Displaying items by tag: Optimist
Storm Brian Hits Dun Laoghaire: Optimist Dinghies & Sailing Cruiser End Up On Harbour Walls
Storm Brian's strong north–westerly winds, gusting over 40–knots, left both a training group of Optimist sailors and at least one moored cruiser on Dun Laoghaire harbour wall this lunch time.
Eyewitness reports say that four Optimist dinghies were 'abandoned' in the squall at the East Pier. The eyewitnesses say the junior sailors involved are safe and accounted for.
Dangerous situation in @dunlaoghaire harbour averted after sailors rescued from small boats overcome by wind & waves #stormbrian #rtenews pic.twitter.com/sKN0rTT2HL
— Joe Mag Raollaigh (@joemagraollaigh) October 21, 2017
In a separate incident, in what appears to be case of broken ground tackle, a sailing cruiser ended up on the West Pier earlier this morning.
Water Temp:13.8 °C, Avg Wind:29kts, Gust:42kts, Wind Dir:290 °(W), Gust Dir:302 °(NW), Wave Height:0.9m at 21/10/2017 14:29:00
— Dublin Bay Buoy (@DublinBayBuoy) October 21, 2017
The incidents have prompted a statement regarding today's on the water activities from the Irish National Sailing & Powerboat School Chief Instructor & Director, Kenneth Rumball:
'The Irish National Sailing & Powerboat School cancelled most of it on the water activities due to the adverse weather forecast for Saturday the 21st October 2017.
We had a small number of our brightly colored craft on the water for a very short period of time on Saturday morning.
A small number of powerboat clients were operating in a very well sheltered area of the inner harbour for a time also this morning.
Knowing the weather was due to hit later that morning, all clients, staff and personnel were off the water once the worst of the westerly winds started to hit.
None of the craft in the videos and pictures circulating the internet from Dun Laoghaire Harbour are craft belonging to the Irish National Sailing & Powerboat School'.
The centre of #StormBrian is now over Dublin pic.twitter.com/hj3L6SMgwU
— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) October 21, 2017
Update here.
Sailing Coach Spots 'Shark' in Skerries Harbour, County Dublin (VIDEO)
Sailing instructor Kerri-Ann Boylan was out coaching kids in Optimist sailing dinghies at the weekend when she spotted a fin in the water in Skerries Harbour in North County Dublin.
'As I brought the kids into land and about to let them jump out of my boat we spotted a fin', she wrote on social media on October 10th.
'It's a very rare sight of a 'shark' being in that close to land and in the Irish Sea,' she added.
Optimist Leinsters a Great Success for National Yacht Club Despite the Weather
It was a clean sweep for Royal Cork Yacht Club junior sailors at the Optimist Leinster Dinghy Championships at the National Yacht Club last weekend.
Justin Lucas won the Merrion Private sponsored event where 139–sailors registered including 29 from the host club.
Lucas's clubmates Harry Twomey and Harry Pritchard finished second and third respectively.
There were very challenging windy conditions, as Afloat.ie reported here, over the entire weekend and despite this five races took place over both days.
Race Officer for the main fleet was Con Murphy and Paddy Judge officiated for the regatta fleet.
Results are here
Geraghty-McDonnell Leads Optimist Leinsters at National Yacht Club
Recently crowned Irish Optimist champion Rian Geraghty-McDonnell (14) of the National Yacht Club leads a blustery Leinster Championships hosted by his own club on Dublin Bay.
Four points behind, Royal Cork's Harry Twomey is second on seven, with Geraghty–McDonnell's club mate Nathan van Steenberge third on eight points in the 42–boat senior fleet.
Two races have been sailed in the relative shelter of Scotsman's Bay in blustery, north-westerly breezes reaching 20–knots and more at times but a third race was bandoned due to building winds in the late afternoon.
Racing continues tomorrow.
Full results for all three divisions are here
Rian Geraghty-McDonnell has won the Irish Optimist National and Open Senior Championship and Luke Turvey the Junior Optimist National and Open Championship at the IODAI championships hosted by the Royal Irish Yacht Club.
With a full series of 10 races sailed over the four–day event on Dublin Bay, everything came down to the last race to decide who was going to win the titles. Geraghty-McDonnell got a black flag in the second last race but showed real depth of character to come back in the last race and take the title with Justin Lucan of Royal Cork Yacht Club finishing one point behind.
The following results concluded the top ten senior sailors, Leah Rickard 3rd, Rory O’Sullivan 4th, Harry Twomey 5th, Emily Riordan 6th, Harry Prtichard 7th, Hugh Turvey 8th, Moss Simington 9th and Conor Gorman 10th.
Luke Turvey of HYC/NYC won the Irish Optimist National and Open Junior Championship. The Junior series mirrored the seniors and also came down to the wire with the last race deciding the title. Luke Turvey beat HYC club mate Johnny Flynn by one point to take the Junior title.
Oisin Kelly won the title in Regatta fleet, followed by Tristan Farrer from GBR in second place and in third place was Harvey Matthews from KYC.
The IODAI say it was one of the most competitive Irish Nationals ever with an amazing display of sailing talent by Ireland's young and up and coming sailors.
Next year's National Championships are heading for Kinsale in County Cork.
Howth Yacht Club's Hugh Turvey has taken an early lead at the Optimist National Championships on Dublin Bay.
The fourteen–year–old has worked out a decent margin in light winds after only two races sailed at the Royal Irish Yacht Club. Turvey counts a first and a second to be six points clear of two Royal Cork Yacht Club entries tied on nine points where Michael Crosbie leads Harry Pritchard. Another RCYC sailor, Harry Twomey, lies fourth on 11–points. The National Yacht Club's Conor Gorman on 14 points rounds out the top five of the 65–boat main fleet.
74 sailors are competing in the Junior fleet and just under 50 sailors in the regatta fleet. Full results are here.
Racing continues tomorrow.
Irish Optimist Team Depart for Euro Champs in Bulgaria
The Irish Optimist Sailing team are on their way to Burgas, Bulgaria to take part in the European Championships.
Two hundred and fifty sailors will participate in the week-long event with ten races expected from 30th July to 5th August.
The Irish team members pictured above are (from left to right) Ruth McSweeney, team Manager, Cillian Foster (RCYC) Johnny Flynn (HYC and RstGYC) Conor Gorman (NYC), Luke Turvey (HYC and NYC)) Emily Riordan (RstGYC) Kitty Flanagan(RstGYC) and Iseult Hogan(RstGYC).
Irish Optimists Ninth in Team Racing Worlds
After a fine display of Team Racing by the Irish Optimist Team in Thailand, Ireland had a spectacular win over France to finish ninth overall in the Team Racing World Championships 2017.
Things were looking good for Team Ireland when they got into final 16 of the World Championships from 62 countries.
Following three days of fleet racing Ireland was seeded 40th out of 48 teams that qualified for the Team Racing World Championships.
The Irish team comprised Justin Lucas, Harry Twomey, Leah Rickard, Alana Coakley and Charlie Cullen.
After a long day on the water at Royal Varuna Yacht Club, Team Ireland, under Captain Harry Twomey secured a place in the final 16. An amazing achievement, for an Irish Team to qualify for the second round in the Team Racing World Championships.
Thailand has been selected to host the Optimist World Championship 2017, and the event has now confirmed the participation of a total of 62 sailing nations – including Ireland – with 280 sailors, a record-breaking landmark for this world stage event. Each country will send their most skilled Optimist sailors to race as national representatives to compete in the waters off Pattaya Beach. The event will take place from 11-21 July, 2017 at the Royal Varuna Yacht Club (RVYC) in Pattaya.
Ireland will be reprsented by Harry Twomey of RCYC & CHSC, Justin Lucas of RCYC & TBSC, Alana Coakley, RStGYC and Leah Rickard, NYC and Charlie Cullen of the RStGYC & NYC.
Thomas Whitcraft, President of the Optimist World Championship 2017, said, "This is a record-breaker in terms of the number of sailors competing here and the number of countries represented. This year is notable also for the number of Asian countries taking place after several years of absence. They include China, Macau, Taiwan (officially called Chinese Taipei), Myanmar, Indonesia, India and the UAE. Several teams will also travel from the South American continent, including Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Uruguay and Chile”
The Optimist World Championship comprises two ‘championships’, the OPTIMIST INDIVIDUAL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP (IWC) and the OPTIMIST TEAM RACING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP (TRWC).
The Championship will be held at the Royal Varuna Yacht Club, located just outside the city of Pattaya in the residential area of Pratamnak Hill. The racing area is located immediately offshore from the Yacht Club in the Gulf of Thailand, between the mainland and Koh Larn. With large facilities, strong infrastructure and fantastic sailing conditions, the RVYC will welcome all sailors with warm Thai hospitality. Racers, support teams and spectators can expect sunshine, warm water and good sailing breezes during the event.
The Optimist Dinghy has proven to be the ideal boat for introducing young children to the sport of sailing. The objective of the class is to provide an affordable racing boat for young people. Optimist
Dinghy sailors typically start at the age of 7 or 8 and continue to 15 years of age. More than 85% of all sailors who participated in the Rio Olympics sailed in Optimist dinghies when they were young.
The Optimist World Championship 2017 Thailand has been supported by strategic partners including Sport Authority of Thailand (SAT), Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) and Pattaya City, Co-Sponsors include The Pizza Company, Apollo (Thailand), Thai Airways and True Corporation. For more information, please visit www.optimistworlds2017.com
Royal Cork Yacht Club Takes Optimist 'VP Cup' Hat–Trick
Howth Yacht Club hosted the Optimist Team racing Vice President's Cup last weekend. On the water there were lots of smiles, buckets of team spirit and great selfless tactical moves.
The races were so effectively run (well done Richard Kissane & team), there was a review to the schedule to avoid finishing too early adding a Gold and Silver round robin so by the end of the event there were 57 races in total.
On the racing side, two teams were surely showing effective team racing tactics and it was no surprise to see them battling it in the final. After a great day of racing, RCYC-1 captained by Rory O'Sullivan came out on top against the RstGYC-1 captained by Trevor Bolger.
Clubs represented were the RstGYC (3 teams), RCYC (2 teams), HYC (2 teams), MYC (2 teams), NYC and TBSC