Royal St. George's Sean Craig finished tenth at the Laser Masters World Championships in Split, Croatia. The Dublin Radial competitor is counting the cost of a U flag after he finished fifth in race four in his 37–boat division which meant he had to count a 17h place in his score tally. Craig ended the regatta with a solid third place today.

The regatta lost three fully days due to light winds, only getting seven races in six days. The hope is that winds will blow a little stronger when the Laser World Master Championships come to Dublin Bay next September. 

The Irish team competed in two divisions. Results are downloadable below.

Royal Cork's Nick Walsh was 24th overall from 69 in the Mens Standard division, Theo Lyttle was 35th and Ed Rice was 53rd. Paul Keane was 58th and Kevin Currier was 59th.

Royal St. George's Sean Craig leads Irish hopes at the Laser Masters World Championships. The Dublin Radial competitor lies sixth in his 37–boat division after three races sailed in Split, Croatia.

The Irish team are competing in three divisions. Results are downloadable below.

Royal Cork's Nick Walsh is 26th from 69 in the Mens Standard division, Theo Lyttle is 34th and Paul Keane 58th. Ed Rice is 57 and Kevin Currier is 61st. 

The 350-strong fleet, divided evenly between Laser Standard and Laser Radial, went afloat mid-morning on the tail end of a northerly Bora wind. The sailors patiently waited for the forecasted 6 to 7 knot south westerly wind to arrive at 14:00. Both fleets sailed on different courses and were further divided into groups of 10 years, starting from 35 years +10 through to 75 years +. These sailors are affectionately known as the “Legends,” sailing only in the Laser Radial Great Grand Masters (65+) fleet.

Both courses set off racing at about the same time as the wind built to 10 knots by 15:00. The breeze peaked at 16:00 with 12 knots, before it started to die away by 17:00, causing several of the races to be shortened.

The Laser Radial Great Grand Masters fleet exemplified sailing as a “Sport for Life” today. Among the 62 sailors in this fleet are 17 “Legends,” including Deidre Webster from Canada. In the front end of the fleet, Legend Kerry Waraker from Australia is sitting in second, behind fellow countryman Rob Lowndes. Cork's Denis O'Sullivan (80) is 56th.

In the Laser Standard Master fleet, Australian Brett Bayer is still at the top of his game in the 69-competitor group, with a 1-point lead over

Peter Hurley and Ernesto Rodrigues both from USA. The Grand Master Canadians Allan Clarke and Andy Roy sandwich second place held by Tomas Nordqvist from Sweden.

Racing is scheduled for the reserve day tomorrow, due to the four lost races from the first two days of the Championships. A late afternoon breeze is forecasted.

The 2017 Laser Masters World Championships are being held from September 24 to 30.

Irish Laser sailor Conor Quinn, from Rostrevor and a member of Carlingford Lough Yacht Club (CLYC) and Rush Sailing Club (RSC) is on his way to China this December as the as the sole Irish Laser Radial representative at the Under–19 Youth Sailing World Championships in China in December.

Part of the RYANI Performance Academy, Quinn also trains with the Irish Sailing (ISA) Youth Academy.

Further to Quinn’s impressive sailing efforts this summer, he also secured a place at Newcastle University to study Accounting & Finance, a course in which he embarks on in the coming weeks.

Receiving the prestigious nomination for China tops a successful summer for the young sailor, having also represented Ireland at the European Championships in Gdynia, Poland and the World Championships in Medemblik, Holland, at which he finished 31st and 32nd place respectively in a highly competitive field from over 50 countries.

“I hope to continue my good run of form into China and am hungry for further success on the international stage, Quinn told Afloat.ie

As the Irish Laser Championships started so did it end with consistent sailing rewarding day one leaders with overall victory at Royal Cork Yacht Club this afternoon.

Scroll down for Bob Bateman's prizegiving gallery.

A mix of mist and downpours brought the championships to a close at Crosshaven, where the prizegiving marked the special contribution of Belfast's Ron Hutchieson who retired as Class Secretary after forty years service to the class. 

Two final races were sailed outside Cork harbour today. However, the Radial fleet's second race was abandoned as the wind died. It was expected to fill in again but did so from a different direction thereby bringing backmarkers up to the leaders and so it was abandoned.

The National Yacht Club's Finn Lynch put Tokyo 2020 rival Liam Glynn, the former Topper World Champion, to the sword in the standard division with a string of wins. Third was Ronan Walsh of the host club. See the standard rig results here. 

Royal Cork's Luke McGrath stayed top of the Radials and he had 22–point margin over Sean Craig, a recent Radial rig convert, who took second place. The Royal St. George multi–champion was seven points clear of Dingle Sailing Club's Cunnane. Read the Radial results here.

In the 4.7 fleet, Jack Fahy also maintained his overall lead with a five point cushion and in a show of strength for the Royal St. George Yacht Club, another George helmsman, Tom Higgins, was second overall. Third was Michael Carroll from Kinsale YC. 4.7 results are here.

(Above and below) Bowing out – Ron Hutchieson (right) bids farewell to the Irish Laser class after forty years serviceA Laser Championships raffle prize was presented by Conor Mowlds of the National Maritime College to winner Cathal O'Regan

Second youth in the Standard Rig Johnny Durcan (above) shares a lighter moment (below) after his serious capsize incident in California this monthMolly Murphy, third Lady Radial Ella Hemeryck, second lady in the RadialsFrances Fox, first lady and fifth overall in the Radial fleetRoyal Cork's Chris Bateman - sixth in the RadialDingle's Paddy Cunnane third in Radial and second youthRoyal St. George's Sean Craig was second in the RadialRoyal Cork's Luke McGrath was Radial winner and first Youth too
Eddie Rice was the Standard Fleet Master winnerRoyal Cork's Nick Walsh was second in the Master divisionRonan Walsh was the standard youth winner and third overall Ballyholme's Liam Glynn Standard was runner up in the Standard RigRoyal St. George's Tom Higgins was second in the 4.7 FleetKinsale's Michael Carroll was third in the 4.7 fleetThe National Yacht Club's Clare Gorman was the 4.7 Lady winner and fourth overall

Keep up to date with Irish Laser Racing News in one handy link here

There was no change at the top of the leaderboard at Royal Cork Yacht Club's Laser National Championships after two more races were sailed in Cork Harbour today, bringing the total to five races of the Championships sailed so far.

Olympian Finn Lynch maintains a perfect scoreline of five wins in the standard rig. See the standard rig results here. 

The host club's Luke McGrath stays top in the Radial rig. Read the Radial results here.

In the biggest fleet of the Championships, Jack Fahy of the Royal St.George YC also stays in front of his 42–boat 4.7 fleet. 4.7 results are here.

By the end of the second race today, winds hit 28–knots on the race course, bringing to an end a hectic second day of the championships for Race Officer Peter Crowley.

Racing continues tomorrow. Scroll down for photo gallery by Bob Bateman.

Ideal championship sailing conditions in Cork Harbour led to clear leaders emerging after day one and three races of the Laser National Championships at Royal Cork Yacht Club. 

As expected, Rio rep Finn Lynch, Team Ireland's only sailor at the World Cup Finals in Santander, Spain in June has stormed into the lead in a less than stellar turnout of 14 standard rig Lasers. The National Yacht Club ace has three straight wins, and that's something in common with the leaders in both the Radial and 4.7 divisions too.

Admittedly, there are a number of international Laser events running concurrently and this has robbed the Crosshaven event of some Irish Laser stars including Crosshaven's own Johnny Durcan who is attending the youth European championships. Also absent are U21 stars Aoife Hopkins, who was recently crowned U21 European Radial Champion in Douarnenez, France, and Lough Derg's Aisling Keller, who are both competing at the Laser World Championships in Holland. 

Tokyo trialist Liam Glynn from Ballyholme Yacht Club, who was so close to making Gold fleet at June's Kiel Week, is second to Lynch with three seconds and Royal Cork's Nick Walsh is third.  See the standard rig results here.

In much better turnouts in the 32–boat Radial, Walsh's club–mate Luke McGrath is tops with three firsts. Chris Bateman is second with Royal St. George's Patrick Cahill third. Read the Radial results here.

In the biggest fleet of the Championships, Jack Fahy of the Royal St.George YC also counts three wins to lead a 42–boat 4.7 fleet. Second is the National Yacht Club's Clare Gorman, and third is Kinsale YC's Michael Carroll. 4.7 results are here.

Also not competing in Cork Harbour is Olympic Laser Silver Medallist Annalise Murphy. Ireland's sailing star has a 'serious' knee injury that forced her withdrawal from Medemblik, but not it appears – as reported – from a passage from Portsmouth to Ireland on Nin O'Leary's Vendee Globe entry Hugo Boss next week. 

Meanwwhile, tonight's Irish Laser Class Association agm will be held at Royal Cork.

Current Youth Sailing Champion Ewan McMahon may be in the superstar role in Irish junior sailing, but the Sutton, County Dublin family who sail out of Howth Yacht Club have a new wave of talent coming along. This was shown in strength at the UK Laser Open & Nationals 2017 which concluded this weekend across channel in Wales at Abersoch.

While there no doubting the weekend competition this side of the Irish Sea for Laser Leinster honours in Rush, there was also a strong Irish showing on the Llyn Peninsula.

Young Jamie MacMahon counted scoreline of first Radial Junior, first Junior boy, first Irish Radial boy, and seventh overall out of 74.

Meanwhile his sister Eve, was carving out her own line of success, which amounted to first Lady, first Junior girl, first Irish 4.7, and fourth overall in a feet of 49.

Full results. including all other Irish results here.

East coast sailors emerged top of the three Laser divisions after a very tricky day at sea at the Rush Sailing Club hosted Leinster Championships writes our special correspondent.

Three races sailed bringing in a discard. Overall results, subject to protest, are downloadable below. 

2020 Olympic campaigner Liam Glynn from Ballyholme Yacht Club, a former Topper World Champion, was the winner by four points of the 19–boat standard rig division when he overtook the host club's overinght leader Alan Ruigrok. 

In the Radial division, Wexford Boat Club's Ronan Wallace was the winner. The 4.7 division was won by Tom Higgins of the Royal St. George Yacht Club.

Today's breeze was shifty with very strong rain squalls. There was a good 15–18 knots of mean wind with gusts past 23-25 knots. There was a 'nasty' sea state and a swell, not the same direction as the breeze. A wind blown chop on top of the swell made it 'like a washing machine', according to one competitor.

Rush race management was generally good but a little bit slow between races, according to some sailors. Organisation ashore was excellent, however.

The Irish Laser 4.7 ISA squad have arrived home from the World Championships in Belgium.

It proved to be a great learning experience for the Irish team many of whom were competing in their first international Laser event.

The wind conditions ranged from light to windy and the sailors had to contend with large sea's and strong tidal flows. Both girls qualified for the Gold fleet and produced strong overall results with Clare Gorman 16th overall and Eve McMahon 19th (8th under 16) in the fleet of 115 Girls.

Two of the boys, Tom Higgins and Michael O'Suilleabhain qualified for the gold fleet and both recorded top three individual race finishes, the highlight of which was Tom's win in race six.

With a first overall for Aoife Hopkins of Howth, a second overall for Aisling Keller of Lough Derg, and a seventh overall for Sally Bell from Belfast Lough, Ireland has made pretty much of a clean sweep of the Laser Radial Under-21 Women’s Euros in Douarnenez writes W M Nixon.

Hopkins won it, with a trio of wins in yesterday’s packed schedule, and she comes home with just 10 points against her, having discarded a 3rd and a 4th to give her a scoreline of seven wins and a third.

Keller had a second and two thirds today, while Bell had a BFD, a sixth and eighth. With all of yesterday’s racing lost in a damp calm, it was a tense final day. But in a series which has seen everything from no wind at all up to the very edge of sailability with people racing among Atlantic breakers, it has ended on a real high for the Irish squad.