Killian O'Keeffe (3rd) and Richie Harrington (6th) fare best of Irish at joint coaching session with the French.
The ISA recently picked a squad of 11 young Optimist sailors with the objective of "to prepare young Irish sailors for success in international competition in the Optimist class and to ensure they have a good foundation in place for their future sailing".
Acceptance of a place in the squad involved a commitment to attend a number coaching sessions and regattas over the winter in Ireland and overseas.
The first such coaching session was held over the October bank holiday weekend in La Rochelle with 28 of the very successful French team (one of their sailors won the 2007 Europeans and the other 3 team members were in the top 10).
Killian O'Keeffe was 3rd overall in the races for both squads and Richie Harrington was 6th. A full report from the team coach, Thomas Chaix, is available on the ISA website here.
As with all of these Optimist events, a considerable amount of parental commitment from all is involved. However, in this instance, our own Louise O'Keeffe also acted as team mum. She even had time to write a report for the IODAI website here .
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