Champion youth sailor Harry Durcan of Royal Cork took a swim during heavy weather training at last week's 420 dinghy training camp in Schull, West Cork. The near miss between the two 420s was captured on video and can be seen below.

Following on from the Schull session, the next 420 training will take place in Cork Harbour on March 5th. The training will be led by Ross Killian, ISA National Coach with an assistant coach on the water. Cost will be €50 per sailor/€100 per boat for the weekend, which will go ahead subject to a minimum of 4 boats.

#optimistworlds – After eight races sailed of the Optimist World Championship at Club Nautico San Isidro, Argentina, Royal Cork's Harry Durcan is lying 22nd from 70 in his red flight of a massive 210–boats. The Munster youth had a difficult start to his regatta counting two starting penalties in his first two races but by race eight had bounced back to take a ninth, his best result so far. Durcan's scores to date: (70.0 UFD) 70.0 BFD 54.0 53.0 12.0 39.0 9.0. Full score–sheet here.

Six races were sailed last week and the fleet was divided into Gold, Silver and Bronze. Each fleet has 70 sailors. This first part of this championship had light winds, lot of current and little waves but today it changed completely: The wind gauge marked 23Knts on the race area, the waves were high and short, there were current and it was cloudy. The changes made a turn on the results. The Gold Fleet had two races: The Brazilian sailor, Gustavo Abdulklech won the first race and then Voravong Rachrattanaruk from Thailand won the second race.

The Silver fleet made two races also and the bronze fleet only made one because of the strong winds. The final results: 1st Nicolaz Rolaz from Switzerland, 2nd Dimitris Papadimitriou from Greece and third place Gustavo Abdilklech from Brazil. Mara Turin who was winning the OptiWorld is 8th after a very hard day.

Top five, Gold fleet after Tuesday's racing:

1. Nicolas Rolaz, SUI, 28.0 points
2. Dimitris Papadimitriou, GRE, 31.0
3. Gustavo Abdulklech, BRA, 43.0
4. Jelmer Velds, NED, 45.0
5. Aina Colom, ESP, 55.0

#youthsailing – Talented Royal Cork youth sailors made a clean sweep of the All Ireland Junior Helmsmans Championships off Kinsale yesterday. In an end of season boost just ahead of his solo assault on the Optimist Worlds in Argentina next month, Harry Durcan lifted the trophy in style, topping off a remarkable 1,2,3 result for Royal Cork Yacht Club.

Twenty sailors from nine classes and out of eleven clubs (including two wild cards) were chosen to compete this weekend out of Kinsale Yacht Club.

After patiently waiting again for wind the morning of day two, racing started at 12:30.  Race five turned out to be hectic at the marks throughout the race with plenty of calling out by all. First over the line was Ros Morgan and Ronan Walsh of Skerries Sailing Club, followed by Clare Gorman and Amy Carrol of the National Yacht Club and third place Adam D'Arcy and James Hassett of Royal Cork Yacht Club.

Winds remained consistent for some reliable performance throughout race six with Peter McCann and Michael O'Suileabhain of Royal Cork Yacht Club coming first over the finish line on race six, the final preliminary race before choosing the top ten for the medal race.

Selection for the top ten resulting sailors to enter the medal race was calculated and six teams from Royal Cork Yacht Club made it through with one team from Malahide Yacht Club, National Yacht Club, Dingle Sailing Club and Kinsale Yacht Club.

The medal race (race 7) gave double points and the pressure was on to get a good start. James McCann and Michael Carrol of Royal Cork Yacht Club were ahead all the way with excellent mark rounding and good boat control that got them over the final line first. Fellow club members, Harry Durcan and Harry Whittaker, were close on their tail.

Harry Durcan and Harry Whittaker from Royal Cork Yacht Club were the overall winners

Gemma and Cara Mc Dowell from Malahide Yacht Club who won the Ladies Competition

The overall top three was:
• 1st Harry Durcan and Harry Whittaker of Royal Cork Yacht Club with 29 points.
• 2nd Peter McCann and Michael O'Suileabhain of Royal Cork Yacht Club with 32 points.
• 3rd Adam D'Arcy and James Hassett of Royal Yacht Club with 42 points.

Ladies Competition
• 1st Gemma McDowell and Cara McDowell of Malahide Yacht Club on 45 points.

Harry Durcan's next event he will be representing Ireland at the Optimist Worlds in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Harry will then be moving on to compete in 29ers in 2015. 

#allireland – Wild card entry Harry Durcan leads the Junior Helmsmans championhips at Kinsale Yacht Club this evening by a singe point from his Royal Cork clubmate Peter McCann. Durcan's twin brother Johnny is lying third after four races sailed in a dominant display by Royal Cork youth sailors. Full results below.

16 young helms waited breeze until 1pm today before the first race of the ISA event commenced in a ten–knot southerly, just enough to get them moving. As they came down on a run to the finish line the winds abandoned Kinsale Harbour all together and boats were left drifting. A maximum race time was set for 40 minutes and race was abandoned before any boats made it to the finish line. Boat number 3 with James McCann and Michael Carroll from Royal Cork Yacht Club were only 10 metres from the finish line.

Race two commenced in 8 knots of breeze with a cloud formation that seemed to promise consistent winds and the promise came through. Cliona NiShuillebhain and Jill McGinley of Kinsale Yacht Club gave a steady performance throughout the race and remained in the lead spot to the finish line.

The wind stayed with them and at 15:00 race three commenced. Séafra Guilfoyle and Michael Carrol of Royal Cork Yacht Club worked their way up through the fleet to cross the finish line first.

Race four started at 16:00 – the two Harry's (Durcan and Whittaker) from Royal Cork Yacht Club started with a good lead and were first round the weather mark on the first beat and again first round on the second beat with a 40 second lead. The tide started flooding up to 3knots, which caught a few competitors that took the course wide were held back, with 8 competitors resulting in DNF from not going over the finish line within the time limit.

Winds became light again for race 5 and five resulted in DNF. The girls from Kinsale Yacht Club slammed it again and won Race 5, with Peter McCann and Michael O'Suileabhan in 2nd place and the Harries in at 3rd.

Results after day one

#optimist – Royal Cork's Harry Durcan leads the Irish charge in 22nd place at the halfway mark of a massive 173–boat Optimist British & Open National Championships.

There were strong winds with gusts up to 23 knots created challenging condition for Optimist sailors today off Weymouth.

A grey, overcast morning gave way to sunshine in the afternoon along with a minor decrease in wind strength, however despite a slightly calmer afternoon, day three of racing proved to be the toughest yet for all fleets.

It was a great day for the Senior Fleet (Main), all of whom were challenged by big swells in Weymouth Bay. There was one general recall across three races and overall slow progress to the windward mark due to the choppy waves, however once the sailors rounded the top mark they took off on the reach and flew downwind very quickly. The leaders were the more experienced sailors in the fleet, and they managed to put a good distance between themselves and the rest of the pack.

While the international competition is doing very well, Vita Heathcote, 13 (Royal Lymington Yacht Club) who had a strong day, is sitting in third place and is the top British sailor sailor in the Senior Fleet. Also in the top ten are Arthur Fry, 13 (Royal Lymington Yacht Club) and Hatty Morsley, 15 (Port Dinorwic Sailing Club).

Arthur described the day, "It was pretty windy out in the bay and quite shifty, but it was a great day sailing and I'm pretty pleased to have moved into 8th overall."

Hattie continued, "The strong winds today made it very hard work, but it was also rewarding and there is good competition in the fleet. I managed to get my tactics right and finished with a 5, 15 and 10."

The Junior Fleet (Main) had similar conditions with slightly less chop inside the harbor. They completed three good races with no general recalls. The first race proved to be the toughest with the most wind, favoring the heavier sailors. Between 10 to 12 boats retired from the first race, however there were no major incidents aside from a few capsizes.

A British sailor has moved into first place for the first time in this event in the main – fleet, Alexandra Schonrock, 12 (Parkstone Yacht Club) leads before both the Senior and Junior fleets split into gold and silver tomorrow.

Regatta Fleet racing was especially challenging for the young sailors. The race committee managed two races in the morning and three in the afternoon. The first race of the day took a toll on the fleet and there were a number of capsizes and non-finishers. Slightly less wind in the afternoon meant more sailors were able to get around the course.

The Regatta Coached Fleet had two races in top end of conditions. There was determination among the regatta fleet sailors to get around the course and finish and everyone came back to shore with accomplished smiles on their faces.

The forecast for tomorrow is for lighter winds, between 11 to 13 knots with racing scheduled to resume tomorrow [Wednesday 6 August] at 11.00 AM.

For full results and more information, here

#opti – A consistent showing by Harry Durcan who never fell out of the top three, despite very tricky conditions, at last weekend's Optimist Leinster Championships gave the Royal Cork sailor the title.

Durcan will be Ireland's sole representative at the Argentinian World Championships this October.

Second place at the Royal Irish hosted eveny went to Dara Donnelly of the National Yacht Club and third place to a visiting Maltese sailor. In the senior silver fleet Paddy Cunnane from Dingle Sailing club earned his win with Sarah Fogarty and Kate Darcy second & third in Silver senior fleet.

Optimist class interest now focuses on the European Championships hosted next week at the Royal St. George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire.

Senior fleet results available to download below.

#optimist –  Royal Cork's Harry Durcan, the only Irish sailor heading to the World Championships in Argentina later this year, emerged the clear winner of the 39–boat senior fleet at the Optimist Class Connaught Championships at Galway Bay Sailing Club at the weekend. After five races sailed in the 39–boat fleet, the 15–year–old had three race wins to have a clear 13 nett points ahead of Malahide's Gemma McDowell in second overall. Third was National Yacht Club sailor Loghlen Rickard from Dun Laoghaire. 

Blustery conditions for the youngsters meant there was no racing for the novice 26–boat regatta fleet on Saturday but the brave kids who moved up to Junior fleet (46 competed) learnt lots but there was plenty of retirals as results below show. 

Full results for the combined fleet of over 111 sailors are below as jpeg files.

#optimist – A top Irish youth sailor has opted out of his place on the European Optimist team in favour of a place on the startline at the world championships in October.

Irish champion sailor Harry Durcan (14) from Royal Cork and Baltimore Sailing Club who came third at the trials this year has made the tough choice to go to the worlds on his own as the IODAI are not sending a team this year.

Harry has opted to go to the Worlds instead of the Europeans as you cannot attend both under Irish Optimist Dinghy Association (IODAI) rulings.

Normally the top five finishers at trials go to the Worlds but this year IODAI are not supporting a team because it's been held during school term.

The World Championships this year are on in San Isidro, Buenos Aires, Argentina in October. Durcan's preparations will be to train with the Irish 2014 Optimist European Team from now until the European event in Dun Laoghaire in order to help them and himself. He will also attend all the Irish regional events. He then plans to train with the Danish Team and their coach Dennis Passke for the week before the Europeans in Dun Laoghaire. He will then travel to Weymouth for the British Nationals at the 2012 Olympic Games venue and from there to Germany for the German nationals in August.

Harry picks up a top Optimist prize in Italy

He goes as the only Irish sailor to Argentina but has completed two world championships before, in Lake Garda in 2013 and the Dominican Republic in 2012.

Durcan also competed an event in Riva Del Garda at Easter and placed 9th out of 800 sailors, the best ever result for an Irish sailor at such an event. In March he was in Oman for an event with some of the top sailors from Europe. 'I am now looking forward to a fun Summer ahead and getting some training and racing under my belt' he told Afloat.ie