Séafra Guilfolye Coaching Hopeful Future 29er Champs at National Yacht Club This Autumn

7th October 2023

Séafra Guilfoyle lends his coaching skills to the NYC’s 29er juniors this autumn/winter as he preps for a coveted spot at Paris 2024 Credit: Clare Keogh

After Clementine and Nathan van Steenberge’s victory in the 29er Worlds in August, their home base the National Yacht Club has big ambitions as it continues its high-end coaching for 29er racers with Olympic 49er trialist Séafra Guilfolye.

As lead coach in the NYC’s autumn programme, which runs until 3 December, Guilfoyle is being assisted by experienced skiff sailors/instructors in encouraging the growth of technical and racing skills among the club’s 29er sailors.

Regular club training takes place on Sundays, with two special clinics scheduled for the Hallowe’en break (3-5 November) and end-of-season (2-3 December). More details can be found on the NYC website HERE.

29er skiff sailing in Dun Laoghaire Harbour Photo: Afloat

Published in 29er, National 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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