Marine Academy students from Plymouth in the UK are riding high on the crest of a wave - taking part in the 2011 Tall Ships Race.
Eighteen of the St Budeaux School's 14-19 year olds are involved in the international event which started in Waterford, Ireland and includes ports of call at Greenock, Scotland, Lerwick in the Shetland Isles and Stavanger in Norway before finally dropping anchor at Halmstad in Sweden at the beginning of August.
The 18 students successfully completed a rigorous selection procedure, which included an interview with Cremyll Sailing crew and a member of the marine science department at Plymouth University.
They were also given an insight into the realities of sailing by local round-the-world yachtsman Conrad Humphreys  and had to demonstrate their enthusiasm and commitment on a three-day sail-training course during their last school holiday before finally becoming crew for a section of the race on the tall ship Moosk.
The first six sailed from Plymouth to Waterford where six more Marine Academy students will take over and race in the first leg from Waterford to Greenock. Once in Greenock, the crew will change again and the final six students will sail to Lerwick.
They join hundreds of other young people crewing ships from Russia, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Lithuania, Poland, Norway, Denmark, Colombia, Spain and France.
The event tests the students' endurance and  new found sailing skills. But it's not all hard work, they also have the chance to join in crew parties and parades through each of the host towns.
Judging by the young sailors messages on Facebook  they're having a swell time. One Marine Academy student, Jack Howells, aged 14, from Beacon Park posted:  "I just want to thank Cremyll Sailing for the opportunity of a life time, Waterford was amazing."
And student Lewis Harrison, aged 15,  from Keyham (actually on board Moosk) said: "It's absolutely amazing! Breathtaking! We are sitting on the boat and there are thousands of people here - fireworks, horns tooting and bands playing. We are all much better mates than when we started out and even though most of us were sick through the Celtic Sea, the best bit has definitely been the sailing. There are ships from Spain and Norway next to us."
Peter Morris, manager, Cremyll Sailing said: "The Tall Ships is a great adventure. The atmosphere is electric and completely orientated to young people."
Helen Mathieson, academy principal, is delighted. She said: "The Tall Ships event is about 360 degree education - personal, social and leadership. It is empowering in its ethos and experience. The participation of our students demonstrates our commitment to the marine specialism - which is about understanding the vast range of careers, which make up this large and diverse sector, locally, nationally and internationally. "
Conrad Humphreys added: "I'm really pleased that together with the Marine Academy Plymouth we managed to secure these bursary places for these young people to have the chance to take part in the Tall Ships Race. This opportunity will provide them with a very rich experience on the sea, where they will develop team skills, confidence and trusting friendships. Our hope is that they become ocean ambassadors for the city of Plymouth and inspire others to take on the challenge."
Progress of Moosk and further information about the Tall Ships event can be found HERE

Day Two of the ICRA National Championships: Today there were faces scorched by the sun and wind, the sun shone and the wind kept blowing, the showers came and went, and the wind kept blowing writes Claire Bateman. DAY TWO ICRA PHOTOS HERE.

Classes Zero, One and Two sailed off the Harp Mark under Race Officer Richard Leonard. Classes Three, Four and Whitesail sailed at the mouth of the harbour where they enjoyed slightly flatter water than the other fleets. Speaking with Denis Kiely the handicapping guru he said conditions could only be described as heavy with North Westerly winds steady at 20 knots and gusting to 30 knots although Cian Gallagher from Ruthless, Conor Ronan's Corby 26 in Division 2, described how they were registering gusts of 37 knots.

Inevitably some damage was to result the two casualties were Denis Hewitt's Raptor who lost her mast on the second run of the second race without any apparent cause and David Scott's EOS that limped home without any visible signs of a boom as it had been damaged at the gooseneck. Fortunately, as Fintan Cairns said of Raptor's mast loss there were no injuries and that was what mattered.

In Class Three Quarter Ton the ding dong battle continues. In the second race today the Kenefick/O'Brien Tiger finished three seconds ahead of Eamonn Rohan's Anchor Challenge with Jamie McDowell's Blackfun following in third and leaving the scoring at the top with overall points of 5 and two 14s. Ian Travers helming Anchor Challenge described how in the first race of the day a squall hit them rounding the weather mark resulting in a Chinese gybe and they knew the game was over for that race. Here may I take the opportunity to be devil's advocate and say it will be interesting to see how much local knowledge is involved in this battle between Tiger and Anchor Challenge when the two meet again during the Sovereign's Cup at Kinsale next week.

In the Non Spinnaker class Billy Duane described the sailing as fantastic but John Downing in Samba's two bullets had turned things around a bit today. Racing is incredibly close in this class with Conor O'Donovan's Xtension leading on 5 points followed by Samba, the wily Clive Doherty's Phaeton, and Tom MacNeice's Minx 111 with Billy Duane's Expression on 9 points. It was fascinating to watch the O'Donovan crew studying the results and working out every possible computation that could result tomorrow.

It was good to meet John Twomey again sailing Shilleagh in Class Three. He was bringing me up to speed on his preparations for the IFDS Worlds in Weymouth next week and this event is also a qualifier for the 2012 paralympics. The heavy conditions were taking their toll as he was sailing short handed on the rail due to the unavoidable absence of one of the crew members. His crew members are Ian Costelloe and Anthony all of KYC. They are using the ICRA Championships and the Sovereign's Cup as work ups for Weymouth and we all wish them the very best of luck.. Last time round in 2008 there were seven spots available for the Paralympic Team and they just missed out by coming eighth so here's hoping they make it this time round.

Racing continues tomorrow when the competition will intensify even more.

The Flying Fifteen Northern Championships took place in the picturesque village of Whitehead at the weekend and were hosted by County Antrim Boat Club in their newly renovated clubhouse.

22 crews descended on the town full of hope in what was the first event of the season, the forecast was for good wind on Saturday with very strong winds from the SE due on Sunday. The welcome and hospitality were great and very appreciated by those who traveled, indeed when boats were arriving in the town they were usually meet by about 3 cars showing them the correct route!

Saturday morning we all arrived at the club to be greeted by a flat sea with no wind, undeterred we headed out and drifted around, eventually the PRO decided to get a race started and off we went with a extremely light northerly wind, drifting into a tide making slow progress. McCleery lead the way by heading inshore and had a good lead followed by Peter Lawson and Joe Coughlan, halfway through the race the little wind there was disappeared and the fleet was turned inside out with those at the back drifting past the leaders, after flapping around for a while a gentle breeze got the fleet to the finish with McKee winning from Lawson and McCleery. David Mulvin was fourth and Jay Burke fifth after getting their own private wind on the left on the downwind leg and getting water on most of the fleet at the last leeward mark!

Race 2: again we waited for wind, at one stage the scene was reminiscent of Hawai Five 0 as crews frantically paddled back to the start line (all of 100meters!) some were so keen that they kept paddling well after the gun- a bit naughty but they know who they are! The pin end was favoured but those who started at the boat end got an extra puff of wind and at the weather mark Pat Thomson lead in his classic from Gerry Reilly. Reilly took the lead downwind, the wind shifted slightly and the second beat was a fetch so it became a soldiers race with very little changing of places- very disappointing that the weather mark was not moved. the race was shortened and won by Reilly.

Race 3: again calm but the light breeze had moved slightly to the right, as the tide pushed the boats over the line there were two general recalls before the black flag was raised. Prior to the start the two happiest men in the fleet, Joe and Pat, had an unfortunate crash and Joe had to head back to the shore. The wind had filled in to a moderate breeze and the PRO shortened the race which was won by Gerry Reilly.

On Saturday night the club put on great entertainment with wonderful food for a very reasonable price, maybe other clubs should take note that it doesn't need to be expensive! After overnight thunder storms the air cleared and there was a nice building breeze from the south of about a force 4 as the fleet set out on sunday. Joe & Liam had a very large patch on their boat and ventured out. The fleet got away at the first time of asking with Willis and Gorman starting well at the pin, after a short time on starboard the fleet tacked onto port and McCleery and Reilly got lifted into the weather mark just ahead of Gorman and McKee. A brilliant two sail reach on great waves ensued, McCleery stayed ahead and Gorman sailed masterfully on the waves under Reilly to move into second place. That's the way it stayed till the last beat when Gorman's rig tension went and put him out of the race. McCleery took the gun, Reilly second, McKee third followed by Jay with Gorman limping over the line in fifth.

Race 5: all to play for, a number of boats could win the title including, McCleery, Reilly and McKee and with the wind increasing and a big sea developing nothing was guaranteed. Jay and Ben led the way from McKee, with Reilly third and McCleery fourth. The reaches were fast and furious with many broaches with a local man Gavin Pollard nearly going down with his boat after a particularly spectacular broach. If things stayed this way 3 boats would have been on 8 points! alas they didn't, McKee moved into the lead and held it to take the title by one point, Jay was second in the race and McCleery just pipped Reilly on the line for third. So overall McKee/Smyth (SLYC) were worthy winners in varied and testing conditions, Reilly/McCarthy (SSC) were second and McCleery/Dougan(KYC) were third.

The silver, bronze and classic fleet were close affairs and all the results can be seen below. For our first regional championships, and most people's first sail of the year, the competition in the fleet was as keen as ever.

Brian McKee thanked the club for an enjoyable event, the sponsors, the PRO and his team, his fellow competitors and even his crew Ian Smyth. A special word of thanks from FFAI President Ben Mulligan was for those who prepared the fantastic food and for the shore team that helped get us on and off the water. Those who didn't travel missed an enjoyable and interesting event. The next event is the Championships of Ireland which will be held in Dun Laoghaire in June.