Displaying items by tag: Optimist
Show of Youth Sailing Strength for Royal St. George As Big Breeze Forecast for Junior All–Irelands
Tomorrow's All Ireland Junior sailing championships looks like it will get off to a wet and windy start for the 16–nominated junior sailing stars drawn from seven yacht clubs from around the country.
The Under–18 championships is scheduled to race over two days in West Cork's own TR3.6 two handed dinghies but the weather forecast for the Schull venue shows winds topping 40–knots for Saturday and the same again on Sunday.
In a show of strength for Dublin's Royal St. George Yacht Club more than a third of the participants are drawn from the Dun Laoghaire club. RStGYC juniors are representing the RS200 (Toby Hudson Fowler), the RS Feva (Henry Start), Laser 4.7 (Peter Fagan), Optimist (Tom Higgins), Topper (Jack Fahy) and Kate Lyttle from the 420 class.
Royal Cork Yacht Club is the next biggest club on the water in Schull with four sailors involved. 29er skipper Harry Durcan and twin Johnny representing 29er and Laser Radials respectively. Harry Twomey represents the Optimist class and Sophie Crosby sails for the Toppers.
The National Yacht Club's Clare Gorman represents the Laser 4.7 and will defend the girls title and the NYC's Leah Rickard sails for the Optimists.
The West coast is represented by three clubs.Topaz sailors Adam Byrne and Dylan Reidy representing Dingle SC and Foynes YC respectively and Sligo Yacht Club sends Mirror ace Sarah White.
The 420 class is represented by Geoff Power of Waterford Harbour Sailing Club.
Full nominee list below
Class | Name | Surname | Club |
---|---|---|---|
RS200 Junior | Toby | Hudson Fowler | Royal StGeorge YC |
RS Feva | Henry | Start | Royal St George YC |
Mirror | Sarah | White | Sligo YC |
Laser 4.7 | Clare | Gorman | NYC |
Laser 4.7 | Peter | Fagan | Royal St George YC |
Laser Radial | Johnny | Durcan | RCYC/NYC |
Topaz | Adam | Byrne | Dingle SC |
Topaz | Dylan | Reidy | Foynes YC |
Topper | Jack | Fahy | RSTGYC |
Topper | Sophie | Crosby | RCYC |
420 | Geoff | Power | WHSC |
420 | Kate | Lyttle | RStGYC |
OPTIMIST | Tom | Higgins | RSGYC |
OPTIMIST | Harry | Twomey | RCYC&CHSC |
OPTIMIST | Leah | Rickard | NYC |
29er | Harry | Durcan | RCYC |
New 'Performance Pathway Seminar' Series is Launched By ISA
In an exciting new initiative for youth sailors, the Irish Sailing Association has announced provisional details on a series of Performance Pathway Seminars.
The seminars are replacing the ISA Optimist Squads and ISA Topper Squad which have traditionally run from October to March. The change of tack does not affect summer activities which start after the ISA Pathway Nationals.
The seminars are primarily targeted at junior sailors from the Topper and Optimist classes and their coaches. There will also be sessions available to parents of sailors. Other applications may be considered.
There will be a minimum of three seminars over the winter and the topics will include but not be limited to Fitness, Psychology, Programme Design, Nutrition, Boat Transition, Olympic pathways.
The very clear switch to focussing on the education of young athletes means ISA Performance can widen the scope of how many athletes and coaches it can engage with over the course of the year. The ISA says 'the Pathway has often been criticised for not being inclusive enough so this initiative will tackle that concern head on'.
The ISA say 'Given our limited resources we feel this approach will give a better return on investment while at the same time giving the pathway much more visibility across a wider base. ISA Performance will NOT be running the ISA Optimist Squad or the ISA Topper squad this winter'.
There is additional investment going into the ISA coaching programme and it is hoped this programme will help facilitate the clubs and classes take on the role of training over the winter period.
As always the ISA Pathway Nationals will be the key event in the domestic programme. The ISA plan to invest more into the event and ISA Performance will continue to use this event to determine squads for the summer events.
Provisional Dates
OCT 29th & 30th
DEC TBC
JAN TBC
More Details and Application Process will be posted October 7th. In the meantime save the dates. It is envisaged we would have between 20 and 30 places per class association
Royal St. George Optimist Sailor Tom Higgins Continues Successful Season At Royal Cork Yacht Club
Royal St. George Yacht Club Optimist sailor Tom Higgins continued his successful season at last weekend's Munster Championships at Royal Cork Yacht Club. The Dublin Bay youth sailor finished the six race series on 14 points, three–points clear of the National Yacht Club's Charlie Cullen.Third in the 35-boat senior fleet was Royal Cork's Rory O'Sullivan. In the junior fleet, Higgins's clubmate Moss Simmington was the overall winner. IODAI Results below.
Counting four race wins in a ten race series, recently crowned British open Optimist Champion Tom Higgins of the Royal St. George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire added the Irish title in Lough Derg YC on Friday. With a scoreline of 1, 1, (33), 1, 5, (23,) 3 and 1, Higgins beat Royal Cork's Harry Twomey by a single point. The full results are here.
Senior Division, Gold Fleet
1st- Tom Higgins, Royal St.George YC (27 pts)
2nd- Harry Twomey, Royal Cork YC and Crookhaven Harbour SC (28 pts)
3rd- William Pank, Norfolk Broads YC, GBR (42 pts)
Best Irish Sailor at the European Championships- Leah Rickard, National Yacht Club
Overall Best U13 Irish- Harry Twomey, RCYC
Best Overseas Boy- William Pank, Norfolk Broads YC, GBR
Best Overseas Girl- Emily Mudler, RLym YC, GBR
Senior Gold Fleet, 1st Girl- Leah Rickard, NYC
Team Prize, Senior Fleet- Royal Cork Yacht Club: Harry Twomey, Rory O'Sullivan, Cillian Foster
National Senior Champion- Tom Higgins, RStGYC
Open Senior Champion- Tom Higgins, RStGYC
Irish Sailing Association Medals- Senior Fleet
1st placed Irish Sailor- Tom Higgins, RStGYC
2nd placed Irish Sailor- Harry Twomey, RCYC
3rd placed Irish Sailor- Harry Bell, HYC
North Sail Prize- Eoin Horgan, RCYC
Thomas Chaix Prize- Iseult Hogan, RStGYC
Best Irish Boat without a race win- Moss Symington, RStGYC
Best Mid-fleet Boat- Emily Riordan, RStGYC
Craft Insure Prize- Ella May, Sutton Dinghy Club
Craft Insure Prize- Grace Fahy, RStGYC and LDYC
Senior Division, Silver Fleet
1st place and Champion of the Senior Silver Fleet- Kitty Flanagan, RStGYC (239 pts)
2nd- Eoghan Turner, National YC (288 pts)
3rd- Kate Horgan, Royal Cork YC (364 pts)
1st Girl, Senior Silver Fleet- Kitty Flanagan, RStGYC
Best Local Sailor, Senior Silver Fleet- Eva Barrington, Lough Derg Yacht Club
Junior Division
Sailed:10, Discards:2, To Count:8, Entries:107
Junior Division, Gold Fleet
1st-Henry Heathcote, Royal Lymington YC, GBR (35 pts)
2nd-Ella Lance, Hayling Island SC, GBR (40 pts)
3rd- Hector Bennett, Royal Lymington YC, GBR (47 pts)
Junior Gold 1st Girl- Alejandra Peleteiro, Kinsale YC
Team Prize, Junior Fleet- Royal Cork Yacht Club: Justin Lucas, Jonathan O'Shaughnessy and Jamie Venner
Best U12 at the British Nationals- Justin Lucas, RCYC
Irish National Junior Champion- Justin Lucas, RCYC
Open Junior Champion- Henry Heathcote, RLymYC, GBR
Irish Sailing Association Medals- Junior Fleet
1st placed Irish sailor- Justin Lucas, RCYC
2nd placed Irish sailor- Luke Turvey, HYC
3rd placed Irish sailor- Johnny Flynn, HYC
Junior Division, Silver Fleet
1st Sailor in Junior Silver Fleet and winner of perpetual trophy- Johnny Flynn, Howth YC (95 pts)
2nd-Thomas O'Neill, Howth YC (258 pts)
3rd- Eimer McMurrow-Moriarty, Tralee Bay SC (259 pts)
Junior Silver First Girl Perpetual Trophy- Eimer McMorrow-Moriarty, TBSC
Best Local Sailor in the Junior Fleet- Neil O'Leary, LDYC
Best U11- Luke Turvey, HYC
Best U10-Peter Williams, RStGYC
Best Overseas Boy- Henry Heathcote, RLymYC
Best Overseas Girl- Ella Lance, HISC
Regatta Fleet
1st and Overall Champion in Regatta Fleet, Russell Bolger, RStGYC (19 pts)
2nd-Jessica Riordan, RStGYC (22 pts)
3rd- Hugo Anderson, Royal Lymington YC, GBR (34 pts)
Optimist Dinghy Championships Results From Day 2
#Optimist - Results from Day 2 of the 2016 Optimist National and Open Championships on Lough Derg on Tuesday 16 August:
Senior Division, Gold Fleet
1st: Harry Twomey (RCYC and Crookhaven YC) – 21 pts; 2nd: Tom Higgins (RStGYC) – 23 pts; 3rd: Blake Wilson (AUS) – 28 pts
Senior Division, Silver Fleet
1st: Eoghan Turner (NYC) – 203 pts; 2nd: Kitty Flanagan (RStGYC) – 214 pts; 3rd: Kate Horgan (RCYC) – 278 pts
Junior Division, Gold Fleet
1st: Henry Heathcote (GBR) – 17 pts; 2nd: Freddie Lonsdale (GBR) – 29 pts; 3rd: Ella Lance (GBR) – 34 pts
Junior Division, Silver Fleet
1st: Johnny Flynn (HYC) – 72 pts; 2nd: Thomas O'Neill (HYC) – 192 pts; 3rd: Eimer McMorrow-Moriarty (Tralee Bay SC) – 217 pts.
(Main Fleet Sailed: 7, Discards: 1, To count: 6, Entries – Senior Fleet: 66, Junior Fleet: 91)
Regatta Fleet
1st: Russell Bolger (RStGYC) – 7 pts; 2nd: Jessica Riordan (RStGYC) – 13 pts; 3rd: Eibhe Lubliner (RStGYC) – 15 pts
(Sailed:6, Discards: 1, To count: 5, Entries: 53)
Optimist Dinghy Championships Results From Day 1
#Optimist - Results from Day 1 of the 2016 Optimist National and Open Championships on Lough Derg, comprising Races 1, 2 and 3 on Monday 15 August:
Senior Division, Gold Fleet
1st: Harry Twomey (Royal Cork Yacht Club and Crookhaven YC) – 6 pts; 2nd: Tom Higgins (Royal St George YC) – 16 pts; 3rd: Blake Wilson (Australia) – 21 pts
Senior Division, Silver Fleet
1st: Eoghan Turner (National YC) – 95 pts; 2nd: Kitty Flanagan (RStGYC) – 111 pts; 3rd: Kate Horgan (Royal Cork YC) – 144 pts
Junior Division, Gold Fleet
1st: Henry Means (Great Britain) – 13 pts; 2nd: Hector Bennett (Great Britain) – 18 pts; 3rd: Ella Lance (Great Britain) – 21 pts
Junior Division, Silver Fleet
1st: Johnny Flynn (Howth YC) – 28 pts; 2nd: Adam Walsh (Howth YC) – 124 pts; 3rd: Thomas O'Neill (Howth YC) – 131 pts.
Regatta Fleet
1st: Russell Bolger (Royal St George YC) – 5 pts; 2nd: Rocco Wright (Howth YC) – 11 pts; 3rd: Jessica Riordan (Royal St George YC) – 11 pts
Irish Optimist Dinghy Championships Launched at Lough Derg
Lough Derg Yacht Club in County Tipperary plays host to two hundred and eight sailors from ten countries in this week's five-day, ten-race Optimist National and Open Championships.
Today's opening ceremony took place at Dromineer. Led by pipers from the Thomas McDonagh Pipe Band, sailors, their families and event volunteers marched from the square in Dromineer to the clubhouse under their national banners. They were greeted there by Niamh McCutcheon, event organiser, and David Meredith, Commodore of LDYC. Cllr. Dr. Phill Bugler, Cathaoirleach of Nenagh Municipal District formally opened the Championship.
In her opening remarks, Dr. Bugler recalled that LDYC was founded in 1835 and is one of the oldest yacht clubs in the world. It has a proud record of having produced the Irish Optimist, Laser and Topper champions and the Mirror World Champions. "The contribution of this event to the local community and economy is immense", she added, " this is a major event for our district and we thank LDYC and its volunteers for all the hard work that made it possible".
Aidan Staunton, Chairperson of IODAI, made a special presentation to Optimist sailor Tom Higgins from the Royal St. George Yacht Club in Dublin who was the first ever Irish sailor to win the British Optimist Championships in Scotland last week.
A presentation was also made to Jill Somerville who has given several years service to the Optimist Class, most recently as Chairperson, and whose contribution epitomises the best of volunteerism, without which amateur sailing in Ireland would be unable to function
Tom Higgins of the Royal St. George Yacht Club was the winner of the British Optimist Open Championships with a huge margin of 24–points in a fleet of 89 boats at Largs in Scotland at the weekend.
The Dun Laoghaire helmsman topped an International flewet with Australian Blake Wilson second, Hong Kong's Duncan Gregor third. It wasn't the only Irish success either with junior winners too. The focus of the Optimist season now moves to Lough Derg next week for the Irish championships at Lough Derg Yacht Club.
Senior results are downloadable below.
Fleet of Over 200 Optimists Head for Lough Derg Yacht Club
205 sailors have registered for the Irish National Optimist and Open Championship at Lough Derg Yacht Club, Dromineer, Co.Tipperary from Monday 15th to Friday 19th August 2016. One hundred and fifty five (155) will sail in the Main Fleet and fifty (50) in the Regatta Fleet.
The main fleet comprises sailors with enough experience to compete for the Junior and Senior Optimist Championships. Competitors aged under 12 on 1st January 2016 will compete for the Junior prizes and those aged over 12 but under 15 on 1st January 2016 will compete for Senior Prizes. Both of these categories will be further divided into Gold, Silver and Bronze fleets in accordance with sailors' results in the regional championships held earlier this season. The regatta fleet will combine coaching and racing for sailors from eight years and upwards who are relatively new to racing.
On Sunday 14th August 2016 at 17:00 the event will be opened by Dr. Phyll Bugler, elected representative for Nenagh on Tipperary County Council. A Pipe Band will lead a parade of sailors, their families and supporters, and event volunteers through the village of Dromineer to the Lough Derg Yacht Club (LDYC) club house. After a formal welcome from LDYC Commodore David Meredith and speeches by Cllr. Bugler and President of the Optimist Association of Ireland (IODAI) Aidan Staunton, hospitality will be provided for all.
It is hoped that competitors will sail ten races during the five-day event. Weather conditions will determine this outcome. However, the event organisers have scheduled two races for Monday 15th and Friday 19th August. Three races have been scheduled for Tuesday 16th and Thursday 18th August and Wednesday 17th is designated a lay day. In the event of unsuitable weather on the Monday or Tuesday, the Race Officer may decide to use Wednesday to catch up on missed races.
The main prizegiving will occur at the clubhouse on Friday 19th after the last race. Daily prizegiving will be held at the clubhouse at 09:00 from Tuesday 16th to Friday 19th inclusive.
Lough Derg Yacht Club is proud to host the National Optimist Championships again. Event organiser Niamh McCutcheon has rallied a volunteer crew of over one hundred and twenty persons to run the event both on the water and ashore. LDYC has honed its hospitality over many years of hosting national and regional championships for the Optimist, Mirror, Topper and Laser classes and we love to welcome new and returning sailors as they make progress in the sport, and their families who enjoy watching their young sailors become more skilled and autonomous.
This year we will welcome over forty sailors from England and Wales, sailing under the GBR burgee. Greece and Spain are each sending two sailors, as is Bermuda. One sailor is visiting us from Australia.
At present, there is representation from the following Irish sailing clubs:
Baltimore Sailing Club………..One sailor (1)
Crookhaven Sailing Club……..Two sailors (2)
Dingle Sailing Club……………….One sailor (1)
Foynes Yacht Club………………..Four sailors (4)
Galway Bay Sailing Club……….Two sailors (2)
Howth Yacht Club………………….Seventeen sailors (17)
Kinsale Yacht Club………………..Ten sailors (10)
Lough Derg Yacht Club………….Twelve sailors (12)
Lough Ree Yacht Club…………..Seven sailors (7)
Malahide Sailing Club…………..Two sailors (2)
Monkstown Bay Sailing Club..Four sailors (4)
National Yacht Club……………..Nineteen sailors (19)
Royal Cork Yacht Club………….Twenty-eight sailors (28)
Royal Irish Yacht Club…………..Five sailors (5)
Royal St.George Yacht Club…Thirty sailors (30)
Skerries Sailing Club…………….Four sailors (4)
Sutton Dinghy Club……………..One sailor (1)
Tralee Bay Sailing Club………..One sailor (1)
(The discrepancy in total numbers is due to the fact that some sailors are members of more than one yacht club or sailing club).
Racing at the Optimist European Championships in Crotone in Southern Italy was postponed this morning again after a long postponement yesterday after which one race was sailed in 25–knots and large seas. The event opened last Friday.
The conditions so far have not been to the liking of Ireland's very young team comprising mostly 12–year olds but all are having a fantastic time, according to team reports.
So far, four races have been sailed in both the girls and boys fleet.
The top Irish boy is Michael Crosbie in 68th out of 185 boys with Leah Rickard best of the Irish girls in 32nd from 120 following a fantastic second in race two.
After five races the fleets will be split into Gold, Silver and Bronze for Wednesday and the final day on Thursday.