Lucia Cullen of Dun Laoghaire and Alana Twomey of Cork - both 16 - have combined to form one of Ireland's most successful 29er teams to such good effect that during August at El Bais in Spain, they became the 29er Under 17 Female World Champions in addition to taking Bronze in the Open Divison of the Female Worlds.

When added to their later winning - still in August - of the 29er Female National Title in addition to being U17 National Champions, it makes for a remarkably balanced picture of achievement when added to the fact that Alana Twomey was also a member of the winning team racing team at the top-level Elmo Trophy at RStGYC.

With three race wins on their scoresheet, Royal Cork Yacht Club and National Yacht Club's Ben O’Shaughnessy and Ethan Spain claimed the Mervue Laboratories 2022 29'er Irish National Championships with a 12-point win margin.

After eight races sailed at the Royal St. George Yacht Club-hosted event, Johnny Flynn and Max Goodbody were second overall on 24 points.

Third on the Dublin Bay race track were female/male combination Emily Conan and Ollie Mears of the host club, who won Sunday's penultimate race and finished on 28 points. 

Lucia Cullen (Royal St George YC) and Alana Twomey (Royal Cork YC), who won Gold and took the U17 29er Female World Title in Spain earlier this month, were top female pair in fourth overall. 

The fledgling Irish 29er fleet are performing at a competent level with the top five being very impressive, especially with their boat handling skills in testing conditions Photo: Simon McIlwaine

The 14-boat fleet competed under Race Officer Barry O'Neill.

The three-day event saw the scheduled four races completed on Friday in testing conditions with the wind in the late teens gusting into the 20s. 

As Afloat reported earlier, the top ten handled the conditions perfectly, and while there were a few capsizes, the racing was close and seriously competitive at the top end. 

29er Irish Championship starts were very controlled—  and aggressive — even under a permanent U flag (the Class norm) Photo: Simon McIllwaine 

With winds gusting into the 30s and showing no sign of abating, Saturday's racing was a write-off. 

Sunday saw two or three attempts to start the first race of the day in a 6 knot westerly in the middle west of the bay. 

Each time the wind went right when the fleet was in the start sequence, so this ended in postponement rather than a start. 

The wind then shut off completely.  After about 15 minutes, there was some sign of a breeze around Dublin Bay's East mark, and the fleet and committee boat moved east.  

After a short delay, the first race of the day got away in a gentle 7-knot North Easterly breeze.

The wind continued to go right and strengthened all afternoon, ending up with the last two races completed in a steady 14 knots with gusts. 

The scheduled four races were completed  on Sunday, so eight of the scheduled races were completed over the three days 

Results are below.

Strong winds cancelled racing today at the Mervue Laboratories 2022 29'er Irish National Championships on Dublin Bay.

Royal St. George Yacht Club Race Officer Barry O'Neill has scheduled four races for Sunday's climax in the 12-boat fleet.

Royal Cork Yacht Club's Ben O’Shaughnessy and Ethan Spain hold a one-point overnight lead in the youth skiff class.

Royal Cork Yacht Club's Ben O’Shaughnessy and Ethan Spain have a one-point lead at the Mervue Laboratories 2022 29'er Irish National Championships.

After four races sailed at the Royal St. George Yacht Club-hosted event, Johnny Flynn and Max Goodbody lie second on five points.

Third on Dublin Bay are female/male combination Lola Kohl and James Dwyer, who won the last race of the day. 

Lucia Cullen (Royal St George YC) and Alana Twomey (Royal Cork YC), who won Gold and took the U17 29er Female World Title in Spain earlier this month, lie sixth.

The 12 boat fleet will complete another eight races over the weekend under Race Officer Barry O'Neill.

Lucia Cullen (Royal St George YC) and Alana Twomey (Royal Cork YC) won Gold and took the U17 29er Female World Title in Spain at the weekend.

As Afloat reported previously, the Dublin-Cork duo sailed a very strong series and took home a number of trophies, including:

• Gold – Female World Under 17 Champions
• Bronze – 3rd Female World Championships
• 17th in the Worlds overall.

It was a fantastic week for the Irish sailors in tough conditions at the 29er World Championships in Club Nautic, El Balis, with four Irish boats in the Gold Fleet after the three-day qualifying series. 

242 crews from 26 countries over three race courses are vying for victory at this year's World Championships.

Lucia Cullen and Alana Twomey were joined in the Gold fleet by sister and brother pairing Clementine and Nathan Van Steenberg, who finished in 22nd place.

Topping the podium in Spain - 29er skiff sailors Lucia Cullen (Royal St George YC) and Alana Twomey (Royal Cork YC)

Ben O’Shaughnessy and Ethan Spain finished in 37th place, and James Dwyer and Johnny Flynn in 38th place.

Team Ireland had six other boats flying the flag for Ireland at the 29er World Championships. Sisters Jessica and Emily Riordan, Emily Conan and Erin McIlwaine, Lauren O’Callaghan and Fiona Ferguson, William Walsh and Sorcha Gannon O’Connor, Lara Little and Russell Bolger, Trevor Bolger and Lorcan Little.

Yellow bibs for overall leaders - 29er youth skiff sailors Lucia Cullen and Alana Twomey in action in Spain

The strong performance by team Ireland at the 29er World Championships 2022 saw the team achieve a bronze medal for the nation ranking.

After a fantastic World Championships, next up for these sailors is the 29er National Championships in Royal St George YC next week.

Team Ireland has got off to a flying start at the 29er World Championships in Club Nautic, El Balis Spain with four Irish boats in the gold fleet after the three-day qualifying series.

242 crews from 26 countries over three courses are vying for victory at this year's championships.

Today, Ireland is going into the final two days of the Championships.

29er Worlds - Irish lead female division - see full results below

Lucia Cullen (Royal St George) and Alana Twomey (Royal Cork) are now leading the Female World Championship and are in eighth place overall.

They are joined in the gold fleet by sister and brother, paring Clementine and Nathan Van Steenberg in 19th place and Ben O’Shaughnessy and Ethan Spain in 32nd place with James Dwyer and Johnny Flynn in 38th place.

Team Ireland have six other boats flying the flag for Ireland at the 29er World Championships in Spain. Sisters Jessica and Emily Riordan, Emily Conan and Erin McIIwaine, Lauren O'Callaghan and Fiona Ferguson, William Walsh and Sorcha Gannon O’ Conner, Lara Little and Russel Bolger, Trevor Bolger and Lorcan Little.

Results below

Following the first event of the year in Tralee Bay in County Kerry in early May, Blessington in County Dublin will welcome the 29ers, 49ers and any skiffs to the Easterns over the weekend of the 25th and 26th of June (NOR below). The event is the second-ranking event of the year for the 29ers.

29er Western champions Ben O'Shaugnessy and crew Ethan Spain will have to once more fend off fierce opposition from Johnny Flynn and James Dwyer. Both teams are freshly returning from the Netherlands where they competed in one of the most competitive Eurocups of the year. The event may see the return of Leaving and Junior Cert partnerships who will be eager to catch up on lost sailing hours while in May and June study mode.

Skiff sailors and coaches Chris Bateman and Thomas Chaix have already indicated they are keen to compete again at the skiff event, but this time possibly as partners in a 49er. Will the 49er young guns from Lough Ree or the Royal St George outpace them?

Any skiff can compete and more importantly it will be an opportunity to share information and help less experienced skiff sailors to get the most out of their boat with both Chris and Thomas (who are Skiff coaches) prepared to help out on set-up and giving away tweaks and tricks.

Download the Notice of Race for Blessington below

Over the May bank holiday weekend, Tralee Bay welcomed a few speed addicts for the first Skiff West event (also incorporating the second edition of the 29er westerns).

Saturday set the scene with the TBSC opening regatta. The local dinghy sailors saw the addition of the visiting 29er youth team. Three races were completed in a brisk 14-16 knots westerly. The 29ers trusted the front positions in these planning conditions with National YC sailors Ben O'Shaughnessy and Ethan Spain taking all three races on PY. Johnny Flynn and James Dwyer were equally consistent in second. There was certainly more of a battle for the last podium position with locals making the most of the mistakes of the remaining 29ers. Ellie Cunnane (radial) eventually edged out her brother Paddy (Std rig), Riain Kelly (4.7 rigs) and father and son Mirror partnership.

On Sunday the skiffs took to the water again in a lovely 10-12 knots from the northwest. The local dolphins joined again to set the scene for great sailing.

Skiff West champions - Ben O'Shaughnessy and Ethan Spain

In the first race, the two single handers Thomas Chaix (RS700) and Chris Bateman (Musto Skiff) made the best of the 29er errors to take an early lead with a very close finish within a pole length of each other. It was however short of a few boat lengths for both of them when times were recalculated with 29er Johnny Flynn and James Dwyer squeezing the win for just a few seconds.

The breeze picked up a bit putting pressure on the single-handers boat handling allowing the 29ers to enjoy more comfortable wins with Ben O'Shaugnessy and Ethan Spain leading the pack with Johnny and James close second each time. Four well-fought races were completed to put the tally at 5 for the day.

Monday welcomed the sailors with a glass mirror in the bay... The forecast was not encouraging so the race officer called it a championship early. The 29ers elected to pack but Chris and Thomas rigged up the Musto, the RS and a 49er and the fleet was rewarded with an hour of great wind just after lunch.

Overall, NYC sailors Ben O'Shaughnessy and Ethan Spain secured the overall of "Skiff West 2022" and the 29er Westerns ahead of Johnny Flynn and James Dwyer also on a 29er and Chris Bateman (MBSC) on his Musto Skiff. Chris secured the first perpetual trophy of the open skiff fleet.

If numbers could certainly have been a bit higher, anyone who made the trip to Kerry enjoyed a fast and fun weekend and we will keep working at building a fleet mixing informal coaching skiff weekends with more serious skiff racing.

The next event is 25-26 June in Blessington.

With five wins from 11 races, skiff sailors Ben O'Shaughnessy with Eimer McMorrow Moriarty of Royal Cork Yacht Club won the 29er youth sailing nationals event at Ballyohlme on Belfast Lough.

The consistent sailing put them nine points clear at the top of the table from clubmates James Dwyer and Andrew Conan in second overall. 

Johnny Flynn and Ethan Spain from Howth Yacht Club finished third overall, just one point adrift of Dwyer and Conan.

As regular Afloat readers will know, the two top helmsmen sailed together until recently but are now gone on separate campaigns. 

Although Ben sailed with Eimear at the weekend to great effect, Ben's aim this season is to qualify for July's Youth World Championships where, unfortunately, mixed teams are not permitted in this class.

Afloat notes Ben is entered with Ethan Spain to compete at the Dutch Youth Regatta at Workum at the end of May, a regatta at which World Championship qualification could be reached.

Tralee Bay Sailing Club in County Kerry is gearing up for a weekend of sailing on the west coast over the May Bank Holiday weekend.

The weekend will start with the club's yearly "Spring Regatta". Four races are scheduled on Saturday, the 3rd of April for the Optimist and dinghy fleets of the club.

The regatta is however open to visitors and last year saw the addition of 29er sailors from Dublin, GP14s from Cullaun and sailors from neighbouring club Foynes.

The weekend will then carry on with the combined 29er westerns and the first-ever "Open Skiff West" event.

The return of a regular season at home has been long awaited for the 29er fleet and the Westerns will launch a great summer of sailing and racing for the fleet. It will be the opportunity for the seasoned partnerships who have raced abroad over the winter to chase home waters honours and for the new partnerships to get finally introduced to racing. Who will add their name under 2019 champions Atlee Kohl and Jonathan O'Shaugnessy?

Skiff sailing is fun and there are many sailors around the country who have enjoyed the thrills of fast downwinds in their local club races. TBSC is offering the opportunity to gather all these speed addicts in a single venue for two days giving the opportunity to share tricks and stories with the more experienced sailors helping out the less experienced to get the most out of their boat. 49er and 49erFX should provide the bulk of the fleet yet we are also expecting a few of the trapezing RS (600, 700 and 800), Musto skiffs and some of the older skiff designs which still line up in various club boat parks around the country.

The event will be run under PY.

Details and entry form are on the Tralee Bay Sailing Club website, download the two NORs below.