Royal Cork Skiff Youths Take 1,2,3 at Irish 29er Nationals in Cork Harbour

5th July 2021

Lola and Atlee Kohl won four races to claim the Irish 29er title at Crosshaven

Lola (right) and Atlee Kohl won four races to claim the Irish 29er title at Crosshaven Scroll down for Bob Bateman's photo gallery Credit: Bob Bateman

Royal Cork female helmswomen finished first and second overall at the 29er Irish National Championships at Royal Cork Yacht Club in Crosshaven this afternoon.

After a ten race series on the Curlane Bank in Cork Harbour, in which brother and sister Lola and Atlee Kohl won four races, the duo was crowned Irish champions on 20 points with a three-point margin clubmates Alana Twomey and Chris Bateman. Still, the winners were only decided in the last race this afternoon.

Overall winners - the Kohls Second overall - Alana Twomey and Chris BatemanJames Dwyer and Oisín MacSweeney

Most of the racing was held in 12-15 knots, testing sailing conditions.

Rounding out the podium, a third RCYC combination James Dwyer and Oisín MacSweeney, took third overall.

Royal St. George siblings Emily and Jessica Riordan of Dun Laoghaire Harbour were the top female combination in fourth overall in the 15-boat fleet.

Royal St. George's 29er siblings Emily and Jessica Riordan

The youth skiff racing is seen as a step up boat to the Olympic 49ers skiffs.

Cork native and World Sailing Vice President Marcus Spillane, a former President of the International skiff class, spoke to the sailors at the prizegiving.

The 29er event is one of the Cork 300 events postponed last year and sponsored by AIB and Mervue Laboratories.

There was a training camp in the club in the week leading up, which many of the competitors attended.

29er Irish National Championships at Royal Cork Yacht Club Photo Gallery

Published in 29er, Royal Cork YC, Youth Sailing

Published in 29er

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About the 29er Skiff Dinghy

The 29er is a one-design double-handed, single trapeze skiff for youth sailors.

There is an active class in Ireland, just one of the 38-countries from across all continents now racing the high-performance skiff.

The 29er is one of the latest dinghy classes to arrive in Ireland and has a 50/50 split between boys and girls.

The class like to describe the boat as "The most popular skiff for sailors who want to go fast!".

Derived from the Olympic class 49er class and designed by Julian Bethwaite the 29er was first produced in 1998.

Two sailors sail the 29er, one on trapeze.

The 6.25-metre high rig features a fractional asymmetrical spinnaker; a self-tacking jib decreases the workload of the crew, making manoeuvres more efficient and freeing the crew to take the mainsheet upwind and on two-sail reaches.

The 15.00 m2 spinnaker rigging set-up challenges crews to be fit and coordinated, and manoeuvres in the boat require athleticism due to its lack of inherent stability and the high speed with which the fully battened mainsail and jib power up.

The 74kg weight hull is constructed of fibreglass-reinforced polyester in a foam sandwich layout.

The fully battened mainsail and jib are made from a transparent Mylar laminate with orange or red Dacron trimming, while the spinnaker is manufactured from ripstop Nylon.

The mast is in three parts - an aluminium bottom and middle section, with a polyester-fibreglass composite tip to increase mast bend and decrease both overall weights, and the capsizing moment a heavy mast tip can generate. Foils are aluminium or fibreglass.

About the ILCA/Laser Dinghy

The ILCA, formerly known as the Laser, is the most produced boat in the world, with 220,000 units built since 1971.

It's easy to see why the single-handed dinghy has won the title of the most widely distributed boat of all time.

The Laser is a one-design dinghy, the hulls being identical but three rigs that can be used according to the size and weight of the sailor.

The class is international, with sailors from 120 countries. The boat has also been an Olympic class since 1996, being both the men's and women's singlehanded dinghy.

Three rigs are recognised by the International Laser Class Association (ILCA):

ILCA 4: sail of 4.70m2

ILCA 6: sail of 5.76 m2

ILCA 7: sail of 7.06 m2

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