Topper sailors from Northern Ireland made a great impression at the National Championships last week in Weymouth, taking four excellent places in the first ten and several other commendable scores.
In the Gold fleet runner-up to the winner Merryn Attridge of Royal Hospital School, was Bobby Driscoll from Ballyholme and Royal North Yacht Clubs who after the OCS in the first race which was his discard, counted a second, fourth and three sevenths. Bobby took the Silver on a tie break at the Worlds earlier. His young brother Tom finished 7th in the same fleet at Weymouth – their father is the Irish Olympic Finn sailor, John Driscoll who competed in the 1996 Olympics.
Doug Rennie, Ballyholme YC Commodore is very pleased with the performances. “Following great results at the Topper Worlds last month, we would congratulate our young sailors at Ballyholme, together with their support teams for continuing their great results at the UK Topper Nationals in Weymouth. With ceaseless dedication and hard work, young Bobby and Tom Driscoll and Cormac Byrne are leading the way and proving once again that BYC is the home of potential world-class sailors”
Northern Ireland sailors (l to r) Autumn Halliday,Tom Driscoll, Bobby Driscoll, Luke Simpson and Cormac Byrne Photo: John Driscoll
Another outstanding performance by Luke Simpson from County Antrim YC on Belfast Lough gave him fourth overall, counting two third places, a fourth, a fifth and eleventh.
Luke Simpson First Junior Male
County Antrim Yacht Club was awarded a John Merrick Trust/RYA Topper in 2015. It was assigned to Luke last year when he was accepted onto RYANI and then the Irish Sailing Team. Sheela Lewis, the Club Training Officer and Coach, speaking on the Committee’s behalf, said “The CAYC Committee is delighted at Luke’s success. Fantastic result, 4th overall and 1st Junior male! His parents are obviously delighted and everyone at the club is immensely proud.” She added “Luke learned to sail at CAYC on one of our summer sailing schemes a few years ago. We recognised his keenness and potential, and supported his development with coaching, advice, and resources. The level of his dedication and commitment to this sport which he eats and breathes, is contagious, and it is very rewarding for us to see a talent like Luke's growing and blossoming. Luke's achievements on the water are no fluke and are well reserved. They are something of which he should be rightly proud; we certainly are!”
Waiting for the wind at the Topper Nationals in Weymouth Photo: ITCA
Tom Driscoll counted as his best result a 6th to finish 7th overall, and Cormac Byrne from Ballyholme and Strangford SC put in a strong performance in 9th place, counting a seventh and a fifth, making the four northern sailors in the top ten. The best of the Northern girls was Autumn Halliday from Strangford Lough YC and at 25th came Emily McAfee (Ballyholme) with her best placing 10th.
No doubt, many of the Topper sailors will be aiming to compete in the RYA NI Youth Championships at Ballyholme on 10th and 11th of September. Entries are now open through the RYANI Facebook page.
