Sailing in Ireland's "Championship of Champions" has a special niche in the junior division, as it is raced in the TR 3.6s at the Fastnet Marine Centre in Schull, and there's a genuine feeling that the most level playing field possible has been created for competitors who, in 2024, really were on an all-Ireland basis.
There's always the hope, too, that a rising talent from one of the smaller developing sailing clubs will emerge as the national star. And beyond that there's the hope it will be a female helm to offset the usual rough male imbalance.
Well, the Junior All Ireland Championship Of Champions in September ticked all the boxes in its final results. The winning crew Isha Duggan may be from Ireland's most senior club, the Royal Cork in Crosshaven. But the star helm, Cora McNaughton, gives her allegiance to one of the newer and definitely rising clubs, Blessington SC.
Blessington SC is indeed blessed. In its short life it has already given Ireland some formidable sailing talent including ILCA star Finn Lynch. And it can do this in one of the most scenic of Irish sailing locations in beautiful West Wicklow, where a spacious and lovely lake seemingly built for good sailing exists simply because selfish Dubliners were always very thirsty, and in recent times they acquired a taste for personal cleanliness as well.
