Irish Swan 36 Crew Look for More Success at Swan One Design Worlds in Valencia

6th July 2022

Dun Laoghaire bowman Will Byrne from the National Yacht Club, North Sails sailmaker Nigel Young from Royal Cork and Watch Captain, Kinsale ex-pat, Jeremy Elliott are sailing on Richard Thompson's Swan 36 Black Seal at this week's Valencia-based World Championships Credit: Stefano Gattini/Swan 36

The Irish crew that put Guernsey's entry Black Seal on the Club Swan 36 podium in Sardinia in June have regrouped in Valencia ahead of this week's Swan World Championships.

As Afloat reported earlier, on board Richard Thompson's Black Seal for June success were National Yacht Club bowman Will Byrne, North Sails sailmaker Nigel Young from Royal Cork and Kinsale ex-pat Jeremy Elliott, in the role of Watch Captain.

"We have the same team as Sardinia where we secured the win but this week is the World Championships, so the pressure is on," Byrne told Afloat.

"This week is the World Championships, so the pressure is on"

The ClubSwan 36 fleet will renew their season-long tussle and the lineup will include Italy's Far Star, making her first appearance in 2022, and Turkish entry Facing Future, with owner Mehmet Taki looking to consign his 2021 Worlds result to history.

"We knew the ClubSwan 36 class was going to be fun, and very, very competitive, which we had confirmed at last year's Worlds when we were bottom of the leaderboard with Bracing Breeze," said Taki.

"But we have worked hard, learned some lessons, and we were able to earn a place on the podium at the Tuscany Challenge back in April, so we are heading to Valencia in good spirits and looking forward to a great regatta."

Back in June, a string of five back-to-back race victories at the Swan Sardinia Challenge secured a well-deserved though tight win for Black Seal. Black Seal finished ahead of Giangiacomo Serena di Lapigio's G-Spot – who had won the ClubSwan Racing season's opening event in Tuscany in April – and Edoardo and Vanni Pavesio's Fra Martina.

The ClubSwan Racing fleet took to the water yesterday off the historic Spanish port city for a final shakedown ahead of the Worlds, one of the highlights of the Mediterranean sailing season.

All 34 of the yachts gathered to compete in the World Championships for three classes – the ClubSwan 36, ClubSwan 42 and ClubSwan 50 – took part in the Practice Race, fine-tuning crew work and getting the measure of the competition.

Click here race results

Published in Racing

Tagged under

About The Author

Afloat.ie Team

Email The Author

Afloat.ie is Ireland's dedicated marine journalism team.

Have you got a story for our reporters? Email us here.

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven’t put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full–time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.