Displaying items by tag: youth sailing
RYA Northern Ireland Youth Sailing Championships at Royal North
Entry to the RYA Northern Ireland Youth Championships and NI Schools Cup closes shortly and the RYA is urging as many youth sailors to enter as possible. Northern Ireland's premier Youth and Junior Sailing event will be hosted at Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club on 26th & 27th September 2015.
The event will offer youth and junior sailors high level competition as well as accessible training and coaching through a RYANI coach supported regatta fleet.
Competitors are invited to race in the Optimist, Topper, Topper 4.2, Mirror, Feva XL fleets if they are under 16 as of 31st December 2015, and may compete in Laser 4.7, Laser Radial and 420 fleets if they are under 19 as of 31st December 2015.
The event will also act as an indicator for all sailors interested in being selected for RYANI Junior and Youth Squads.
Cunnane Retains Topper Topaz Title At Foynes Yacht Club
Last Saturday saw Foynes Yacht Club host the Topper Topaz National Championships on the Shannon Estuary. Five races were scheduled for the one day event with one discard to be applied after the fifth race. ISA National Race Officer Geoff O’Donoghue & Local Race Officer Donal Mc Cormack where presented with a mixed bag of weather conditions which made it a challenge to complete the full schedule.
The thirty one Topper Topaz’s entries were greeted with beautiful sunshine with a twenty minute beat to the sailing area just north of Foynes Island.
Racing got off to a great start on time in 15kts NNE with wind against tide resulting in choppy seas but great racing. However as forecasted, wind began to ease, and by race three wind had dropped down to 6kts which made it slow and tight racing but which resulted in a few boats not finishing due to pure frustration. Lunch was provided afloat from the mother ships which gave the competitors time to relax and concentrate on the final two scheduled races.
By race four the wind slightly picked again and the fleet in good numbers were back on the race course for two rounds of the triangular course. Going into the final race, it was tied at the top with Brian Fox from Tralee Bay Sailing Club level on points with 2014 champion Paddy Cunnane from Dingle Sailing Club while Mary McCormack from Foynes Yacht Club was just one point behind in third place. At least a thirty degree wind shift during the start sequence meant the start was abandoned and at the restart Brian Fox was deemed OCS. Paddy Cunnane took 1st in the final race and with it the overall championship while a third place for Mary McCormack was enough to secure the runner up spot for her, dropping Brian Fox back to third.
Dingle's Paddy Cunnane retained his title
The club were delighted to have the support of Topper International Ltd who sponsored the overall prizes, Ronstan who sponsored the prizes in the underage categories and UK McWilliams Sailmakers who sponsored a number of individual race prizes.
The Topper Topaz Class Association of Ireland have now nominated Paddy Cunnane for the All Ireland Junior Sailing Championships which will take place in Kinsale Yacht Club on the 26th & 27th September.
Final results:
1st Overall – Paddy Cunnane – Dingle Sailing Club
2nd Overall – Mary McCormack – Foynes Yacht Club
3rd Overall – Brian Fox – Tralee Bay Sailing Club
U16 - Tim Kelleher – Tralee Bay Sailing Club
U14 – Dylan Reidy/Oisín Finucane – Foynes Yacht Club
U12 – Ellie Cunnane – Dingle Sailing Club
Full results can be found attached below
#youthsailing – Youth sailors Peter McCann and Harry Whitaker from Royal Cork took third overall in the 420 dinghy at Kiel week, Germany at the weekend. Douglas Elmes and Colin O'Sullivan of Howth finished fifth overall in the same 154–boat fleet. As Afloat.ie reported earlier, there was also early success for new 29er skiff duo Harry and Johnny Durcan, also of Royal Cork, who finished 11th in their 86–boat fleet.
The youth sailors are returning to Ireland today after the exceptional results at Kieler Woche, one of the largest international regattas in the world with 39 classes and 5000 sailors competing in the week-long event.
Four Irish 420 crews took part in the event, with all four achieving top 10 results over the four days of racing, in the 154-boat fleet.
A nail-biting final two days saw two Irish crews, McCann and Whitaker (RCYC) and Elmes and O'Sullivan (HYC/MYC) swapping places at the top of the fleet, until a disappointing final race for both boats gave Ireland third (McCann/Whitaker) and 5th (Elmes/O'Sullivan) overall.
The event was won by the USA, with France taking second place, and GBR fourth.
For a number of years the Irish Laser sailors have been achieving impressive international results, but in recent years the 420 standard has steadily improved and the Kiel results are being described as a 'major breakthrough' for Irish 420 sailing.
The 420 Munster Championship takes place in Dunmore East next weekend, 4th and 5th July.
#YouthSailing - A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for young people to sail an Open 60 racing yacht around the Irish coast is now available thanks to MSL Ballsbridge Motors Mercedes-Benz and the Atlantic Youth Trust supporters club.
In total eight places are available for 18–to-24-year-olds to take part in two 'extreme' high-performance coastal voyages on board the Kilkullen Voyager. The boat captain for the voyages will be top Irish solo Figaro helmsman David Kenefick.
The first will see the yacht sail from Dun Laoghaire to Belfast to join the Tall Ships Festival from 29 June to 2 July. The second voyage will leave Belfast on the 5 July and finish in Cork on 11 July to coincide with the Ocean Wealth Conference and SeaFest.
The Kilcullen Voyager is one of the fastest monohull yachts on the water today
Due to the yacht's high performance, sailing experience is required. Conditions on board will be challenging with little to no creature comforts found on other yachts. The benefit is that the Kilcullen Voyager is one of the fastest monohull yachts on the water today.
Speaking about the opportunity, Noel Rabbitte, Mercedes-Benz brand manager at MSL Ballsbridge Motors, said: “We are thrilled to be involved in this exciting, youth development initiative.
"Giving young people this opportunity is comparable to providing a safe environment for young people to drive a Formula 1 car for a weekend with a trained professional in the cockpit.”
No fee is being charged as the yacht has been made available by the Atlantic Youth Trust’s supporters network and the kind support of MSL Mercedes-Benz.
Anyone interested in taking part must submit an expression of interest form (available HERE) by 10am on Friday 26 June.
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Bcademy Programme For Youth Sailing Prospects Now Underway
#YouthSailing - The Laser Transition Year programme – better known as the Bcademy – is now underway for 2015.
For its sixth year, the programme will comprise a mix of sailing and cycling for the seven youth sailors involved: Patrick Coyle from the National YC, Jack Carroll and Scott O'Sullivan from Kinsale YC, Brian Fox from Tralee Bay SC, and Eoghan O’Regan, Jamie Tingle and Criofan Guilfoyle from the Royal Cork YC.
The journey started at the Royal Cork with loading the trailer and the minibus: eight Lasers, one small RIB, eight bikes and too many bags!
First stop is Brittany, where they will train with a local squad in St Quay and be hosted in local sailors families.
After a week, the group with have a short drive to Crozon for a three-day clinic with the Brittany squad before competing in an Atlantic two-day event.
Next, the group will have a day's drive up to Nieuwpoort in Belgium where they will train a few days before competing at the Belgium Europa Cup event.
Having completed the event, the programme will bring them to Hyeres to compete at the French Spring Nationals.
This final week in Hyeres will be dedicated to fitness to ready the team for the final challenge: a 24-hour cycling relay race in teams of four.
ISA coach Thomas Chaix, who has been running the Bcademy since its inception, says it's "all about developing life skills and independence, improving fitness awareness and of course sailing skills.
"It has been a good feeder for the [ISA] Academy in the past and falls perfectly in the ethos of sailing for life."
Competition Intensifies at Youth Nationals and Optimist Trials
#youthnationals – The Irish Sailing Association (ISA) Pathway Youth Nationals 2015, taking place at Royal Cork Yacht Club are in their second day of competition at Crosshaven writes Claire Bateman. Topper, 420, Laser 4.7 and Laser Radial classes are competing in selection trials for National squads and potential selection for the National Academy. The four-day event also sees the International Optimist Dinghy Association Ireland, 2015 Optimist Trials take place with over 60 entrants.
Today began as a foggy grey day with the breeze more from the south and with a fitful sun trying to break through the clouds like a patchwork quilt on the water later in the day. The wind also increased at this stage going to 16 to 18 knots with a slight hint of west in it. A third Race Committee was called to action under the highly experienced Race Officer David O'Brien of Royal Cork for the 4.7s and the Toppers who were commencing racing today. To a person doing a tour of the three race areas, looking at racing with inner loops and outer loops, separate finish boats, on the water Juries blowing whistles signaling to the unwary, or possibly not unwary, that they had infringed the rules, it all appeared a very competent and slick operation timed to the last. The race team for the 420 and Radials moved further east on the Eastern Bank opposite the Aghada Sailing and Tennis Club where they had to wait a little bit longer for the wind to reach them. When it did it was great to see these fleets surfing on the waves.
In the 420 Class Peter McCann and crew Harry Whitaker from RCYC are the current leaders, followed by Douglas Elmes and Colin O'Sullivan, RCYC/ HYC, while the younger McCann brother James and crew Bill Staunton, RCYC, are in fourth place with Lizziy McDowell and Anna O'Regan from MYC taking the third spot..
In the Laser Radial fleet after six races and one discard Conor Beirne RStYG leads Erica Ruigrok from Rush SC in second followed by Cian Byrne from the host Club in third place.
Meanwhile the 29 boat Topper fleet, having sailed three races, are now led by Geoff Power WHSC, followed by Luke McElwaine from Carlingford Lough, tied on points but with count back putting McElwaine in second place and Caoimhe Foster RCYC taking the third spot.
In the 30 boat Laser Radial Fleet Richard McGinley of the Host Club leads from Ross Morgan SSC, second followed by Rebecca O'Shaughnessy, RCYC 3rd.
In the Optimist 60 boat fleet with Ireland's top sailor Anthony O'Leary as Race Officer the fleet sailed on a traditional Optimist course and had a long day sailing four races bringing their total to seven to date on this weekend which is an Optimist Trials Event confined to sailors who qualified at regional events and the Nationals in 2014. Current leader is Tom Higgins, RStGYC, followed by Gemma McDowell, MYC and Harry Bell, HYC third.
Racing continues tomorrow (Saturday) and tensions are now mounting at this stage of the weekend. Forecast is for fresher conditions and some exciting sailing should be seen throughout the fleets.
Radials & 420s Start Youth Nationals At Royal Cork
#youthnationals – Today saw the first day of racing at the ISA Pathway Trials and Youth Sailing Championships at the Royal Cork Yacht Club writes Claire Bateman. Today's fleets were Laser Radials and 420s. The Principal Race Officer was Alan Crosbie. The morning turned out to be foggy but there was a light south easterly breeze and the sun made an appearance making it into a pleasant day but still retaining some heat haze.
During the day the wind strengthened slightly and went more into the east with Alan Crosbie weaving his magic by sailing the 420s on the outer loop of a triangular course while the Radials sailed on the inner loop. For the next three days the fleets will be joined by the Toppers and the Laser 4.7s.
Meanwhile, not a mile away on the Curlane Bank, Race Officer Anthony O'Leary was performing his style of magic in enabling the IODAI Optimist Trials also to get in three races. There was no doubt he got the best of the wind from his position as it was somewhat stronger on this course and he got in three fine races for the sixty plus competitors and the races were over forty minutes each for two of them with the third being over fifty minutes.
The IODAI Optimist Trials will run over 4 days from today (Thurs) to Sunday. This is a qualifying event for the Optimist sailors to represent Ireland in 2015 - the top five at Optimist Worlds in Wales, next seven at Optimist Europeans in Poland and a number of sailors chosen for a development team that will sail at the French Nationals.
The 420s and Laser Radials are competing in the ISA Youth Pathway Nationals from today (Thursday,) while the Toppers and Laser 4.7s will compete from tomorrow, Friday to Sunday. Normally this is a qualifying event for the Youth Worlds, which are usually in the summer, but the 2015 Youth Worlds are in Malaysia in December which is a little too far away. Still an important event for all the classes as the Lasers compete for the honour of ISA Youth Pathway Nationals Champion, the 420 sailors are qualifying for the Junior Europeans and Worlds, while the Toppers are qualifying for the ISA Summer squads which will build up their skills for the Topper Worlds in Lake Garda. This is an open event for ALL Topper, 420, Laser 4.7 and Laser Radial sailors, which means the young sailors did not have to qualify to enter and it gives ALL sailors a chance to compete against each other on an even playing field.
All in all an excellent, if somewhat long day for the youth competitors but obviously scintillating and provided for plenty of chatter and camaraderie when coming ashore and bringing their boats back to the allotted compounds for each fleet.
Racing continues tomorrow (Friday).
RYA Youth Nationals Underway in Weymouth
#youthnats – The RYA Youth National Championships kicked off yesterday with racing for all classes at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy. A single Irish crew is competing in the 56–boat 29er class. An Irish Youth Nationals, expected to attract 200 boats – the bulk of which will be Optimist and Laser dinghies – is being staged at the Royal Cork Yacht Club this week.
The day in Weymouth started with a short postponement ashore before sailors headed out for their first race around 11am. The light sea breeze remained in the harbour for the rest of the day. A dying and unstable breeze in Weymouth Bay meant that the schedule was not completed on the 420, Spitfire and Radial boys' courses.
Consistency was key across the race courses, and those who mastered the shifty sea breeze have taken the advantage on day 1.
RS:X
A hat-trick of firsts started Dan Wilson's Youth National Championship title chase with a bang. The RS:X sailor led from the start of each race and protected his lead around the course.
Wilson looks to do much of the same as the week progresses: "I'm hoping to continue the rest of the week where I left off today, just getting the start nailed and pushing forward from there. Once you get the first beat out of the way it's just trying to protect what you have, so I will be hoping to do that this week."
Younger sister, Emma Wilson and Emily Hall sit on ten points in second and third respectively, both scored a second, third and fifth however Wilson pips Hall on countback.
29er
Favourites coming into the Youth Nationals, Dan Venables and Patrick Keech proved their dominance in the 29er class picking up double wins in racing today.
The pairing are already on the hunt for a EUROSAF Youth Europeans spot and are very happy after day 1: "It is a great start to the week, two bullets in two races especially considering it was quite gusty and shifty. It's the best start to the qualification process for the EUROSAFs this year, and hopefully we will keep it going for the rest of the week."
In the 29er yellow fleet Bobby Hewitt and Harvey Martin also had an excellent opening day, picking up a win in the first followed by a second. The 15-year-olds, who transitioned into the 29er this year and are the 2014 RS Feva World and European Champions, were thrilled with their first day.
"It's been a really good day, we were leading from the start in the first race and we just played the shifts up the beat and it was easy from there," said a smiley Martin.
"The second race didn't start so well, we were buried off the line but managed to get it back up the first beat, rounding mark one in fourth then fought the rest of the way to finish second."
Winning the second yellow fleet race of the day were all girl team Hannah Bristow and Emily Covell. Bristow, also a previous RS Feva World Champion, paired up with Covell a year ago and they have spent the winter training in the 29er Transition Squad.
The girls thrived in the gusty conditions: "It was a sea breeze day, a lot of mixing. The wind was shifting right throughout the day and was quite gusty. We were just making sure we were squeezing every gust and getting all the power we could get out of the boat." Explained Covell.
Laser
Henry Wetherell and Michael Beckett took all three of the race wins today. Wetherell claims the advantage with double firsts and a third finishing the day on five points to Beckett's six.
Although Beckett didn't win all three races he acknowledged his consistent start to a long week: "It was a one track race course and so once you figured that out it was just a question of working around the fleet. It couldn't have been much better for me but it could have been much worse, I'm happy."
Radial
The Laser Radial boys' fleet only managed to finish two of their scheduled three races. Jack Cookson and Daniel Whiteley stole the show in the two races sailed, both with a one and two to their score lines.
Both were pleased with their results: "My first day was really good, quite consistent and I was pretty quick around the race course." Said Whiteley.
After disappointing starts to both races, Cookson used his downwind speed to the advantage and sailed back through the fleet, pipping Whiteley to take line honours in the last race of the day.
Light wind specialist, Karyna Manuel ends the day in pole position in the Laser Radial girls' fleet. Similar to other race courses, consistency was the name of the game for the Radial girls' and Manuel takes the early lead with a six point advantage over rival Hanna Brant. Other race winners of the day, Clementine Thompson and Ellie Cumpsty sit further down the pack after both picking up a starting penalty.
420
Max Clapp and Ross Banham won the first and only race on the 420 course. The pair led up the first beat after a successful start, however they lost their lead to Martin Wrigley and Marcus Tressler after sailing to the wrong mark. With impressive boat speed Clapp and Banham regained the advantage up the second beat and held until the finish, winning by only a couple of boat lengths to Wrigley and Tressler.
Spitfire
The Spitfire class also only had one race. Eddie Bridle and James King took advantage of the tricky sea breeze conditions and crossed the line ahead of Sam Barker and Victoria Akhurst in second. Alex Philpott and Jess D'Arcy completed the podium in third.
Warning signal for the first race today is at the earlier than scheduled time of 10.25am for the 29er blue fleet. You can watch the live streaming from the Harbour course on the sportsXstream website. GPS tracking will also be live for all courses on the sportsXstream class pages.
Last Call For RYA Youth Nationals Entries
The countdown to the 2015 RYA Youth Sailing National Championships is well underway, with just six days left to enter the premier annual event for the UK's young sailing talents.
Competitors have up until Sunday 22 March to sign up for the regatta (4-10 April), where racing will take place on the famed Olympic and Paralympic waters of Weymouth Bay and Portland Harbour, and where RYA Youth National Champions will be crowned across six classes.
Racing will take place for under 21-year-old boys in Laser Standards, girls and boys in Laser Radials and Neil Pryde RS:X 8.5 windsurfers, and for all-boy, all-girl or mixed crews in 420s, 29ers and Spitfire catamarans.
The event also doubles up as a selection event for the British Youth Sailing Team to compete at the EUROSAF Youth European Championships in Brest, France (26 July-2 August), and will determine invitees for the British Youth Sailing Team Selection Event for the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships, to be held at Hayling Island Sailing Club from 29-31 August 2015. The 2015 ISAF Youth Worlds is to be staged in Langkawi, Malaysia, from 27 December-2 January.
To enter the event and for further information click here
Is Being an Olympic Sport Good for Irish Sailing?
#olympicsailing – Water Rat's article: Is ISAF Alive To Sailing's Survival As An Olympic Sport? has raised the issue about the future viability of the Olympic sailing movement and brought reaction from readers, including Midshipman, who says it begs two interesting questions:
· Is being an Olympic sport good for sailing?
· Why have the amazing advances we have witnessed in technology over the last 15 years not made sailing more accessible and less expensive?
With the exception of the Laser (a manufacturer controlled boat which is not cheap at €7,250), none of the boats used in the Olympics are to be found in mainstream sailing.
The explosion in sailing during the 60's and 70's was fuelled by the development of exciting low cost boats built, mainly by amateurs, in plywood using new adhesive and coating techniques.
The turn of the century has seen vast improvements in the technologies used in boat building, making boats lighter, faster, stronger safer, but certainly not cheaper, as amateur construction can no longer compete with the sophisticated techniques of the boating industry.
That is probably why the most popular dinghy class in the world remains the inexpensive and simple Sunfish while low tech Hobie Beach Cats still dominate the multihull scene.
In years gone by, most young sailors got their start in wooden Optimists, often built by enthusiastic parents at modest cost over a couple of weekends and then typically graduated to a home built Mirror or its equivalent for their first experience of multi crewed sailing with multiple sails.
A wooden framework of the early Optimist dinghy
Nothing less than a relatively expensive Glass Fibre Optimist will do now and the Street Cred of young people is dependent on graduating to costly Lasers and 420s. In Ireland this situation is also compounded by the sense of failure youngsters experience if they fail to qualify for one of the Academy or Elite development squads which currently involves over 100 youth sailors of varied abilities.
The scene today – charter boats used at Dun Laoghaire for the 2014 Optimist Europeans
Sailing has become so fixated on exciting performance and elite achievement that it has lost sight of the sheer enjoyment of messing about in boats at modest cost which is the principle attraction to the vast majority of people.
We all admire the highly skilled and motivated sailors who aspire to the ultimate Olympic challenge, but let's face it , what they do has virtually no relevance to the activities of most recreational sailors. ISAF uses racing formats and boats which are not reflective of the sport in general, largely on the grounds of needing to excite TV viewers.
With the exception of horse riding, sailing is probably the most equipment dependent (meaning most expensive) sport in the Olympics. I am not sure that this is a message which ultimately helps encourage people to become involved in sailing.
If we want to use the Olympics as a marketing opportunity for sailing, we should use inexpensive boats which are used on a widespread basis by regular sailors and only have 2 events each for men and women whilst eliminating the cost of shipping boats by supplying evenly matched equipment.
Olympic sailing has created a very costly industry which contributes little back to mainstream sailing. The costs are truly horrendous as demonstrated by the recent announcement that the ISA is appointing an additional CEO to head up a funding programme to raise a further €2.75m a year over and above the €1m plus it receives from the Irish Sports Council for Irish Elite sailing activities.
Does the Irish sailing community believe an annual level of expenditure of €3.75m on elite sailing provides the best economic payback to the sport in Ireland? If we could replicate what has been done in New Zealand, maybe there is a business case which can be justified.
However, €15m seems an outrageous amount of money to propose spending over an Olympic cycle, which is equal to something in excess of €800 on behalf of each member of the ISA.
Let's make sailing accessible, less expensive and more engaging and use the Olympics as a shop window to remove the elitist and esoteric imagery created by the current profile of existing Olympic classes.
What we are doing at the moment is deluding ourselves into believing that presenting our sport like NASCAR or Formula 1 motor racing will attract new people to buy Ford Mondeos and Fiat Pandas. – Midshipman