I was in Baltimore Sailng Club last week for the annual training camp run by the Optimist Association when 130 young sailors braved and overcame what were at times quite testing sailing conditions. I watched with admiration the impressive organisation of the event and the readiness of the youngsters to venture out on the waters of the bay when, I should honestly say, I would not have been over-anxious to do so myself. The Optimist Association is well-organised and they were at a club which is directing a lot of its efforts towards encouraging young sailors.

Baltimore Sailing Club undertook a major refurbishing and upgrading of its premises on the quayside in 2013 and also reinvigorated the organisational structure of the club which had been founded in 1956 as a Summer sailing club. This is the seasonal time when the population of the historic West Cork village is increased considerably by the influx of holidaymakers from Cork and further around the coast.

This weekend the Baltimore Laser Icicle Regatta is scheduled, deferred from the Christmas holiday period by bad weather. That will be followed at Easter when the club intends to introduce the RS200 to the classes which sail there.

Optimist dinghy training at Baltimore, West Cork

Baltimore is setting a strong headline in the development of sailing.

Listen to the Podcast from my visit to Baltimore below and interviews with Michael Walsh, Club Commodore and Sheila O’Sullivan, Junior Sailing Organiser.

The traditional Optimist Baltimore Spring Training Week event, one of the top International sailing clinics in Europe, takes place next week. 

Baltimore Week is Ireland’s largest sailing camp and this year has seen over 140 Optimist sailors from 8 – 15 yrs old sign up for the event.

It is an action packed week of fun for all the family. This event is about making friends and having fun on and off the water in a safe environment.

A team of International coaches from Greece, & Poland are joined by top Irish coaches to provide training for sailors of all competencies, from those who have only recently started to sail to those who are competing internationally.

The week is very much a family-oriented event, with a programme of activities for children too young to sail, and events also organised for adults, such as the ‘How to Rig an Oppi’ class for novice parents! Schull & Fitbones provides activities for those 5 years and upwards who are not yet sailing. They do Baltimore Treasure Hunt and Playground games, Sherkin Island trip and an Adventure Challenge in Lough Hyne Woods.

Evening activities are also on offer, including the ever-popular cinema night and also a disco night. In addition the week finishes off with a one day regatta which helps sailors consolidate all they have learnt during the week & to put it into practice.

The annual event is hosted by Baltimore Sailing Club, which is set in the beautiful harbour of Baltimore, West Cork.

IODAI Forum 2017
An IODAI forum takes place during the Baltimore week where all parents are invited to express their views or seek information on the running of the Optimist class.

#TrySailing - Baltimore Sailing Club is now taking bookings for places on its 2017 ISA summer sailing courses.

The first course runs over three weeks from Monday 3 to Friday 21 July, while a second three-week course runs the following month from Tuesday 8 to Friday 25 August.

In addition, a Junior Try Sailing Taster Course runs from Monday 24 to Friday 28 July comprising two half-day courses each day.

Application forms are available on the Baltimore SC website HERE.

After missing out on Day 2 of the 1720 Irish championship entirely due to inclement weather, OOD Peter Crowley and his team were on the water at Kinsale before 09:00 this morning and managed to complete a full programme of races for the 1720 National Championships writes Peadar Murphy. The wind today was light and shifting, but four highly competitive races were still squeezed in and had everyone ashore just before the rain swept in again.

After the first four races on Friday, Anthony O’Leary on “Antix” led from the Byrne and Wilson outfit on “ZING” and Aoife English on “Atara”. However today, the next generation of O’Learys shot to the fore on “Dutch Gold” (newly arrived from Holland!) with Peter on the helm and Robert midship providing the fleet with a masterclass in 1720 sailing in light airs. Three bullets and a second place finish rightly crowning them as the 1720 National Champions for 2016 and bringing the title to Baltimore Sailing Club, capping off a memorable week for that part of the world!

Though never quite at the front of the fleet today, Padraig Byrne and Don Wilson on “ZING” had done enough on Friday to ensure that their lesser results today still merited a second place overall. The lighter airs today seemed to suit a number of boats that hadn’t been quite in the running in strong stuff on Friday; Fionn Lyden on Baltimore Sailing Club boat “Live Wire” had a strong showing today, and might have been pushed a bit by fellow Baltimore boat “Smile n’ Wave”, though their challenge ran out of steam later in the day. Also prominent today were Paul Gibbons’ “Wahoo” and Dun Laoghaire visitor Kenneth Rumball on “Team INSS”. However, despite an off day today - Anthony O”Leary’s “Antix” came home in third overall with five points to spare over “Wahoo”.

However, the undoubted winner of the Blacks of Kinsale 1720 National Championships was Peter O’Leary.

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

The Irish Optimist Dinghy Association of Ireland (IODAI) will hold its spring training week at Baltimore sailing Club in West Cork over the February 2016 Mid-term break. This is Ireland’s largest sailing camp and generally caters for up to 160 sailors from 8 – 15 yrs old.
The village of Baltimore will be effectively taken over by approximately 160 keen sailors and their families for the week. A team of International coaches from Greece, & Poland are joined by top Irish coaches to provide training for sailors of all competencies, from those who have only recently started to sail to those who are competing internationally.
The Baltimore event is considered to be one of the top International clinics in Europe. It is very much a family-oriented event, with a programme of activities for children too young to sail, and events also organised for adults, such as the ‘How to Rig an Oppi’ class for novice parents! Schull & Fitbones
provides activities for those 5 years and upwards who are not yet sailing, they do Baltimore Treasure Hunt and Playground games, Sherkin Island trip and an Adventure Challenge in Lough Hyne Woods .
The event is organised by IODAI which is comprised of volunteers, which are the parents of sailors. It takes 25 – 30 volunteers per day to run the event efficiently and the overall event is managed by Mandy Kelly and assisted by Sara Lacy both parents of sailors. 
Evening activities are also on offer, including the ever-popular ‘a cinema night, disco night and of course the cake competition on the last day of sailing. In addition the week finishes off with a one day regatta which helps sailors consolidate all they have learnt during the week & to put it into practice.
An IODAI forum takes place during the Baltimore week where all parents are invited to express their views or seek information on the running of the Optimist class.

Baltimore Sailing Club in West Cork will stage its annual Laser Icicle Regatta on Saturday and Sunday 5th & 6th December.

The series will be over six races, with three races on Saturday and three on Sunday. Lasers using the Standard, Radial or 4.7 Rig are entitled to compete.

For more information please see the available attachment documents below (Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions) for download:

#1720 – There was a clear cut victory  in the 2015 1720 sportsboat National Championships for Tom Durcan's T–Bone steered by Alex Barry of Monkstown Bay SC yesterday. The 14-boat fleet sailed out in dense fog and had to wait for two hours for sufficient breeze to get the final two races of the event away.

In the end, T-Bone, with double Olympian Peter O'Leary on board, continued its overall lead and did not have to sail the last race of the day to secure the title. It is the second top performance by Alex Barry this season, the Cork dinghy helm took Bronze at the RS400 Eurocup in France this month too. 

A tie on overall points was decided in Antix and Anthony O'Leary's favour for second with Ben Cooke's Smile and Wave third. Fourth was Dun Laoghaire's Team INSS sailed by Kenneth and Alex Rumball who were flying the flag for Leinster at what was a Munster dominated event.

Official results sheet below.

#1720 – A 1,1,4 scored in yesterday's first three races of the 1720 Nationals at Baltimore Sailing Club puts Royal Cork's Tom Durcan sailing T–Bone at the top of the 14–boat fleet.

In a dramatic start to the 2015 title decider, one boat lost its rig in the final race yesterday afternoon.

Second is Ben Cooke's Smile 'n' Wave on seven with Kenny Rumball's Team INSS from Dun Laoghaire third on nine points. Provisional results are downloadable below. 

#1720 – No sooner had Baltimore Sailing Club announced its 1720 National Championships last week than Royal Cork Yacht Club unveils its Union Chandlery sponsored 1720 European Championships to be held in the first week of September.

The nine race regatta will run from September 3rd to 5th and the proposed schedule of races is: Thursday 3rd of September up to four races; four more on Friday, concluding with one final race on Saturday.

More details in the NOR downloadable below.