#optimist – Kinsale Yacht Club is busily preparing for the first of two major sailing events to be held at the club over the next number of months. The Volvo/Davy Irish Optimist Championships begin next week, while the Brewin Dolphin Dragon Gold Cup follows in September.

Next weeks Optimist Nationals will attract almost 200 sailors aged between 8 and 15, and entries include large teams from the UK and India, and individual entries from France, Hong Kong and the US.. We can expect top class sailing over five days under the guidance of leading Race Officer Alan Crosbie.

The twelve race series begins on Tuesday 31st and runs through to Saturday August 4th. The highly competive fleet will compete for the title of National and Open Champion and the foreign entrants can be expected to be amongst the leading contenders, with Max Clapp from the UK returning to try to add the Senior title to the Junior Open title he won last year. Irish eyes will be on our International squad who will be returning from the European and World Championships. Among these Douglas Elmes and Harry Whitaker from RCYC can be considered serious contenders, while local sailors Scott Levie and Cliodhna Ni Shuilleabhain (returning from a fine 8th place at the French Nationals) won't be far from the leaders.

Whatever happens on the water, these young sailors are sure to bring a lot of excitement and energy to the town over the course of the weeks sailing. The program of events for the week kicks off with an opening ceremony at Charles Fort on Monday 30th July at 7pm.

#optimist – The International Optimist Dinghy Association yesterday awarded its 2014 European Championship to Dun Laoghaire. The championship was this year attended by 264 sailors from 45 countries.

The choice was made at the Optimist Worlds in the Dominican Republic in competition with the Polish venue of Kamien Pomorski and followed enthusiastic reports of the ISAF Youth World Championship which concluded last week.

The European Championship is one of the largest Optimist events on the annual calendar and the award was made to the Royal St George Yacht Club.

The IODA vote took place at the Optimist World Championships in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic, where five of Ireland's top Optimist sailors are currently competing.

This year's European Championships were held in July in Lignano Sabbiadoro near Venice in Italy, and 265 sailors qualified from 46 nations to take part.

#optimist –After four races sailed and no discard applied Sophie Browne of Tralee lies top Irish boat in 63rd at the 230 boat Optimist World Championships this week in the Dominican Republic.

Hope of Irish success at the Championships is carried by Sophie, Harry Durcan, Douglas Elmes, Megan Parker and Harry Whitaker who are competing at the Optimist World Championships.  Qualifying racing began last Wednesday. Vid report above. The event site (not a great one) is here. Preliminary results up to July 20th are downloadable below.

A beautiful day was expecting the 42 teams qualified for the Team Racing today in Boca Chica. The 2 race courses were very close to the Yacht Club and spectators had the opportunity to see the action on first hand.

In Team Racing each team competes with 4 athletes and they have to get the winning finish combination in order to win. More than 30 matches were sailed today and the task for the Jury was very hard.

Finally Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Italy, Finland, USA, New Zealand, Nederland, Turkey, Argentina, Spain, Croatia and Germany are the 16 teams qualified to the final series, tomorrow.

Local team had a difficult day and after two losses fro Italy and Poland were quickly off the completion. Singapore seemed to be the team in favor of winning since the won easily their qualification matches against Mexico and Greece.

The weather is expected to be breezier tomorrow with sunny skies, a perfect combination for the Team Racing Finals.

#opti – The Optimist Leinster championships ran in Skerries last weekend. Day 1 saw sailors launch in rain with high winds meaning that the Regatta Fleet were shorebound on the Saturday, although 3 races were sailed in the Main Fleet. On the Sunday the forecast proved correct with light winds in the morning completely dying away, so that in the end only one race was sailed in the Junior and Senior fleets.

Winds changed so fast that only three Senior sailors managed to cross the finish line in the Sunday race before the wind died completely.

Congratulations to Sophie Browne (TBSC/RCYC) who came first in the Senior Gold fleet, Lucy Donworth (RCYC) who won the Senior Silver fleet, and to Loghlen Rickard (NYC), winner of the Junior Gold fleet, and Peter Fagan(NYC), winner of the Junior Silver fleet."

#OPTIMIST – Optimist sailors competed in the 2012 Ulster Championships at the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club this weekend.

Saturday was windy and the Senior fleet raced two races, with the Junior fleet only completing one race; Sunday the wind was lighter, and the Senior fleet completed the series of 6 races, with the Junior event totalling 5 races.

The Senior fleet was won by Harry Durcan (RCYC) who is representing Ireland in the World Championships in the Caribbean later this summer. Second and third places also went to other Worlds sailors, Douglas Elmes(RCYC/WHSC) and Harry Whitaker(RCYC). The Senior silver fleet was won by Dara Donnelly of NYC.

In the Junior fleet, first prize overall and first place in the Silver fleet went to Peter Fagan of NYC. Second place, and first place in the Gold fleet went to another NYC sailor, Loghlen Rickard, with third place won by Mícheal O'Suilleabhain of KYC.

#KINSALE – Kinsale Yacht Club announced details of two major events for KYC this year at its clubhouse this week. The Davy Optimist National Championships (31st July – 4th August) and The Brewin Dolphin Dragon Gold Cup (8th-14th September) are due to attract huge number of sailors to Kinsale and, in turn, are expected to benefit the local economy.

Guests at the reception included Cllr Fred Treacy, Mayor of Kinsale, members of Kinsale Chamber of Tourism, the Kinsale Good Food Circle, local dignatories and members of Kinsale Yacht Club who will be involved in both events.

The Davy Optimist Nationals expect over 200 entries to Kinsale from all over Ireland. As participants are aged under 14, they will bring a family entourage and atmosphere to Kinsale as well as requiring accommodation and availing of all the amenities Kinsale has to offer as a premier tourist destination.

The Brewin Dolphin Dragon Gold Cup is considered the World Cup of Dragon Sailing and several world champions and ex-olympians have already entered from 15 countries as over 200 dragon sailors are expected to sail off Kinsale over six days in September. These include current world champion, Lawrie Smith, Marcus Wieser, Tommy Muller and Vincent Hoesch – all well known international sailors with many world-class titles between them.

"We are delighted to host these prestigious events at Kinsale Yacht Club this season and look forward to welcoming the best Optimist sailors in Ireland to Kinsale in July, as well as the International Dragon Fleet in September," said Cameron Good, Commodore, Kinsale Yacht Club. "We are grateful for the title sponsorship of Davy Stockborkers for the Optimist Nationals and that of private investment managers, Brewin Dolphin, official product partner Dubarry and the support of the Irish Sailing Association, Failte Ireland for the Dragon Gold Cup," he added.

A presentation was also made by Bobby Nash of Kinsale Yacht Club, outlining the benefit of Kinsale Marina to the local economy and how it may be developed in these challenging times.

#OPTIMIST – The 2012 Optimist trials came to a nail-biting conclusion in Dunmore East, County Waterford yesterday with all to play for in the last race. The Worlds, Europeans and International development squad have been named below.

While all team places were closely contested, the overall winner, Douglas Elmes, had been the clear leader from the first race, three weeks ago at the National Yacht Club.

The final result of those who have accepted team places is:

Worlds team – Douglas Elmes (RCYC/WHSC), Sophie Browne (TBSC/RCYC), Harry Whitaker (RCYC), Harry Durcan (RCYC), Megan Parker (SSC)

European team– Jil McGinley (RCYC), Scott Levie (LDYC/KYC), Daniel Raymond (NYC), Ewan McMahon (HYC), Ronan Cournane (RCYC/KYC), Cliodhna Ní Shuilleabhain (KYC), Alacoque Daly (TBSC)

International Development Squad – Richard Hogan (HYC), Adam D'Arcy (RCYC), Ciaran Finnegan (WHSC), Johnny Durcan (RCYC), Ros Morgan (SSC), Alix Buckley (SSC), Heather Spain (NYC)

Congratulations to all the young sailors and in particularly to 2012 Europeans team member and Afloat contributor Scott Levie, who wrote last week on afloat.ie about his experiences at an international regatta

#OPTIMIST – 56 Optimist sailors, with boats and parents, are arriving tonight in Dunmore East, County Waterford to compete in the second leg of the 2012 Optimist trials at Waterford Harbour Sailing Club.

Royal Cork Yacht Club Optimist sailors go into the second leg  in a very strong position tomorrow. Four of the top five sailors are Royal Cork sailors after the first leg thus putting the Munster helms in a strong position to represent Irelanfd.

The sailors are competing to represent Ireland in this year's teams. The top five sailors will have the opportunity to compete in the Worlds competition which take place in the Dominican Republic in July. Team places are also available for the Europeans team, who will compete in Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy, and the International Development team who will compete in the French Nationals in Loctudy.

The first leg of trials took place three weeks ago in Dun Laoghaire, and currently Douglas Elmes (RCYC/WHSC) is leading the fleet, followed by Sophie Browne (TBSC/RCYC), Harry Durcan (RCYC), Sean Donnelly (NYC) and Jil McGinley (RCYC).

The forecast for the weekend in Dunmore East is for Spring tides with medium winds and mixed weather conditions.

#OPPY – So what happens when our Junior Sailors compete internationally? Scott Levie, a 14-year old Optimist sailor (pictured above) recounts the experience of the Irish sailors who competed in the Magic Marine Easter Regatta in Braassemermeer, Holland last month.

"Braassemermeer 2012 was a great success. This was my second time going to this event, second time round it exceeded my expectations yet again. The Magic Marine Easter Regatta has been held in Lake Braassemermeer every year for the last 27 years. Every year the sailing is only a fraction of the trip and the experience is priceless. It tests your commitment to sailing.

Have you ever had to wake up at 3.30 am just to go sailing? Our flight was at 6am Tuesday, some from Cork, some from Dublin. The boats were kindly brought over by ferry by the Fagans and the O'Sullivans. We all met up at the club. Everyone was still half asleep unloading the boats. There were flags flying high outside the clubhouse of all the teams that had entered along with the Irish tricolour.

One of the great memories of the trip is the cruiser that we hired for the 7 days that we were in Holland. The main reason we hired the cruiser was for transportation along the canal and from the club to our hotel. The cruiser also acted as our changing room, every morning on our way to the club we would use this time to get changed and briefed by our coaches Thomas and Katie. The cruiser was also a big bonus for the parents and they were able to view the racing from the comfort of the warm cruiser.

The journey along the canals to our hotel was around 20 minutes long. The hotel was beside a big bird park. Every morning there was a buffet breakfast in the restaurant of the hotel. Before and after dinner, and the odd time in the morning, we spent our time in the playground. The playground was like no ordinary Irish playground, NO, this playground featured a big part of the trip. Until 6 o'clock in the evening the Bumper Karts were open. Ronan and I had great fun the girls and some of the lads into the corner of the Bumper Karts. In the playground there was a big zipline that went over a pond! Dougie decided to practice his 'Kilkenny Dance' over the pond and he fell in, but he wasn't the only casualty of the pond, Cliodhna was not so lucky either.

Dinner in the hotel was pretty good, except for the last day when it was amazing.On the last day we were allowed to eat in the Buffet in the restaurant of the Bird Park. It was one of the nicest dinners I had probably ever had in my life.

The sailing had huge ups and down, but 'ah well life goes on, cheese on toast'. It was very tough competition. On the last day we got spilit into Gold, Silver and Bronze.

We had 8 sailors in Gold, 3 in Silver, and 5 in Bronze. Mícheal at 9 years of age made the Silver, I think that is a huge achievement. He could still be in Oppies by the time I'm 21!

I'd like to say a big thank you to the coaches Thomas Chaix and Katie Tingle. They were a fantastic help to us all. I'd also like to thank all the parents, especially Alacoque for organising everything, Last but not least could I thank the Elmes for putting up with me for the great week in Braassemermeer."

Scott Levie is 14 years old and sails in Lough Derg Yacht Club and Kinsale Yacht Club. Also sailing in Braassemermeer were: Ronan Cournane, Cliodhna ni Suilleabhain, and Mícheal o'Suilleabhain, KYC, Daniel Raymond and Peter Fagan, NYC, Colin O'Sullivan MYC, Douglas Elmes, Harry Durcan, Johnny Durcan, Anna Kelly, Adam Darcy and Harry Whitaker, RCYC, Ciaran Finnegan, WHSC, Alacoque Daly and Eoghan o'Buachalla, TBSC.

#SAILING NEWS – Stormy weather continues to frustrate early season sailing schedules. Wind and waves that produced spectacular trawler photos off Howth last week abated sufficiently to get Saturday morning's first ISORA race away and on Dublin Bay the second race of the Saturday afternoon series took place in excellent surfing conditions.

The strong winds have returned this morning though leaving anyone planning a trip across the Irish sea, be they coastal rowers, tall ships or dinghy experts, with a reminder about how rough things can get. From San Francisco, a survivor of the yachting tragedy there has spoken out about the need for tethering.

Yesterday afternoon the first race of the revised SB3 season on Dublin Bay was scrubbed and in other small craft news the Fireball class held its annual training clinic. Royal Cork Optimists are heading for Waterford in a strong position. A Portrush man is heading to Spain to defend his kayaking title and in rowing news Monika Dukarska came out on top after a battle with Afloat's Rower of the Year Holly Nixon.

And is adventure sailing a new tack for declining dinghy numbers?

All this and lots more on Afloat's home page this morning!