205 sailors have registered for the Irish National Optimist and Open Championship at Lough Derg Yacht Club, Dromineer, Co.Tipperary from Monday 15th to Friday 19th August 2016. One hundred and fifty five (155) will sail in the Main Fleet and fifty (50) in the Regatta Fleet.
The main fleet comprises sailors with enough experience to compete for the Junior and Senior Optimist Championships. Competitors aged under 12 on 1st January 2016 will compete for the Junior prizes and those aged over 12 but under 15 on 1st January 2016 will compete for Senior Prizes. Both of these categories will be further divided into Gold, Silver and Bronze fleets in accordance with sailors' results in the regional championships held earlier this season. The regatta fleet will combine coaching and racing for sailors from eight years and upwards who are relatively new to racing.
On Sunday 14th August 2016 at 17:00 the event will be opened by Dr. Phyll Bugler, elected representative for Nenagh on Tipperary County Council. A Pipe Band will lead a parade of sailors, their families and supporters, and event volunteers through the village of Dromineer to the Lough Derg Yacht Club (LDYC) club house. After a formal welcome from LDYC Commodore David Meredith and speeches by Cllr. Bugler and President of the Optimist Association of Ireland (IODAI) Aidan Staunton, hospitality will be provided for all.
It is hoped that competitors will sail ten races during the five-day event. Weather conditions will determine this outcome. However, the event organisers have scheduled two races for Monday 15th and Friday 19th August. Three races have been scheduled for Tuesday 16th and Thursday 18th August and Wednesday 17th is designated a lay day. In the event of unsuitable weather on the Monday or Tuesday, the Race Officer may decide to use Wednesday to catch up on missed races.
The main prizegiving will occur at the clubhouse on Friday 19th after the last race. Daily prizegiving will be held at the clubhouse at 09:00 from Tuesday 16th to Friday 19th inclusive.
Lough Derg Yacht Club is proud to host the National Optimist Championships again. Event organiser Niamh McCutcheon has rallied a volunteer crew of over one hundred and twenty persons to run the event both on the water and ashore. LDYC has honed its hospitality over many years of hosting national and regional championships for the Optimist, Mirror, Topper and Laser classes and we love to welcome new and returning sailors as they make progress in the sport, and their families who enjoy watching their young sailors become more skilled and autonomous.
This year we will welcome over forty sailors from England and Wales, sailing under the GBR burgee. Greece and Spain are each sending two sailors, as is Bermuda. One sailor is visiting us from Australia.
At present, there is representation from the following Irish sailing clubs:
Baltimore Sailing Club………..One sailor (1)
Crookhaven Sailing Club……..Two sailors (2)
Dingle Sailing Club……………….One sailor (1)
Foynes Yacht Club………………..Four sailors (4)
Galway Bay Sailing Club……….Two sailors (2)
Howth Yacht Club………………….Seventeen sailors (17)
Kinsale Yacht Club………………..Ten sailors (10)
Lough Derg Yacht Club………….Twelve sailors (12)
Lough Ree Yacht Club…………..Seven sailors (7)
Malahide Sailing Club…………..Two sailors (2)
Monkstown Bay Sailing Club..Four sailors (4)
National Yacht Club……………..Nineteen sailors (19)
Royal Cork Yacht Club………….Twenty-eight sailors (28)
Royal Irish Yacht Club…………..Five sailors (5)
Royal St.George Yacht Club…Thirty sailors (30)
Skerries Sailing Club…………….Four sailors (4)
Sutton Dinghy Club……………..One sailor (1)
Tralee Bay Sailing Club………..One sailor (1)
(The discrepancy in total numbers is due to the fact that some sailors are members of more than one yacht club or sailing club).
