Ninth overall for Johnny Durcan of Royal Cork Yacht Club and Baltimore Sailing Club topped the Irish Laser youth sailors at the massive Laser Europa Cup's 261-boat regatta that concluded in Hyeres on the French Gold coast this afternoon. 

In a strong few days for Irish youth sailing, Northern Ireland's Liam Glynn and Ewan McMahon Howth Yacht Club were in a four way tie for the lead and yesterday four Irish were in the top 20 of the Radial division with Glynn setting the pace with three race wins to his credit. 

The last two races today however did not all go Ireland's way. Sailing in very light winds, McMahon dropped out of the top ten in the closing stages to be 14th overall. 

Seven Irish sailors made the 66–boat gold fleet cut tho, with the National Yacht Club's Loghlen Rickard next in 21st in his first radial event with former Topper World champion Glynn of Ballyholme Yacht Club one place behind. Rickard also came home with a silver medal, placing second in the Under–17 category.

Conor O'Beirne, the Royal St. George's top Radial performer at the recent Irish youth national championships, was next in 27th. Nicole Hemeryck was 51st and Conor Quinn 55th. 

Full results here

Annalise Murphy and Aoife Hopkins are the two Irish entries in a 72–boat fleet drawn from 32 countries for the 2016 Laser Radial Women's World Championships this Thursday. As well as an important build–up to the Olympics in Rio the championship is the last of three Irish Olympic selection trials for the Irish place. 

Of the 72 sailors competing, ten finished in the top 20 at the 2012 Olympics in London, including Ireland's Annalise who finished fourth.

The National Yacht Club's Annalise (25) leads the 2016 trials with some comfort from 17–year–old Aoife of Howth Yacht Club after an expensive series of regattas, first in December at the 2015 Copa Brasil de Vela and then January's 2016 ISAF Sailing World Cup in Miami, USA. 

The championship is taking place on the Pacific Coast of Mexico on the waters of Banderas Bay which Hopkins believes is the definition of 'champagne sailing' after three days of training on the race area.

Thanks to the shape of the bay and surrounding land area, Banderas Bay is fortunate to have a very predictable daily thermal wind. Locals say they enjoy about 5 hours of good winds per day, from 13:00 to 18:00. The direction of the thermal is generally 220-240 degrees, and speed varies between 4kts at the beginning and end of the thermal period, up to approximately 18 knots at during peak periods.

KBC Bank Ireland has announced its title sponsorship of the ‘Laser Radial Youth and Men’s World Championships 2016’. This is the first time this sailing World Championship will be hosted by Ireland and supported by KBC Bank.

The 2016 ‘KBC Laser Radial Worlds’ will be held in Dún Laoghaire harbour from 23rd to 30th July 2016. Up to 400 competitors from more than 35 nations will compete in the World Championship series supported by over 1,000 supporters and volunteers from the local area. The event is expected to generate approximately €2.5m for the local economy.

Aidan Power, Director of Customer, Brand and Marketing at KBC Bank Ireland said, “KBC Bank is delighted to announce our title sponsorship of this world-class championship sailing event in Dún Laoghaire. As Ireland’s newest retail bank, we are passionate about the communities we live and work in and our sponsorship celebrates Dún Laoghaire’s vibrant sailing community on the international stage. It’s an exciting event that will showcase the skill and determination of the competitors, and KBC’s commitment to supporting community and youth initiatives. We look forward to a fantastic week for all involved”.

Olympic Sailor, Annalise Murphy at the announcement of the KBC Laser Radial Worlds 2016 in her home port of Dun Laoghaire. Photo: Naoise Culhane

Welcoming KBC Bank Ireland’s involvement David Kelly, Chairman of the Laser Radial Worlds 2016 said, “We are delighted that KBC has come on board as title sponsor of this event. It is a significant achievement to be awarded the opportunity to host these Laser World Championships – it is a first for Ireland and we sincerely thank KBC for their support. Our goal is to make this event a successful and memorable occasion for competitors, volunteers and the local community in Dún Laoghaire”.

The ‘KBC Laser Radial Worlds’ are being hosted by The Royal St. George Yacht Club and Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company, supported by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council and Fáilte Ireland. Ireland follows in the footsteps of Canada in 2015 and Poland in 2014 to host this prestigious event.

Despite mustering a fleet of 120 dinghies for the first regional championships of the year there was no Laser racing at all last weekend at Baltimore Sailing Club due to gale force winds. Winds were never less than 20–25 knots with gusts up to 50 for the entire weekend until that is, late on Sunday afternoon when it was warm, sunny and a perfect 10–knots as the fleet were packing boats and heading for home.

The Munster championships, which was a ranking ladder cut off event for Dun Laoghaire's Laser Radial Youth World Championships in July, is to be rescheduled.

The next event on the Laser calendar is the Ulster Championships at County Antrim Yacht Club at Whitehead on April 23rd

None of the Irish contenders for the mens Laser berth slot have made the gold fleet cut today at the important Trofeo Princesa Sofia Regatta in Palma. The result, however disappointing in the build up to Rio, intensifies the three way Irish Olympic test underway in Palma Bay where there has been a change in the trials lead. 

If day one of the regatta yesterday proved a straighforward boatspeed day in moderately brisk breezes, Tuesday's races today were much more about being in the right place, in the best pressure as much as possible. 800 boats are competing and 13 Irish sailors are in Palma but the Irish mens Laser trial is the focus of attention. The three contenders, from Dublin, Cork and Belfast, remain neck and neck.

Finn Lynch, the young National Yacht Club sailor who has made no secret of his cash–strapped campaign has emerged as the leading Irish boat overall after a lighter winds this afternoon. Lynch had a fifth in the opening race followed by a 23rd to leave him 52nd overall in the 152-strong fleet. Just two points stood between him and the cut for the Gold fleet that starts racing tomorrow.

Now in the Silver fleet, Lynch will keep a keen eye on Northern Ireland's James Espey who had a 20th and a 22nd yesterday and he dropped to 62nd overall, crucially five points behind Lynch. A 13th yesterday for Fionn Lyden of Baltimore was enough to get him into the Silver fleet so it is still anyone's guess who will be Ireland's rep in Rio, a race that looks set to go right down to the wire. The third and final selection trial is in Mexico in May.

Finn Lynch campaign video

Northern Ireland 49er Loses Overall Lead

In the 49er Skiff, although Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern have lost their overall lead from day one they are joint second. A second and a third keep the Belfast pair on course for Saturday’s medal race final.

It was a different story unfortunately, for Rio qualified Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey in the 49erFX skiff. After a consistent top ten opening day, the Dun Laoghaire pair had a more challenging day and results in the 20s leave them in 15th overal from 27.

Darragh O’Sullivan Photo: Bob Bateman

Other Irish boats competing amongst the 800–plus fleet on the Bay of Palma, Kinsale's Daragh O’Sullivan is racing in the Laser Standard class and lies 117th overall.

In the 49er class, Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove completed all three races yesterday in their debut at Palma and are 63rd overall. Mark Hassett and Oisin O Driscoll are close behind in 65th place.

Finn sailor Oisin McClelland from Donaghdee in County Down is racing in the Finn single-handed dinghy and lies 39th overall in his 74-boat class.

The result table toppers in the Men's 470 and the Laser Radial classes both count all first places - though both Olympic medallists Mat Belcher, and crew Will Ryan of Australia and Evi Van Acker discard their one bigger score, albeit a third and sixth respectively.

New Zealand's singlehanders are showing well so far. Josh Junior and Andrew Maloney now lead the Finn and Laser classes respectively after today and Sarah Winter, counting 2,2,7 to date, is fourth in the Laser Radials.

In the Laser Men's fleet Andy Maloney leads Norway's Kristian Ruth and the USA's Charlie Buckingham. Ruth is part of a strong Norwegian squad who have trained this winter on the Bay of Cadiz with 1996 Olympian Anton Garrote.

Despite the short postponement this morning the regatta schedule is pretty much on course. Three races were sailed for the 49ers, RS:X and Nacra 17s while the other classes completed two.

470
1. Mathew Belcher/ Will Rya, AUS, 3 points
2. Stu Mcnay/Dave Hughes, USA, 5
3. Anton Dahlberg/ Fredik Bergstrom, SWE, 6

470 Women
1. Amy Seabright/Anna Carpenter, GBR, 4
2. Fernanda Oliveira/Ana Barbachan, BRA, 4
3. Annika Bochmann/Marlene Steinherr, GER, 8

49er
1. Nico Delle/Nikolaus Resch, AUT, 11
2. Diego Botín/Iago Lopez, ESP, 14
3. Ryan Seaton/Matt Mcgovern, IRL, 14

49 FX
1. Jena Mai Hansen/Katja Steen, DEN,10
2. Annemiek Bekkering/Annerre Duetz, NED, 16
3. Martine Grael/Kahena Kunze, BRA, 17

Finn
1. Josh Junior, NZL, 9
2. Giles Scott, GBR, 15
3. Pieterjan Postma, NED, 15

Laser
1. Andrew Maloney, NZL, 5
2. Kristian Ruth, NOR, 7
3. Charlie Buckingham, USA, 8

Laser Radial
1. Evi Van Acker, BEL, 3
2. Alison Young, GBR, 8
3. Tuula Tenkanen, FIN, 10

NACRA
1. Billy Besson/Marie Riou, FRA, 11
2. Paul Kohlhoff/Carolina Werner, GER, 25
3. Thomas Zajac/Tanja Frank, AUT, 26

RS: X Men
1. Tom Squires, GBR, 4
2. Vyron Kokkakanis, GER, 5
3. Andreas Cariolou, CYP, 8

RS:X Women
1. Olga Maslivets, RUS, 4
2. Lilian De Geus, ISR, 7
3. Charline Picon, FRA, 7

Communications in Irish sailing clubs and classes are changing. For example, this year the Lasers on Dublin Bay SC will only be via an opt–in 'WhatsApp' group organised by Paul Keane from the Royal Irish YC. 

DBSC racing for the growing class will be the same format as last year; Tuesdays, two races each night, Full rigs and Radials (times adjusted) and attractive entry fees of €163 or €107 for under–25s.

The aim is to build on last year’s 30 entries and regular turnouts in the teens. First race is April 26, 7pm first gun.

As Keane commented on Afloat.ie: 'Credit where credit is due. The Dun Laoghaire Moths have been using WhatsApp since they started their fleet and the Cork Monkstown Laser Fleet also use it to great effect. I am lucky to be included on both of these conversations and what continually strikes is the constant friendly chat. Setting up a group for the Leinster Lasers and trying something new seemed a simple thing to do. I hope now we can re-create some of the camaraderie I've been privy to in the other fleets and see bigger turnouts at all of our events'.

As well as Tuesday nights there is four Waterfront club regattas on Saturdays in late June/early July as well as two other key dates for Bay Laser racers:
May 21/22 Laser Master (Over 35) Irish Championships, National YC.
July 16/17 Laser Leinster Champs, also NYC.

email Paul your mobile number at [email protected] for DBSC Laser updates. Nightly results will be available on Afloat.ie in our dedicated DBSC results section.

The Laser class 41st Round the Island Race from Howth Yacht Club will be contested this Saturday. The warning signal for the dinghy race is 1045. The club is going all out to swell the numbers with an offer to line up boats for sailors who may not be regular Laser sailors.  The race will be followed by lunch in the HYC dining room and then prize giving.

Finn Lynch’s European Championships 28th overall result in Gran Canaria earlier this month means he will be eligible for International Carding and direct state funding of €12,000 next January 2017. 

Finn was the only Irish Laser senior sailor to qualify for the gold fleet (top half of fleet) the other three Irish trialists raced in the silver fleet.

The two top five race results he scored will also give the 19–year–old a great lift but unfortunately it is money – or for the lack of it – that is most needed now. 

This event was not a trial for Olympic nomination. Palma is the next event to count and racing starts there on March 28th. According to a National Yacht Club statement, Finn’s financial situation is now critical as a fundraiser did not reach its target.

With the leaders in both the Squib and Laser fleets away today the Kinsale Yacht Club Frostbite title was up for the taking. There was no wind at all on the course and so the AP was flown. At 11.25am the decision was made to start, wind was out of the West, about 4 – 5 knots. However it soon became apparent that what little wind there was had faded away, with only 1 boat near the windward mark after 20 mins PRO, John Stallard, called for the N flag and the race was abandoned. Thus began the wait...... It was bitterly cold on the water and the laser fleet decided to abandon the racing and the 4 headed back to shore. Not so the Squib Class – with at least two boats in the running they were anxious to get some racing in.
All marks were lifted and the N over A were about to be hoisted when John called “stop”. Eureka – the wind was filling in from the South East. Finally at 12.50pm – after over 2 hours on the water we got the racing underway. Viking Gold, Jeff Condell & Nigel Dann, were held down at the pin end allowing Sedition, Neil Prendeville & Dominic Falvey, and Fagin, Cian & Finbarr O’Regan, clean starts. Sedition sailed a great beat and got to the windward mark first, closely followed by Fagin and Viking Gold. However Fagin and Viking Gold took advantage of Sedition having to go around the spreader mark again and set off down the run. Viking Gold took a lower line than Fagin and had to gybe for the mark, this allowed Fagin to extend his lead. John Stanley & Alastair Christie in Bateleur passed Sedition at the first windward mark and managed to stay ahead to take 3rd place.
The wind was now a steady 8 – 9 knots out of the SE and so at 13.23hrs a second race, this time with 3 laps of the course, got underway. Both Fagin and Viking Gold got caught by tide at the line which slowed their starts. Fagin tacked under Viking Gold and went up the right side of the course while Viking Gold stayed more to the left. Bateleur got a clean start and was following Fagin up the right. Fagin made the windward mark in the lead, Bateleur and Viking Gold were very close but some tactical tacking by Bateleur secured him the mark and he started down the run ahead. Fagin was in clear command of this race and now Bateleur and Viking Gold were battling for 2nd place. Bateleur took the higher line on the run and gybed early, which paid off and he was lifting in to the mark on port at speed while Viking Gold was gybing. This ensured a 2nd for Bateleur and Viking Gold came in 3rd. Fagin had done enough to take the overall title, Allegro came 2nd and Viking Gold was 3rd .
Many thanks from the Fleets to Bruce and June Matthews for not only sponsoring the event but also providing the committee boat, Destiny. To all the volunteers, both on Destiny and on the ribs many thanks from all the sailors who thoroughly enjoyed the event. Looking forward to the season ahead.
The Irish Squib National Championships are on in Kinsale this year. See you all 19 – 21st August for some excellent racing in the waters outside Kinsale Harbour.

The 41st running of Howth Yacht Club’s Laser Frostbites came to a conclusion this morning on a cold, sunny day with a light Westerly breeze. The absence of current Laser national champion Ronan Cull, the winner of the last few series meant that somebody else was going to have an opportunity to take the event. Dan O’Connell and Daragh Sheridan stepped forward to take a series each.

O’Connell took the series before Christmas in impressive style with a string of first places and showing very impressive pace and smart sailing to clinch the nine race series. He was followed in second by Stephen Quinn who was using the impressive new radial cut full rig for the first time. Third was Mike Evans followed by Daragh Sheridan and Darrell Reamsbottom in fourth and fifth.

The second series was a mixed bag in terms of conditions starting in light wind in January and then was blown out for a lot of February. Robert Eason and Garry Sargent sailed extremely well in the light airs but their results suffered slightly in the heavier stuff later in the series. This allowed Daragh Sheridan to take the event overall with a consistent set of results in the varied conditions across the thirteen race series. Mike Evans and Robert Eason completed the podium positions with Gary Sargent and Dave Kirwan in fourth and fifth respectively.

In the Radial rigs the Winter series was won by Olympic hopeful Aoife Hopkins followed by Sarah Gallagher and R. Murdock. Sarah went one better in the Spring series to take first overall with a very strong series including a string of first places. Murdock taking second and Hopkins third.

In the 4.7 Shane O Brien won the first series from Daniel Hopkins and R. McEvoy. The order was reversed in the second series with Daniel taking first from Shane with E. Gallagher in third spot.

A special shout out to Frostbite competitor Gary Sargent who is undertaking the mammoth task of sailing a Laser around Ireland. 

Next Saturday sees the annual Round the Island race with a fantastic day of sailing followed by lunch, beers and rugby on the big screens. All welcome. Entries online or on the day.