Ballyholme Yacht Club on Belfast Lough in Northern Ireland will host its first ISA Youth Sailing Pathway National Championships incorporating the first leg of the IODAI 2017 Optimist Trials in April.
The event will be hosted from Thursday 20th to Sunday 23rd April 2017 and is open to all boats of the 420, Laser Radial, Laser 4.7, Optimist, Topper and for the first time also the Topper 4.2 classes.
This is the first time that the event will have been hosted in Northern Ireland although many of the competitors will have visited Ballyholme previously for Topper, Laser Radial and Optimist events.
The ISA Youth Pathway National Championships will form part of the ISA selection trials for the 2017 World Sailing Youth Worlds and the ISA National Squads.
Although this is a first for Ballyholme, members from BYC have been regular attendees with Liam Glynn and Sarah Eames the most recent winners who then went on to represent Ireland in Malaysia 2015 and Portugal 2014/Cyprus 2013 respectively.
Competitors in the 420, Laser Radial and Laser 4.7 classes shall be under 19 years of age on 31st December 2017. Competitors in the Topper and Topper 4.2 class shall be under 16 years of age on 31st December 2017.
