#laser – Ryan Glynn in the Radials with straight firsts was the stand-out performance at last weekend's Laser Leinster Championships in Wexford Harbour Boat Club.

Conditions were 5-15 knots and shifty on Saturday then blowing stink Sunday, all in a fantastic warm, but unstable westerly breeze that reduced racing on Sunday to just one race.

Chris Penney and Mattie O'Dowd had a titanic struggle at the top of the Standard fleet and in the 4.7s, Conor O'Beirne of the Royal St. George YC came through in the last race with a nice confidence boost before he heads off this week to Hungary for the 4.7 European championships.

Results below from Wexford Harbour Boat Club

Laser Leinster Championship Std 2013

Entries: 17      Races Sailed: 4      Discard: 1

Series Place	Sail No	Type of Boat	Class	Helm	Club	Series Points	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4
1	201566	S		Chris Penney	East Antrim BC	5	3	1	1	3
2	181999	S		Mathew o'Dowd	Royal St. George YC	5	1	2	2	2
3	185104	S		Conor Simms	Royal Ulster YC	10	2	3	8	5
4	198554	S		Conor Byrne	Royal St. George YC	11	6	4	3	4
5	193562	S		Oisin McClelland	Ballyholme YC	19	10	8	11	1
6	197364	S		Sean Murphy	Kinsale YC	19	8	7	4	10
7	178335	S	M	Sean Craig	Royal St. George YC	20	4	5	12	11
8	201365	S	M	Stephen Penney	East Antrim BC	20	9	12	5	6
9	155068	S	M	Ross o'Leary	Royal St. George YC	21	5	6	10	14
10	191670	S	M	Colin Galavan	Royal Irish YC	24	12	11	6	7
11	185043	S		Peter Cameron	East Antrim BC	25	11	10	7	8
12	198560	S		Henry McLaughlin	Carlingford Lough YC	25	7	9	9	9
13	181674	S	M	Troy Hopkins	Howth YC	39	13	13	15	13
14	173164	S	M	Timmy Washington	Wexford Harb. B&TC	40	15	14	14	12
15	178689	S	M	Tommy Fallon	Wexford Harb. B&TC	43	14	16	13	18
16	180237	S	M	Paul Ebrill	Wexford Harb. B&TC	47	16	15	16	18
17	137120	S		Don Ryan	Wexford Harb. B&TC	54	18	18	18	18

Laser Leinster Championship Radial 2013

Entries: 32      Races Sailed: 4      Discard: 1

Series Place	Sail No	Type of Boat	Class	Helm	Club	Tally	Series Points	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4
1	198552	R	Y	Ryan Glynn	Ballyholme YC	64	3	1	1	1	1
2	190758	R	Y	Dougie Power	Waterford Harb. SC	19	13	2	2	13	9
3	183948	R	Y	Ross O'Sullivan	Kinsale YC	76	13	14	7	4	2
4	203715	R	Y	Tim Brow	Ballyholme YC	72	13	6	4	7	3
5	181428	R	Y	Ronan Jones	Wexford Harb. B&TC	74	17	9	6	2	33
6	200637	R	Y	Ruairi Finnegan	Waterford Harb. SC	85	17	8	3	33	6
7	191247	R	Y	Andrew Penney	East Antrim BC	45	19	5	5	9	14
8	198780	R	Y	Tadhg o'Loingsigh	Tralee Bay SC	87	21	10	8	3	33
9	201603	R	Y	Conor o'Farrell	Carlingford Lough YC	63	21	12	9	8	4
10	190755	R		John Flynn	Dungarvan Harb. SC	12	27	3	12	12	12
11	199054	R	Y	Gary Fekkes	East Antrim BC	93	27	7	14	10	10
12	187591	R	Y	Kevin Harrington	Courtown SC	99	28	18	17	6	5
13	197362	R	YL	Erica Ruigrok	Rush SC	75	29	4	10	15	18
14	198556	R	Y	Mark Bolger	Royal St. George YC	53	31	11	15	5	15
15	190759	R	Y	Conor Murphy	Kinsale YC	6	31	15	13	11	7
16	196533	R	Y	Sam Wilkinson	Ballyholme YC	91	32	13	11	17	8
17	175356	R	Y	Patrick Cahill	Royal St. George YC	55	43	16	22	16	11
18	190774	R	YL	Aoife Hopkins	Howth YC	54	46	21	19	14	13
19	192602	R	YL	Suzanne Flannigan	Ballyholme YC	78	52	33	18	18	16
20	192333	R	Y	Daire Cournane	Kinsale YC	8	55	25	16	20	19
21	201828	R	Y	Luke Murphy	Royal St. George YC	2	59	17	23	19	33
22	178328	R	Y	Thomas McGrath	Royal Cork YC	100	62	19	21	22	33
23	200745	R	Y	Scott O'Sulivan	Kinsale YC	52	65	24	20	33	21
24	191319	R	YL	Sorcha Donnelly	Ballyholme YC	47	65	22	24	23	20
25	201678	R	L	Jessica Rutherford	Hollywood YC	90	67	20	26	21	33
26	197894	R	Y	Nathaniel Gillett	Royal St. George YC	98	69	33	28	24	17
27	198526	R	Y	Charlie Edgar	Donaghadee SC	79	73	23	25	25	33
28	143122	R	Y	Dermot Wildes	Courtown SC	69	86	26	27	33	33
29	186795	R	Y	Gregory Fay	Dungarvan Harb. SC	43	86	28	31	27	33
30	167852	R	Y	Conor Clery	Greystones SC	71	86	27	30	29	33
31	196018	R	Y	Colm Moloney	Courtown SC	66	87	29	32	26	33
32	96255	R	Y	Aaron Jones	Greystones SC	73	87	30	29	28	33

 

Laser Leinster Championship 4.7 2013

Entries: 16      Races Sailed: 4      Discard: 1

Series Place	Sail No	Type of Boat	Class	Helm	Club	Tally	Series Points	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4
1	183231	4	Y	Conor O'Beirne	Royal St George YC	4	5	3	1	4	1
2	198435	4	YL	Cliodhna o'Regan	Kinsale YC	86	6	2	2	2	4
3	180938	4	Y	Richard Thompson	Royal Cork YC	70	7	10	4	1	2
4	179328	4	Y	J.D. Elmes	Royal Cork YC	14	12	4	5	3	7
5	203716	4	Y	Ciaran Finnegan	Waterford Harb. SC	88	14	1	10	12	3
6	201557	4	YL	Jocelyn Hill	County Antrim YC	84	17	6	3	9	8
7	190754	4	Y	Conor Sherriff	Courtown SC	94	17	5	7	5	17
8	19736	4	Y	Richard Hogan	Howth YC	38	19	7	9	6	6
9	189372	4	Y	Billy Duane	Royal Cork YC	59	22	9	6	7	10
10	172360	4	YL	Eva Donworth	Royal Cork YC	77	27	11	11	11	5
11	172172	4	L	Rebekah Rutherford	Hollywood YC	92	31	13	8	10	17
12	198783	4	YL	Caoimhe Cotter	Wexford Harb. B&TC	57	31	14	12	8	11
13	163142	4	Y	Luke McGrath	Royal Cork YC	61	34	8	13	13	17
14	188461	4	YL	Blathnaid o'Connell	Royal St George YC	62	38	12	14	14	12
15	177879	4	Y	Robert Wynne	Dungarvan Harb. SC	83	43	17	17	17	9
16	190672	4	YL	Kate MacAdorey	Carlingford Lough YC	89	45	15	15	15	17

#MISS NORTHERN IRELAND – Royal North of Ireland YC dinghy sailor Tiffany Brien is on her way to the Miss World Competition in China having won the 2012 Miss Northern Ireland competition in Belfast this week. One of Ireland's top Laser Radial sailors, Tiffany was crowned at a 'glittering' ceremony at the Europa Hotel in Belfast on Monday night.

Tiffany jets off to the Miss World final in China on Saturday August 18, more or less the same time as she had been planning to represent Ireland at the Olympics until Dublin's Annalise Murphy took the top Irish slot. The Belfast Telegraph has more on the story here. But Tiffany is still sailing though and as well as national Laser Radial honours Miss Northern Ireland will be sailing across the Irish sea to help fellow sailor, blind adventurer Mark Pollock who is recovering from a fall. The pair are to sail across the Irish sea together for a number of charities.

Tiffany, daughter of well know Belfast lough sailor Simon Brien, will compete against over 100 girls from round the world, including, Miss Ireland, Rebecca Maguire, who is also from Belfast.

More photos of Tiffany's Miss Northern Ireland success here.

 

Predictably Olympic campaigners were to the fore at the 2011 Irish Laser National Championships yesterday but host club Lough Derg Yacht Club in Dromineer, Co. Tipperary are celebrating the first time in thirty years that a Laser sailor has won a National Championship division at their home club.

Belfast Olympic campaigner James Espey came top of the combined 151 boat fleet but yesterday the local cheers were for Derg sailor, Eoin Keller won the Irish Laser Radial National Championships.

Eoin Keller with his parents Josephine and Pat, and LDYC Commodore Lucy Sanders. Photo: Geraldine Wisdom

Lough Derg Yacht Club hosted the Irish Laser National Championship from 25 to 28 August. A total of 151 sailors participated in the event. Sailors travelled from all over Ireland and the UK to race in the event. The Laser class has three rig categories according to the sail size: the 4.7 Lasers (48 boats), the Laser Radials (71 boats) and the Standard or full rigs (32 boats).

Hosting a National event for such a large fleet requires considerable organisation, both on and off the water. LDYC Sailing Secretary, Michael McCarney, said that the "seventy plus volunteers, helping out at the event, ensured four great days of racing". He said that the "wildly varying weather conditions provided quite a challenge for sailors and race management". He added that "events such as this help to promote tourism and the local economy of this scenic area".

Laser Racing starts on Lough Derg

The Principal Race Officer for the event was John Lefroy. He conducted the races from his boat the 'Phoenix', and managed to get ten races in very changeable weather conditions. Liam Moloney and his team managed the finishing line on his yacht, 'Synergy'. John Lefroy said that he was "very impressed with the mark laying and rescue", and added that "the sailors were well tired at the end of the four days as I set demanding courses. Competitors at this level want to be stretched at these events". Jack Bayly and Teresa Hassey collated and posted the race results promptly every day.

Club Manager Claire Toohey coordinated Safety and Rescue for the Championship. This is a vital task, and Claire's organisational skills were very much in evidence. Claire commented that her brief was made easier by "top notch, well-trained local rescue crew, who did a superb job in quite testing conditions".

Summing up at the prize-giving, LDYC Commodore Lucy Sanders said, "I was impressed by the number of members who gave of their time to help out, particularly the younger members, who are the future of this Club". She went on to praise the work of the shore crew, including P. Keller and his helpers who efficiently managed the launch and recovery of boats, and Anne Atkinson and her team, who ensured the visitors were looked after with the hospitality for which the Club is well known.

RESULTS Irish Laser National Championship 2011

Laser 4.7

1st Seafra Guilfoyle - Royal Cork Yacht Club
2nd Cian Byrne - Royal Cork Yacht Club
3rd Eoin Curran – East Down Yacht

Laser Radial

1st Eoin Keller – Lough Derg Yacht Club

2nd Robbie Gilmore – Strangford Lough Yacht Club
3rd Finn Lynch – National Yacht Club

Standard Laser Sailors

1st James Espey – Royal Ulster Yacht Club

2nd Ryan Seaton – Carrickfergus Sailing Club
3rd Matthew O'Dowd – Royal St. George Yacht Club

Promising results came young Irish sailors came from the World and European Laser Radial Youth Champs in La Rochelle that ended at the weekend. Wexford and the National Yacht Club's Philip Doran finished 11th in Worlds (8th in Euros). Blessingtonn's Finn Lynch finished 7th in the u17 Worlds (he was the only sailor born 1996 in the gold fleet).

There were 271 entries in the boys. 99 entries in the girls.

Quoile and the Royal St. George's Sophie Murphy finished 30th in the girls, a result that included a final race win. See how all the Irish did here.

In his first event sailing in the full rig boat Rush Sailing Club's Alan Ruigrock won the Laser Leinster Championships at the Royal St. George Yacht Club yesterday in some of the finest sailing conditions of the summer so far.

In a combined fleet of 110 boats and southerly winds of 10-15 knots, Ruigrock beat Howth's Ronan Cull and the host club's Conor Byrne who finished second and third respectively.

Annalise Murphy lived up to her billing as top Radial sailor in the country when, in a mixed 40 boat division, she beat Tiffany Brien for the Leinster title. In third place was next week's Irish Youth world's representative Philip Doran of Wexford.

The first 4.7 sailor was Royal Cork's Seafra Guilfoyle. The first master was Gareth Flannigan.

The following from the Class Association:

One hundred and ten sailors competed in the 2011 Laser Leinster Championships which were held in superb summer conditions on July 2nd & 3rd, and were hosted by the Royal St George Yacht Club. The weather did its part to show off Dublin Bay at its best with bright sunshine and a light sea breeze contributing to the regatta atmosphere for the sailors and their families alike.

The sailors needed to display all their skills to achieve a top end result. The wind peaked each day at 10 or 11 knots, with even pressure across the course and only a small number of wind shifts to take advantage of. Wind against tide meant the competitors needed good speed through the light chop. Equally important was a good start, made more difficult by the tide carrying the competitors over the line.

The principal race officer for the weekend was Con Murphy. At the prize giving, Con remarked that although he used a black flag for a number of the races it was great to see the high standard of the sailors meant that not a single person was OCS for the entire regatta.

Seafra Guilfoyle, with four bullets won the Laser 4.7 fleet, adding the Leinsters title to his Munsters and Ulsters trophies. John Durcan was 2nd and Cian Byrne third giving all three top spots to the Royal Cork Yacht Club. Emma Cooney from the NYC won the first lady prize.

The Laser Radial class is where many of Ireland's future Olympic hopefuls race and the Leinsters was no exception. Annalise Murphy of the NYC, "Afloat's May Sailor of the Month" and one of Ireland's strongest medal prospects in the 2012 Olympics won the event in compelling fashion with two firsts and three seconds. Tiffany Brien of Ballyholme YC, fresh from her recent Olympic campaign came in second. Philip Doran of Courtown YC claimed third prize. The prize for the first lady youth went to Sophie Murphy of the home club.

The Laser Standard fleet saw the most intense completion with the last race deciding all three top spots. On the Saturday, Ronan Cull clearly set himself apart winning all three races. At the end of the regatta only three points separated the leaders. Alan Ruigrok of Rush SC won the event, with Ronan Cull of HYC coming second and Conor Byrne claiming third prize for the RSGYC. Ballyholme yacht club also took home some silverware in this fleet with Oliver Loughhead taking the youth prize in fourth place overall and Gareth Flannigan taking the masters prize in 5th place.

Annalise Murphy notched up another victory in this morning's final medal race but there was still no medal for the Dun Laoghaire solo sailor at the fifith round of the ISAF World Cup in Holland.

Murphy rounded off her Delta Lloyd regatta performance as she started it, with a win, bringing to five her tally of first places taken in the Laser Radial fleet at the masive Dutch regatta. In spite of today's special win there was never any hope of a medal due to a double false start on Friday, a costly race infringement that clearly cost the 21-year old this round of ISAF's World Cup series. She finished the regatta ninth overall having won the final three races in near gale force conditions.

It was a frustrating third day for the sailors at the Delta Lloyd Regatta in Medemblik, Holland but not for Dun Laoghaire's Annalise Murphy who proved her world class speed again in strong winds. With wind increasing to 30 knots, racing was abandoned and boats sent to shore after just four races were completed.

Ireland's Annalise Murphy won the only Laser Radial race today. "I like the breeze!" said Annalise "but I have to admit that the last downwind leg was scary!"

The National Yacht Club sailor is now leading the strong Laser Radial fleet, "I am not complaining, I had a good result. I was leading by a long distance at the top mark but Marit Bouwmeester caught up on the down wind but I could stay in front." She now leads the overall standings on 14 points, ahead of Tina Mihelic (CRO), who came fifth today, on 15 points after discarding her first day's disqualification "I am satisfied with my result. I am not so strong in the breeze, I am much lighter than the others and it is harder for me to hike when the wind is strong. A fifth is a good result and I am relieved that I can finally discard my penalty."

Annalise at high speed today. Photo: Sander van der Borch

Marit Bouwmeester (NED) have enjoyed better results in the breeze with a second, and comes back to the score, she places in third overall position.

Overnight leader Gintare Scheidt finished 13th today and has dropped to fourth overall.

On top of the World in Holland. The Scoreboard after five races

In the Men's RS:X were the only fleet to successfully complete their two scheduled races. The day belonged to Taehoon Lee (KOR) who won Race 5 before finishing second in Race 6 to end the day on 12 points is in third.

The top of the Men's Standings is tight with just three points are separating Dorian Van Rijsselberge (NED) in first, on nine points, and Lee in third.

Van Rijsselberge, who is sailing in his home regatta, has been the pick of the sailors in the RS:X fleet this week. After winning gold at the Rolex Miami OCR and Trofeo S.A.R. Princess Sofia MAPFRE the Dutchman is well on track to maintain his 100% record so far having only competed in two out of four ISAF Sailing World Cup regattas before Medemblik.

His nine points gives him a two point advantage over Jon-Paul Tobin (NZL) who finished 2-3 today.

The rest of the fleet have a tough task of catching Van Rijsselberge, Tobin and Lee as Canada's Zachary Plavsic, in fourth place, finds himself trailing the frontrunners by 15 points.

In the Laser, ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year, Tom Slingsby (AUS) has jumped to the top of the Standings. He won the only race today in the Laser fleet and has six points after discarding his tenth place finish in the third race. "I am very happy, these are my optimum conditions. It is unfortunate that the second race is cancelled because I love the breeze. I hope I can win this regatta as it will then count towards my Olympic selection. If I can't win here I will try in Weymouth and then Kiel." explained Tom Slingsby.

Bruno Fontes (BRA) came second today and has ten points, he leapfrogs early Laser leader Milan Vujasinovic (CRO). The Croatian finished the first day with double bullets in the breeze but was unable to find some similar form on an equally breezy third day. His seventh place finish has seen him slip to third overall on 13 points.

In The Women's Match Racing, just six races took place in Group B before abandonment. Renee Groeneveld (NED) qualified for the Gold Group after defeating Julia Bossard (FRA). Groeneveld has won seven out of eight races and has one more to go.

With one race apiece remaining, Ekaterina Skudina (RUS), Silja Lehtinen (FIN), Anna Kjelberg (SWE) and Stephanie Hazard (NZL) are in contention for the final two qualification places. With six race wins China's Ru Wang has completed her nine races, if results go her way she will qualify for the Gold Group.

After a long postponement on shore, the race committee announced that further sailing was cancelled for the day. Tomorrow's forecast predicts a more "sailable" weather and racing will start at 9am for the Women Match Racing and from 10am for the other classes. The Laser and 470 Men will race in Gold and Silver fleets.

Following this week's request for a good home for a reader's Laser Radial dinghy we can report the boat has a new berth. The donor has decided it will be used by a club to teach teenagers too big for other youth classes but who are contemplating a move into the Laser dinghy. Thanks to everyone for the interest shown. It is our intention to promote other genuine boat donations such as this on an ongoing basis. Stay tuned!

Two of Ireland's 2012 Olympic squad crews are ranked in the top twenty in World sailing rankings announced this week.

Peter O'Leary who has been sailing with three different crews, David Burrows, Frithjof Kleen and Timothy Goodbody to date is ranked 17th by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF).

O'Leary and Burrows sailing in the Star keelboat class were recent top finishers at 93-boat fleet in Miami. They finished second overall after they lost the overall lead in the last race of the 2011 Bacardi Cup.

Listen into a podcast about Peter O'Leary's Olympic sailing plans HERE.

Fellow Olympic squad member, 21-year old Annalise Murphy from Dun Laoghaire is now ranked 12th in the Laser radial class counting seven ISAF events. Murphy has also had success in Florida this season, she finished fourth in the Miami Olympic Classes regatta in January.

Listen to what Team Manager James O'Callaghan has to say about her progress:

The next release of the ISAF World Sailing Rankings will be on 13 April 2011 and will include the Trofeo SAR Princess Sofia Mapfre in Spain.

The ISAF World Sailing Rankings rate skippers based on their performances over the last two years. Skippers score points by competing in ISAF Graded events. The top finishers at all ISAF Graded events score Rankings points, with the highest points awarded to the event winner and then decreasing down relative to position.

More Irish Olympic Sailing News HERE.

April's Mitsubishi Youth National championships is not only going to be a big test for up to 350 competitors seeking a place on the Irish team at the 2011 ISAF Youth Worlds in Croatia, it's also being treated as a 'dry run' by  Dublin Bay organisers preparing to stage the 2012 Youth worlds in little over 12 months time.

Olympic team manager James O'Callaghan has played a big role in bringing on Irish team talent. Results have been achieved in recent times in the Topper, Laser 4.7 and Radial and 420 but a top result in the youth worlds would make all the effort worthwhile.

Ireland's best ever Youth Worlds result came in 1996 when Laura Dillon and Ciara Peelo took bronze in the Laser II dinghy. The stated aim for 2012 is to at least equal this result and win a medal on the home waters of Dublin Bay.

Listen to the podcast below to hear O'Callaghan's take on the front runners for April's important Youth selection event.

Watch a preview for July's ISAF Croatian Youth Worlds Event below