Northern girls shone at the RYA Youth Nationals last week with Ellen Barbour of County Antrim Yacht Club at Whitehead and East Antrim BC at Larne making her mark in the Women’s ILCA/Laser 6 fleet with a convincing third overall.
There was a huge fleet of around 300 competitors across seven classes in this big event in Pwllheli, North Wales.
Ellen’s scores were never lower than 10 except for a UFD (a premature start) in the first race which was one of her discards, but with five first places she proved a force to be reckoned with in the 13-race event.
Ellen Barbour - 3rd in the ILCA 6 fleet
Also, up there in the top half of the 23 strong fleet was Zoe Whitford from East Antrim who had impressive scores in the top dozen except Race 7 for which she had to count 24 for a DNE (disqualification) – and she actually was the first finisher in that race.
Zoe Whitford - 7th in the ILCA 6 fleet
Eleventh in the 39 strong 29er fleet was the Royal North/Newcastle duo, Lauren McDowell and Erin McIlwaine whose best races were two fifths.
Erin McIlwaine and Lauren McDowell (pictured centre) in the 29er fleet
Tom Coulter of East Antrim finished 17th in the ILCA (Men) with a varied set of results, his best performances being a seventh, eighth and ninth in the 61-boat fleet.
Tom Coulter of East Antrim finished 17th in the ILCA (Men)
The next big event for some of the Pwllheli competitors will be the Irish Youth Sailing Nationals at Ballyholme on Belfast Lough for which Olympian Finn Lynch's top tip to competitors is to "not focus on the result but to try learn as much as possible!" And local sailor Liam Glynn who has recently retired adds that as having grown up sailing in Ballyholme, warns that the wind can often be very shifty and gusty and since it’s close to the land, it’s hard to see what’s coming down towards you. Therefore, sailors will need to react quickly and sail their own race with whatever they’ve got in front of them, not what somebody else has on the other side of the racecourse!
