Our youth sailors did us proud again at the Youth Nationals in Dun Laoghaire this weekend. Seafra Guilfoyle won the Laser 4.7 title, Patrick & Chloe Crosbie won the 420 title and Emma Geary and Niamh Connolly won the 420 girls title and were chosen to represent Ireland at the forthcoming 2011 ISAF Youth World Championships in Croatia in July.
The championships were co-hosted by the Royal St George, National and Royal Irish yacht clubs as a precursor to their hosting next year’s ISAF Youth Worlds. The organisation was impeccable and the conditions were fantastic for sailing on Dublin Bay with the notable exception of Monday when the wind and sea conditions prevented anybody going afloat. Easterlies and North Easterlies were the order of the weekend with winds ranging from 5kts at a minimum up to a maximum of about 18kts on the three racing days. This wind direction, combined with the ebb tide produced a substantial swell that was to tax the talents of the sailors and the stomachs of the race committees!
In the Laser 4.7’s, Seafra Guilfoyle continued his fine form (after recently winning the Munster Championships in Baltimore) to take the title in this competitive fleet of 41 boats. He counted a 1st, 5 2nds and a 6th (this race was run in very light weather and produced a number of anomalous results) to take the title from Darragh O’Sullivan (KYC) and Finn Lynch (NYC/BSC). The Royal Cork was also represented by John Durcan (13th), Cian Byrne (14th), Katherine Geoghegan (16th and 2nd Girl) and Vikki Cudmore (23rd).
The 420 class was won by the tightest of margins by Patrick & Chloe Crosbie. At the end of the regatta Patrick and Chloe had the same points as Aodh Kennedy (KYC) & Daniel Browne (TBSC) and Emma Geary (RCYC) & Niamh Connolly (BSC). However, on a count-back the Crosbies’ 3 firsts and a second was better than Aodh & Daniel’s 3 firsts and a third and Emma & Niamh’s two wins. This win was a remarkable achievement for the Crosbie’s given that they have only recently started sailing in the 420 class. Their performance and potential was further recognised by the awarding a training grant for the most promising sailors at the event. Richard Roberts and Peter Stokes finished 5th.
The Laser Radial class had 43 competitors and was won handsomely by Philip Doran. The Royal Cork was represented by David Whitaker (26th) and Sam McGinley (32nd).
There were 13 RS Fevas at the regatta. The opening race was won in some style by Jamie Tingle and Criofan Guilfoyle (both RCYC). However, gear failure meant they could not complete the following two races. In spite of this they managed to finish in 7th place overall which was a great result for this new pairing.
The 2nd leg of the Optimist Trials was run as part of the event and is the subject of a separate article. There was a separate regatta for those Optimist sailors who were not part of the trials (generally the younger sailors) with a total of 52 entries. On Saturday they only completed 1 race as a number of the less experienced sailors did not like the conditions. Our three representatives Richard McGinley, James McCann and Lucy Donworth said that they thought that the mountainous seas (and they were big even if you were on a big boat) meant that they had fantastic surfing on the way home. In the event it was decided to keep the fleet inside the harbour on Sunday and four more races were completed. Richard McGinley and James McCann (who are inseparable at the best of times) finished on the same points in 8th and 9th places respectively with Richard’s 2nd place in race 2 giving him the nod. Lucy Donworth was really consistent in this large fleet and finished in 14th place overall.
The complete results can be found here http://www.dublinbay2012.com/mitsubishi2011/index.php/results/
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