Hugh O'Connor Wins the Topper Ireland Championship Series 2018

Hugh O'Connor of the National Yacht Club was presented with the Topper Challenge Cup for the series on 9th September at Rush Sailing Club. Over the year Hugh has won the Traveller 2 Traveller 3, the Southern Championships,the O'Tiarnaigh Topper Challenge and came second in the Irish Nationals and the Winter Championships to enable him to rise to the number one position as the best Topper Sailor in Ireland. Hugh's superb sailing meant that he could not be caught on the last event.  

Topper Traveller Number 5 Rush Sailing Club

The National Yacht Club was represented by Adam Irvin, Eoghan Turner, Deirdre Turner, Caoimhe Seymour, Mathew O'Brien Holohan and Hugh O'Connor at the Topper Traveller in Rush on Sunday 9th September . Conditions were challenging, windy and gusty. Sixty two competitors signed up for the event which was a fantastic number for the final Topper Traveller in the series. 

Rian Geraghty McDonnell of the NYC Dunlaoighre, Dublin along with 4 other talented sailors (James Dwyer Matthews, Justin Lucas, Harry Twoomey and Michael Crosbie all from Cork represented Ireland at the World Optimist Championships in Cyprus.  Rian came away in 16th place in Gold Fleet and top Irish Sailor at the event.  

This weekend Rian will move into his next challenge “ the 29er “ and he hopes to continue to learn and improve on his Sailing skills in this class.  

He has had a wonderful 9 years of Sailing and competing internationally in his opti and he is very grateful to the class and all his coaches throughout this wonderful journey.  

Optimist Worlds

We wish the best of luck  NYC sailor Rian Geraghty Mc Donnell who is a member of the Irish Optimist Worlds team competing in the Optimist Worlds which start today in Famagusta Nautical Club in Cyprus until the 6 th of September.

Best of luck to all the team.

Go team Ireland!

Hugh O'Connor wins 2nd Place at the Topper World Championships in Shenzhen China
The Topper Worlds had the largest entry ever this year in Shenzhen China. Conditions were light and wet with lots of humidity.  Despite the difficult sailing conditions Hugh O'Connor came second overall.and first for his country.  Now the holiday can begin as the group continue their tour of China. 

420 Worlds 2018 – Newport, Rhode Island
Nicola and Fiona Ferguson from the National Yacht Club, Dun Laoghaire, competed in the 420 World Championships in Newport, Rhode Island, from 10^th-15^th August. 167 boats from 18 countries competed in this event. Sailors travelled from all parts of the USA, Australia, Canada, Chile, France, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the US Virgin Islands. 

The British Optimist nationals were held in Pwllheli this year.  We had 43 Irish sailors at the event and overall the Irish performed very well.

The national Yacht club was represented by 10 sailors, 5 of which are on the Iodai u12 team.  Lucia Cullen (u12 team), Edward (u12 team), Ella and Jonathon Dempsey, Conor Staunton(u12team), Des, Hugh & Luke Turvey, Clementine Van Steenberg (u12 team) and Rocco Wright,(U12 team).

The weather was great but sailing conditions were light and shifty.