Displaying items by tag: Laser Radial Youth Worlds

21st August 2018

Staunton Leading Irish At Laser Radial Youth Worlds In Kiel

#Laser - A 12-strong team is representing Ireland at the Laser Radial Youth Worlds in Kiel, Germany which kicked off over the weekend.

Best of the bunch thus far is Nell Staunton of the National Yacht Club, fresh off her eight-place finish in last month’s Youth Sailing Worlds in the US, who stands in 18th place in the girl’s division on 23 points after two races.

Clare Gorman, also of the NYC and the only other Irish girl in Kiel, is in 67th after a black flag in her first race.

Leading the Irish contingent in the boys’ division is Hugo Kennedy (Royal St George), who holds 32nd place on the leaderboard on 22 points after two races.

Geoff Power (Waterford Harbour; 47th) and Tom Higgins (RStGYC; 49th) are the closest Irish boys, with Toby Hudson-Fowler (RStGYC) in 81st despite an impressive eight-point score in his second race; Dan McGaughey (Donaghadee SC) 132nd; Peter Fagan (Skerries SC) 138th; Henry Higgins (RStGYC) 148th; Jack Fahy (Lough Derg YC) 178th and Paddy Cunnane (Dingle SC) trailing at 207th with a disqualification in his first race.

Those struggling down the table have four more qualifiers to go before the big fleet races later this week.

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Top Five Start for O'Dowd

Fresh from a top ten finish at the ISAF Youth Worlds, Dun Laoghaire sailor Matthew O'Dowd has started the Radial Youth World Championships in Largs with a second place finish.

The Laser fleet numbers some 210 boats, and has been split in three for the initial group stages. O'Dowd's second place in his 70-boat group puts him in fifth overall and sets a good tone for the rest of the regatta.

The Worlds, held in Largs, Scotland, lost its first day to light airs and had to wait until late in the afternoon yesterday to get racing in, whena steady, building northerly breeze trickled down the Clyde this afternoon allowing racing to commence.

The conditions were far from what the senior Radial fleet experienced at their world championship the previous week when gusts of 40kts swept through the fleet, but adequate enough to allow the 320 competitors to enjoy the first tactical race of the series.

Sailing on ‘home waters’, it was good to see 16-year-old GBR sailor Elliot Hanson demonstrating why he is one of the hot favourites here this week. Hanson finished sixth on these same Clyde waters last week at the Laser Radial World Championships. A former Topper UK national and world champion he benefited from the leading Hungarian’s windward mark-rounding error, and enjoyed a good race with Matthew O'Dowd (IRL), to win the one and only race of the day on the Boys’ course. Tadeusz Kubiak (POL) was also on top form winning Blue fleet, while Matthew Mollerus (USA) has made his intentions clear by winning the Red fleet.

On the girls’ course, set further to the north of Cumbrae, the situation was equally exciting with Julia Vallo Arjonilla (ESP) winning the first race in the Blue fleet and finishing third in Race 2 which puts her in a leading overall position. Pauline Barwinska (POL) snatched a win in Yellow fleet when Marketa Audyova (CZE) who crossed the line first, was deemed OCS.

Barwinska, fresh from competing at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship in Turkey is another race sharp sailor who showed she’s a real force to be reckoned with. She’s only been competing at international level for one year, so today’s result has given her a massive boost. The Japanese girls are also on top form with Manami Doi, and Momoko Tada taking wins in the second races (Yellow and Blue fleets).

Elliot Hanson (GBR): “We had quite tricky conditions to start with because the wind was up and down. I was second round the windward mark and then managed to chop and change with Matthew Odowd until the last run when I just managed to pull away. We started off with the most wind of the day at 12kts from the north generally. There were more pressure changes than shifts. The key today was to keep the speed up and reach the first windward mark in a decent position. But I think staying in the highest pressure was the key factor of the day. Some of the other British sailors did well today too and Cam Douglas – who was at the ISAF event, and John Currie who was second at the Youth Trials – are definitely two I’ll be watching out for this week.”

Full results from the event are HERE.

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Ireland & La Solitaire du Figaro

The Solitaire du Figaro, was originally called the course de l’Aurore until 1980, was created in 1970 by Jean-Louis Guillemard and Jean-Michel Barrault.

Half a decade later, the race has created some of France's top offshore sailors, and it celebrated its 50th anniversary with a new boat equipped with foils and almost 50 skippers Including novices, aficionados and six former winners.

The solo multi-stage offshore sailing race is one of the most cherished races in French sailing and one that has had Irish interest stretching back over 20 years due to the number of Irish stopovers, usually the only foreign leg of the French race.

What Irish ports have hosted The Solitaire du Figaro?

The race has previously called to Ireland to the following ports; Dingle, Kinsale, Crosshaven, Howth and Dun Laoghaire.

What Irish sailors have raced The Solitaire du Figaro?

So far there have been seven Irish skippers to participate in La Solitaire du Figaro.

In 1997, County Kerry's Damian Foxall first tackled the Figaro from Ireland. His win in the Rookie division in DHL gave him the budget to compete again the following year with Barlo Plastics where he won the final leg of the race from Gijon to Concarneau. That same year a second Irish sailor Marcus Hutchinson sailing Bergamotte completed the course in 26th place and third Rookie.

In 2000, Hutchinson of Howth Yacht Club completed the course again with IMPACT, again finishing in the twenties.

In 2006, Paul O’Riain became the third Irish skipper to complete the course.

In 2013, Royal Cork's David Kenefick raised the bar by becoming a top rookie sailor in the race.

In 2018, for the first time, Ireland had two Irish boats in the offshore race thanks to Tom Dolan and Joan Mulloy who joined the rookie ranks and kept the Irish tricolour flying high in France. Mulloy became the first Irish female to take on the race.

Tom Dolan in Smurfit Kappa competed for his third year in 2020 after a 25th place finish in 2019. Dolan sailed a remarkably consistent series in 2020 and took fifth overall, the best finish by a non-French skipper since 1997 when Switzerland’s Dominique Wavre finished runner up. Dolan wins the VIVI Trophy.

Dolan finished 10th on the first stage, 11th on the second and seventh into Saint Nazaire at the end of the third stage. Stage four was abandoned due to lack of wind.

Also in 2020, Dun Laoghaire’s Kenneth Rumball became the eleventh Irish sailor to sail the Figaro.

At A Glance – Figaro Race

It starts in June or July from a French port.
The race is split into four stages varying from year to year, from the length of the French coast and making up a total of around 1,500 to 2,000 nautical miles (1,700 to 2,300 mi; 2,800 to 3,700 km) on average.
Over the years the race has lasted between 10 and 13 days at sea.
The competitor is alone in the boat, participation is mixed.
Since 1990, all boats are of one design.