sailor Silver Fleet Sophia McKeown RCYC. Junior Silver First Girl Kate Fahy LDYC/RStGYC.

1stJunior Gold, National and Open Champion.Michael ÓShuilleabháin KYC. Best under 11 and Best Local Sailor Junior Gold Fleet Robert Keal RCYC. Best under 10 Eve McMahon. Best under 9 Trevor Bolger.\

Iriah Senior National Champion James McCann receiving his award from Admiral Pat Lyons

It was then the turn of the Senior Fleet to receive their prizes:
1st Senior Silver Jack Fahy LDYC/RStGYC. 2nd Silver James Spillane RCYC. 3rd Senior Silver Emily Whitaker RCYC.

Vita Heathcote First Senior Gold and Open Champion. Pic Robert Bateman
1st Senior Gold and Open Senior Champion Vita Heathcote RIYMYC. 2nd Senior Gold Emilia BoyleRIYC, 3rd Senior Gold, Irish Senior National Champion and Best Irish sailor at Optimist European Championships James McCann. Senior Gold First Girl and best under 13 Irish Clare Gorman NYC.

Rear Admiral Dinghies Celine McGrath, making a presentation to Adam D'Arcy in recognition of his Silver Medal win at the International Topper Class World Championships, Pic Robert Bateman

The 2015 Irish Optimist National and Open Championships will take place at Skerries Sailing Club

See Irish Optimist Sailing Gallery by Bob Bateman below. Full Results HERE

#optimist – There's an Interesting scenario emerging for today's finale of the CH Marine Irish Optimist National Championships at Royal Cork Yacht Club writes Claire Bateman.

After eight races and one discard Peter Fegan SSC leads the Senior Gold Fleet on 46 points. Solid consistency appears to have paid off well for Peter up to now. He is currently 3 points ahead of Vita Heathcote RIYMYC, who took the Volvo Gill Optimist National Champion title in the Senior Fleet (Main) in early August this season at Weymouth. Lying third is Clare Gorman NYC.

The Junior Gold Fleet is led by William Heathcote, having overtaken the overnight leader, Micheál Ó Suillebháin KYC followed by Tom Higgins RStGYC.

Currently leading the Regatta Fleet is Moss Simington RStGYC with Ben McMullin LRYC second and Ben Graf LRYC in third place.

Racing today for Senior and Junior fleets took place on the Eastern Bank off Aghada. The wind was due west and it varied from 5 to 6 knots but could rise to 10 to 12 knots but with an ebb from a 3.8m tide pushing the fleets out towards the windward mark it was very difficult particularly for the younger competitors to stay behind the start line. This resulted in general recalls and subsequent starts under black flags. This resulted in many competitors, particularly in the Junior fleet, being penalised under this rule. However, all in all it was a very good day of racing with the wind being stronger than it had been for the first two days of the event. The Regatta fleet again sailed on the Curlane Bank where they had a good breeze as well.

The onshore crews were in their best form ensuring the smooth running of the event and there was an excellent almost carnival atmosphere about the club when the fleets were returning to shore to enjoy hot soup and to make sure all would be in readiness with their boats for the final races of the event.

Tomorrow should make for a very exciting finale to the Championships. Very few points are separating the leaders in all divisions and who can say what may happen. It would be a foolish person indeed who would make any predictions about tomorrow with any certainty.

The Royal Cork hosted their first Oppy Nationals in 1994 some twenty years ago, their club fleet having grown to fifty four and a major reason for this growth had been a structured training programme encompassing absolute beginners, improvers and those with some skills. At this week's event, the standard is so high that any one of thirty competitors could win a race in the National Championships. 

#optimist – Day 2 of the CH Marine Irish Optimist National Championships saw a great buzz with competitors arriving at Royal Cork Yacht Club for today's racing in the CH Marine Irish Optimist National Championships in Crosshaven writes Claire Bateman.

Today was very much down to business with the sailors feeling more familiar with their surroundings and having had the experience of the first day of racing over them. Today the racing for the Senior and Junior fleets was to the east of Roches Point and the Regatta fleet once again raced on the Curlane Bank.

Off Roches Point the racing commenced in a northerly breeze gusting at irregular intervals between 5-6 knots with stronger puffs of some 10-12 knots. These would last for a few minutes and then ease off. Direction remained steady enough given the pulsing pattern of the breeze.

As usual, Main Fleet Juniors started racing first. The Senior Fleet started their first race after a short postponement and, after a general recall, the next start took place under a black flag. The breeze, previously steady in it's pattern started to shift and die. As the race got away a new breeze clicked into place with a greater westerly component. This was to set the pattern for most of the day. The Seniors played a game of snakes and ladders with the new breeze with some of the sailors not finding the dramatic shifts very favourable to them.

The second race had darkening skies with the breeze having solidified into a good range for racing. It was still gusty but there was a bit more bite for the experienced sailors to work with. This start was also difficult with a general recall and the resultant black flag appearing for the next start. Tide and line bias conspired against the sailors and many fell foul of the black flag at the pin end. This was somewhat frustrating for the affected sailors as this was the first good breeze they had seen during the championship so far.

The third race started with all the sailors more cautious approaching the line. Well into the first beat the wind dropped and shifted leaving many boats trickling very slowly into the windward mark with another opportunity lost to the variable conditions. This set the tone for the remainder of the race with the sky brightening but the wind staying light. The Race Officer then took the decision to shorten the race and the sailors commenced their long haul back to the club house.

In the Main Fleet Junior Division Michéal O'Suilléabháin leads on 13 points while in second place is UK visitor William Heathcotte one point behind, next is Spanish visitor Arnau Gelpi on 15 points and in fourth place is Tom Higgins of RStGYC on 19 points. These results are after five races with one discard.

Meanwhile, the Regatta Fleet had been enjoying excellent racing with Race Officer Eddie Rice on the Curlane Bank. They were sailing in a light breeze that occasionally surprised the young sailors by gusting to about 12 knots. It must be said, though, it is very easy to see that the future of Optimist sailing looks very bright indeed having watched some of these young competitors at the start and the competence shown when the breeze strengthened and some capsizes occurred. Some were a little nervous of course but everyone coped very well and they are a credit to their trainers and coaches. They really enjoyed themselves and even managed a smile for the camera!

They came ashore in fine form and once they had their boats safely and neatly tucked away were preparing for a special visit to the Crosshaven RNLI station.

Forecast for today (Sat) is similar with perhaps a stronger looking wind profile as the day progresses.