#YouthSailing - A narrow miss for Howth Yacht Club's Ewan McMahon in the battle for U17 European Laser Radial title in Portugal last week capped off the busiest period of the summer for Irish youth sailing.
Indeed, the 16-year-old believed he had done enough to claim the gold - before a protest from his closest rival but a damper on proceedings.
"It was a massive shock when the protest verdict went against me and I ultimately dropped into second," he told his club website.
"Still a good achievement to be second, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t gutted.
"However, thanks to the amazing support of my fellow Irish sailors, friends and family, I have taken this learning curve and will use it hopefully to go on to bigger and better things."
While McMahon's performance stood out in spite of his disappointment, the boys' results were not as strong overall as in recent years - which should prompt the ISA Academy to regroup before the class Worlds in Canada later this month.
Laser youth Aoife Hopkins from Howth
Ireland's youth Laser sailors in Portugal
Among the girls, meanwhile, fellow HYC sailor Aoife Hopkins placed an impressive ninth, with Lough Derg YC's Aisling Keller right behind in tenth, and Nicole Hemeryck (National YC) and Erica Ruigrok (Rush Sailing Club) also placing within the top 20 -- making clear that Irish women's Laser Radial sailing is in rude health.
Hopkins' performance is all the more impressive for the tough conditions she faced throughout: thick fog delaying the start on day one, lack of wind making day two "barely sailable", too much wind the following day, and even stranger conditions on day four with "a big sweet and a difficult chop".
She even fought a bout of seasickness at the start of day five -- a first for this 16-year-old with years of experience on the water, and once which she believes ultimately dragged her down in the final results.
Howth's Ewan McMahon (left) on the Laser podium
Still, Howth can be proud of her achievement -- which demonstrates her potential should circumstances not conspire against her -- as much as the Royal Cork is proud of the Durcan brothers' performance in the 29er Europeans the weekend previous.
Junior helmsman champion Harry Durcan and his twin Johnny were the youngest qualifiers for the 25-boat Gold fleet at Medemblik in the Netherlands, after only a short time in the class -- a result that surely puts them in good stead for the ongoing British Eurocup and the upcoming class Worlds in Pwllheli.
Irish youth sailing also showed strong at Pwllheli's Optimist Europeans (17-24 July), where five of Ireland's eight-strong team finished in the top half, and the Topper Worlds on Lake Garda (19-24 July), where Waterford's Geoff Power was just knocked off the podium at the end of the six days' sailing.
The rollercoaster 10 days for our young sailors concluded nearly 10,000km away in Japan at the 420 Worlds (17-25 July), where two Irish teams were on the water at Karatsu.
Douglas Elmes and Colin O'Sullivan in Japan and below with Lizzie and Cara McDowell and coach Ross Killian
Howth's Douglas Elmes and Colin O’Sullivan recovered from a number of pre-event setbacks -- including a delay in shipping their sails to the venue and a broken toe for O'Sullivan in a bicycle accident -- to make the Gold fleet, where they placed 23rd.
The female contingent fared better in Japan, as Malahide Yacht Club's Lizzie and Cara McDowell placed 19th in their own Gold fleet final.
After a windy few weeks at both the Optimist Europeans and the British Nationals in North Wales, Irish Optimist teams will be in action again in Poland at the end of this month
And keep a close eye on Afloat.ie as there's still more to come this season from Ireland's youth sailors, with the aforementioned 29er Worlds in Pwllheli starting next weekend, as are the 420 Junior Europeans in Bulgaria, plus the Laser Radial Youth Worlds in Ontario from 14-20 August and the Optimist Worlds in Poland from 26 August.
Read more from WM Nixon on Irish youth sailors in his blog here
