In a big year for the Irish Waszp class in which Royal St. George sailor Charlie Cullen (19) became European Slalom Champion and Junior (U20) European Champion, the class will host its Irish National Championships at the Cullen's home club in Dun Laoghaire Harbour this weekend.
The Waszp is singlehanded, one design foiling boat that's meant to be affordable, durable, easy to learn and excellent to race.
Organisers say the event will see 15-20 Irish boats on the start line and that "a number of sailors from the UK and perhaps even Norway and Switzerland will come to race in the event".
The Race Officer for the event is DBSC one-design race officer Barry O'Neill.
The event will consist of three fleets. There will be fleet racing for the 8.2m and 6.9m on the same start and course.
There will be separate racing at the same time for the beginner Waszp sailors. Sailingfast, the UK supplier of Waszps, will be the sponsor of the event.
Cullen, however, cannot participate due to a clash with the All Ireland sailing championships in Cork, to which he is an invitee.
The Waszp is a foiler designed for children aged 11-14 years old and between 30-45kg. This allows one boat to take a sailor through from 30kg to 90kg with some minor and relatively inexpensive adaptations as they progress through each rig. Across the world, there are over 1200 waszps and nearly 20 waszps in Ireland. The Waszp class has an excellent gender balance, with almost half of all Irish Waszp sailors being female.
