Jack McDowell and Henry Thompson of Malahide Yacht Club had seven wins from 11 races in the 420 division of the Youth Sailing Nationals at Ballyholme on Belfast Lough on Sunday. 

The strong score tally gave them an 18-point cushion over second-place rivals Max Sweetman and Robert Jephson of Wexford and Waterford Harbour Sailing Clubs on 32 points.

In third place in the 11-boat fleet were Imogen Hauer and Hugo Micka, also from Malahide Yacht Club, who finished on 39 points.

21 420 racing dinghies have arrived at Kinsale Yacht Club for their annual February Mid-Term coaching camp.

This record number has doubled in number since it was last held at Schull in 2019. Boats have travelled from Wexford Harbour, Waterford Harbour, Malahide, Howth, Galway, Athlone, Sligo and Blessington to attend the event in what is normally a fun-filled and highly productive week of training.

To put them through their paces on (and off) the water, the Association says it is lucky enough to have some of the best coaches around. David Harte, Graeme Grant, Cara McDowell and local, Micheal O’Suilleabhain will push the youth sailors to get the most out of the week.

"We are hoping the weather gods will be good to us and that all of the fleet can make it out each day. It is hoped that as many as possible will attend the Youth Sailing Nationals, which takes place between the 21st-24th April at Ballyholme Yacht Club. The Association currently has 10 entries and are pushing to increase this number", Irish 420 Association Chairman, Garrett Leech told Afloat.

"There has been a resurgence in recent times of the beloved 420 in youth sailing. It fills a very important niche to keep young kids who have left Optimist, racing. The Laser/ILCA is not for all young sailors who need company and nor is the flighty 29er, the 420 is keeping kids sailing who might otherwise through the towel in if they have not found something that keeps them engaged with sailing and particularly, racing", Leech said.

With this growth comes its own issues, there are not enough starter boats to satisfy the influx of new entries but this issue is being addressed. “We have a fair idea there are boats in storage around the country, we just need to get to & persuade people to sell them on,” says Leech.

The Association is asking that if you have a boat that is not been used, please make contact with us please email: [email protected]

The cut short Investwise Irish Youth Sailing National Championships on Cork Harbour had produced some clear winners in five classes regardless of today's Yellow Alert weather warning at Royal Cork Yacht Club.

Five titles were divided between Dublin and Cork sailors with the host club taking two crowns, the biggest haul of any single club with the 29er and Topper titles won by local sailors.

Both Laser titles go to Dublin, with Howth Yacht Club taking the ILCA 6 and the National Yacht Club winning in the ILCA 4.

The 420 title is shared by a combined Malahide and Wexford duo.

McMahon wins ILCA 6 but Crosbie's Reinstatement Makes it Close

ILCA 6 Champion - Eve McMahon of Howth

As Afloat reported earlier, the final results from Saturday’s long day afloat weren’t initially confirmed as two titles were eventually settled ashore in the protest room this morning.

On Saturday evening, a protest by ILCA6 (Laser Radial) overall leader Eve McMahon saw the Howth Yacht Club sailor extend her lead over Michael Crosbie of the Royal Cork YC when he was disqualified from Race 10 due to a port and starboard incident.

However, the Crosshaven sailor returned to the protest room on Sunday morning to have his result reinstated as McMahon had not informed the race committee of her protest on Saturday.

McMahon still emerged as ILCA6 Youth National Champion after the tie-break with Crosbie.

O'Shaughnessy & Dwyer Lift 29er Skiff Title 

29er Champions - Ben O’Shaughnessy and James Dwyer (Royal Cork YC) Photo: Bob Bateman

Ben O’Shaughnessy and James Dwyer (Royal Cork YC) won the 29er skiff national title by a single point as Afloat reported here after a close contest with Tim Norwood and Nathan Van Steenberge from the Royal Irish YC and National YC respectively in their eleven strong demonstration class that immediately followed a European Championships campaign on Lake Garda last week.

The runners-up were also in the protest room on Sunday morning seeking redress for equipment failure in their second race of the series on Friday but their submission was ruled out of time.

Collins top Toppers, Newcomer Ledoux Wins 4.7s

Topper Champion - Rian Collins of Royal Cork Photo: Bob Bateman

As Afloat reported earlier, Crosshaven’s Rian Collins won the 38-boat Topper class with a 12-point lead over his clubmate Dan O’Leary taking the runner-up place in their seven-race series. Bobby Driscoll's third overall kept the Belfast Lough Topper flag flying.

ILCA 4 Champion - Sam Ledoux of the National YC Photo: Bob Bateman

The Topper fleet shared the same course as the ILCA4 (Laser 4.7) class, the second largest of the event with 31 boats where a newcomer to the class, Sam Ledoux of the National YC, emerged youth national champion. 

Five wins Give McDowell & Thompson the 420 Title

420 champions - Jack McDowell and Henry Thompson Photo: Bob Bateman

The Malahide and Wexford Harbour pairing of Jack McDowell and Henry Thompson continued their three-day lead of the 420 class to win comfortably as Afloat reports here over Eoghan Duffy with Conor Paul of Lough Ree YC in a disappointingly small nine boat class.

Malahide and Wexford Harbour duo of Jack McDowell and Henry Thompson continued their overall lead of the 420 class at the Investwise Youth Sailing National Championships at Cork Harbour.

Counting four race wins on the opening day of the championships, the pair ended the ten races five points clear of Eoghan Duffy and Conor Paul of Lough Ree. Lying third is Malahide's Imogen Hauer and Hugo Micka.

420: Sailed: 10, Discards: 1, To count: 9, Entries: 9

Racing is scheduled for Sunday, but a forecast for strong winds looks set to cut the championships short.

Update Sunday 09.24: Due to current wind conditions and forecast, the race committee has decided to cancel sailing for the day. Prizegiving at 10 am in the marquee

420 Day Three Youth Nationals Photo Gallery By Bob Bateman 

Four straight wins for the Malahide and Wexford Harbour pairing of Jack McDowell and Henry Thompson means they overtake the overnight leaders Imogen Hauer and Hugo Micka in the 420 Class of the Investwise Youth Sailing National Championships at Royal Cork.

Hauer and Micka are now third overall on 15 points, with Lough Ree's Owen Duffy and Conor Paul squeezing into second place on 12 points after seven races sailed. 

The 420 fleet sailed trapezoid courses Photo: Bob Bateman

This year, the 420 numbers are reduced at the Nationals, a disappointment for double-handed followers, especially given the impressive 21-boat showing at Howth for the National Championships in August. 

Racing continues tomorrow, with more trapezoid courses expected off the Whitegate refinery in Cork Harbour.

420: Sailed: 7, Discards: 1, To count: 6, Entries: 9

 420 Youth Nationals Photo Gallery by Bob Bateman - Day 2

The top performance of James Dwyer Matthews and Ben O'Shaughnessy at the 29er Europeans in Italy this week will add extra spice to proceedings at the Investwise youth sailing championships at Royal Cork Yacht Club on Thursday. 

The Under 18 pair are lying in fourth place on Lake Garda as Afloat reports here and are within touch of the podium after seven races sailed. 

It makes them obvious favourites for Irish youth honours on home waters, especially since the pair also recorded a top 15 finish at the 29er World Championships in Spain in September. 

Royal Cork's James Dwyer Matthews and Ben O'Shaughnessy in action on Lake Garda this week

The majority of a fledgling Irish 29er class are racing at Riva del Garda, this week only returning to Ireland the day before the youth nationals test at RCYC. 

Five Irish boats are racing in Italy, with at least three also planning to compete in Crosshaven, so there will be no doubting the new skiff class is up to speed in Cork Harbour.  

Royal St. George Yacht Club's Emily and Jessica Riordan

Also competing in Italy and expected in Cork are Royal St. George Yacht Club's Emily and Jessica Riordan and Clementine van Steenberge and Chiara Carra. 

As well as Dun Laoghaire, entries from the 29er Fleet hail from Crosshaven, Blessington Sailing Club and a single entry from Northern Ireland.  

Double handed turnout

There will undoubtedly be some disappointment over the low turnout of the double-handed dinghy fleet (420 & 29er) for this year's Youth Nationals with only nine 420s and ten 29er entries based on provisional entries for the Royal Cork YC event starting this Thursday. 

In particular, the 420 entry is low given it had a record of 21 entries at their National Championship at Howth Yacht Club in August.

The reduced numbers may be accounted for since double handers have only recently attended a Lough Ree Yacht Club symposium designed especially for their needs.

Ben Graf on the helm and Alexander Farrell on wire shape their champion International 420 for a start. Graf will try out a 29er at the youth nationals at Crosshaven.

Entries from the 420 fleet hail from; Malahide Yacht Club, Lough Ree Yacht Club, Blessington Sailing Club, Waterford Harbour Sailing Club & Wexford Harbour Sailing Club.

In an outcome from the Lough Ree symposium, perhaps, there's some experimentation between the two fleets going to take place in Cork with 420 National Champion, Ben Graf, crossing over to try his hand in a 29er skiff.

Four-course areas will operate in Cork Harbour Aghada, Curlane Bank, Cuskinny and Roches Point.

Racing begins on Thursday, October 28th, and as well as deciding national honours, the event serves as the second part of a qualifications system to determine Ireland's representative at the Youth World Sailing Championships in Oman this December.

Garrett Leech reports on the inaugural Youth Double Handed Sailing Symposium was held at Lough Ree Yacht Club last weekend.

Just over 60 sailors from all over Ireland descended on the Club Saturday morning for this anticipated event, many not really understanding what lay in store for them but liking the sound of what they had heard! There were 31 boats and the fleets consisted of 420, 29er, Mirror & RS Feva. Event organiser, Garrett Leech had dreamed up the concept during the Summer and it began slowly to take shape. Most Youth fleets have the opportunity to receive coaching, normally the Coach sets out the objectives for the on-the-water activity to the group, it is then executed on the water and there is normally a debrief ashore to discuss how things went.

The Symposium was not supposed to be this, it was conceived firstly to bring together the main double-handed Youth fleets, as a larger sailing family & to promote mutual appreciation of each other’s classes. Single-handed dinghy sailing is relatively safe in Ireland with the Laser & Topper’s, commanding large fleets at events, double handed racing probably needs a bit more attention.

The next objective of the gathering was to try and address the more fundamental issues that arise in competitive racing and then specifically, double handed racing whilst getting the participants to think through the issues. What else could be done but to gather the best Coaches in Ireland to Lough Ree! The inimitable David Harte, late of FMOEC, Schull, immediately bought into the concept and took the lead. As did Graeme Grant, Honorary Irish man, and Life Coach! Graeme travelled from Germany to attend. Olympic Sailor, Robert Dickson who arrived in from Marseille on the Friday evening, travelled down, joined by Cara McDowell (Malahide Yacht Club) who is well known for her dedication in promoting/coaching double handed racing, in particular, the 420 fleet.

Ceremonies were opened by means of “Ice Breaker’s” developed by Graeme & Cara which sought to break down barriers between the diverse fleets, ages & geographic dispersion. Graeme’s enthusiasm in particular, was enough to melt icecaps! By the time proceedings kicked off, there was a relaxed atmosphere. The modules that David Harte had prepared got the kids thinking, interaction was encouraged and there were break out groups where crews discussed issues such as improving communications & how to set realistic goals for themselves, facilitated by the Coaches. The classroom-based modules included (amongst others) the following:

• Setting Individual Goals & Objectives
• The Importance of Self Coaching
• Partnership & Good Communication
•  How to “Iron out issues”
•  Learning to Lose, Learning to Win

Robert Dickson spoke at length about his “Journey” to becoming an Olympic Skiff Sailor with Sean. He connected well with the kids and they waited on his every word, from Rob & Sean’s many early defeats to winning the Youth Championships in 2018 and of course, the Tokyo Olympics. Many were unaware that Rob had learned to sail at Lough Ree Yacht Club. His talk neatly led into the “Learning to Lose, Learning to Win” presentation. You would have been forgiven if you thought you had walked in on an IMI Programme for kids, lots of life skills!

The on-the-water activity was also with a difference, first thing was to practice what the kids had learned in the “Importance of Self Coaching”. Then David & the Coaches had the Sailors swapping positions (Helm/Crew), so as appreciate the difference in their roles but also swapping fleets where 420 Sailors quickly learned to appreciate the importance of balance/trim! And 29er Sailors to cope with the array of strings & a symmetrical spinnaker!

The weekend culminated on Sunday with racing but of course nothing ordinary! David Harte ran two races under Average Lap Time (Portsmouth Yardstick), 30 boats off the same start line and sailing around a square directly outside the Club House! It was exciting to watch and no boats were damaged in the making of the movie! Thankfully, the wind was light (though the 29er Sailors might not have agreed!) and the overall victory went to 420 Sailors, Alex Leech & Conor Paul of Lough Ree Yacht Club.

A big thanks to the Coaches; Dave Harte, Graeme Grant, Rob Dickson & Cara McDowell. The experience that Dave & Graeme (in particular) brought to the weekend was fantastic, these guys are a lot more than sailing coaches.

The feedback from the event was very positive, it is likely that the event will be run again next year.

The weekend's 420 Nationals at Howth enjoyed blissful sunshine but not quite enough easterly breeze on Saturday, and a reasonable-for-sailing but otherwise utterly grey northerly yesterday (Sunday) to get in the full quota of races for a fleet of 21 boats from six clubs

Either way, as far as the first six places were concerned, it was Lough Ree and Malahide pretty well rampant. So much so that we should hear it loud and clear for Adam McGrady and Allister O'Sullivan of Galway Bay SC – they managed to break the Lough Ree-Malahide hegemony by slipping into the listing at seventh overall, supported by clubmates Isabella Irwin and Mattie Kennedy at eighth.

Things get serious at the windward mark for Isabella Irwin & Mattie Kennedy (left, GBSC, eighth overall) and Matthew Fallon & Jenny Paul (LRYC, 13th overall). Photo: Annraoi Blaney

But up at the sharp end, the first race was a clear declaration of intent with Jack McDowell and Henry Thompson of Malahide taking the bullet from Ben Graf and Anna Goerg of Lough Ree. Thereafter, regardless of wind amounts or sunshine quantities, it was almost entirely these two slugging it out for the win with the Graf und Goerg duo becoming dominant with four wins in the nine races while discarding a couple of thirds, though in fairness their Lough Ree clubmates Eoghan Duffy and Luke Johnston took third overall with a couple of firsts and a second.

Port tack assessment – Adam McGrady & Allister O'Sullivan (GBSC, 7th overall) weighing their chances Photo: Annraoi Blaney 

As for the Malahide stars McDowell and Thompson, their scoreline was 1,2,2, (5), 2, (3), 1, 2 to give them 13 to the winning 10 of Graf and Goerg – full details here

Campaigning a 420 is a much greater logistical challenge for young sailors and their support teams than doing the circuit with the solo-sailed Optimists, Lasers or Toppers, so it's interesting to see how club involvement waxes and wanes. For instance, there were no boats from the host club, where much attention is now focused on U18 and U25 groups. But obviously for now Lough Ree and Malahide are giving it their best shot, and so too are Galway Bay, Waterford Harbour at Dunmore East, and Blessington up in the Wicklow Hills. It will be intriguing to see how this current pattern pans out in the next couple of years.

Saturday bliss - let us hope it wasn't the last real day of Summer 2021. Photo: Brian James Maguire

420 Irish winners

1st overall Graf and Goerg

2nd overall - McDowell and Thompson

3rd - overall Duffy and Johnston

420 Irish silver fleet winners

1st Silver Fleet - Sweetman and Jephson

2nd Silver Fleet - Passberger and Maree

3rd Silver Fleet - Dunne and O'Reilly

Curraghbinny Cupwinners -  Sarah Whyte and Sean Cronin with Tokyo 2020 sailor Sean Waddilove

Best Female Crew Campion Soffe

The 420 class powered through their fourth event of 2021 when the 2021 420 Leinster Championships were sailed at Malahide Yacht Club with 15 entries enjoying the idyllic conditions of cloudless skies, warm temperatures and a good sea breeze that allowed a full quota of six races to be completed.

The high pressure stationed over Ireland made the Saturday morning mill pond condition look ominous, but by the time the first gun was signalled on schedule a 9-10 knot sea breeze allowed the principal race officer Richard Kissane from Howth Yacht Club to not only sail the three scheduled races for the Saturday but also an extra race. Day 1 wins were shared by McDowell/Tompson and Graf/Goerg who were tied on 5 points each after two wins apiece.

Gold Fleet 2nd Place - Jack McDowell MYC/Henry Thompson WHBTC

Gold Fleet 3rd Place -Alex Leech LRYC/Conor Paul LRYC

Day 2 provided a slight increase in breeze and Graf/Goerg tightened their grip on the title with another two wins. Campion/Soffe sailed a solid series to win the Silver Fleet and finish well up the Gold Fleet placings.

Silver Fleet 1st Place - Kate Campion MYC/Amelie Soffe MYC

Silver Fleet 2nd Place - Fodhla Dunne WHSC/Sinead O'Reilly WHSC

Gold Fleet 1st Place - Ben Graf LRYC/Anna Goerg LRYC
Gold Fleet 2nd Place - Jack McDowell MYC/Henry Thompson WHBTC
Gold Fleet 3rd Place -Alex Leech LRYC/Conor Paul LRYC
Silver Fleet 1st Place - Kate Campion MYC/Amelie Soffe MYC
Silver Fleet 2nd Place - Fodhla Dunne WHSC/Sinead O'Reilly WHSC
Silver Fleet 3rd Place - Sean Cronin MYC/ Sarah Whyte LRYC

The next Irish event for the 420 Class will be the 2021 National Championships to be held at Howth Yacht Club on the 27th to the 29th August.

This weekend saw the much-anticipated return to racing for two youth sailing fleets; the Mirror & 420 fleets. This joint event held at Lough Ree Yacht Club, was a Mirror Regional Championship and a 420 "Warm Up" Regatta.

The first 420 Regional is scheduled for the 26th & 27th of this month at Waterford Harbour Sailing Club, giving time for the Leaving Cert Sailors.

Nineteen boats competed, ten Mirrors and nine 420's and the conditions were sublime! Breeze on Saturday was fresh at times, enabling the 420's planing upwind. Lake sailing without sea swell offers dinghy Sailors a different experience however, when light conditions prevail, local knowledge can be useful! Race Officer Garrett Leech got 6 races in over the course of the weekend.

The start of a Lough Ree Yacht Club Mirror dinghy race

In the Mirror Fleet, the Championship was dominated by Sligo Sister & Brother team, Jessica & Mark Greer who got bullets in 5 out of the 6 races. Second place overall again went to Sligo Sailors, Mia Canham & William Draper, and third overall went to Blessington Sailors; Jack McNaughton & Saoirse Lawley. A big shout out to local sailors (and first time racing!); Mathew Turner & Donnacha Dullea, who finished fourth overall and first in Bronze Fleet.

In the 420s, the "Warm Up" regatta was dominated by Jack McDowell (Malahide Yacht Club) & Harry Thompson (Wexford Harbour Boat & Tennis Club), who like their Mirror counterparts, won 5 bullets out of the 6 races. Second & third places overall went to local duo's; Eoghan Duffy & Luke Johnston and Alex Leech & Conor Paul, respectively.

Two of the competing 420 Teams will be travelling to Yacht Club San Remo in Italy for the 420 World Championship, which starts at the beginning of July and runs for almost two weeks. These teams are McDowell/Thompson & Hauer/Micka.