The Irish Sailing Youth National Championships were hosted at the Royal Cork Yacht Club from October 28th – 30th in ideal sailing conditions, with the exception of the final day when sailing was cancelled with weather gusting up to 40 knots.
National Yacht Club sailors participating in the Topper, ILCA 4, ILCA 6 and 29er fleets delivered strong performances in all classes.
Sam Ledoux whose first event it was in the ILCA 4 class (formerly Laser 4.7) won first place, having performed consistently over his races with three 3rd place finishes, a 2nd and a 1st place finish.
Ella Dempsey performed consistently and was the 3rd girl in the fleet, finishing in 10th place overall. Ava Ennis, who has just moved from the Optimist fleet, held her own over the 2 days of ILCA 4 racing, as did Dylan de Vreeze.
Christian Ennis and Conor Galligan who participated in the ILCA 6 fleet (formerly Laser Radial ) had 3 days of racing, in what is a very competitive fleet. Eva Spain and Annabel Greenwood competed in the Topper fleet with 38 competitors from across the Island.
The National Yacht Club sailors performed very well in the 29er fleet with a 2nd place finish for Nathan Van Steenberge and Tim Norwood (RIYC), a very strong performance and third place finish for Clementine Van Steenberge and Chiara Carer (RStGYC). Lauren O’Callaghan and Fiona Ferguson finished in 5th place and Leah Rickard and Ethan Spain in 7th.
The event was a “Clean Regattas” event registered with Sailors for the Sea who had a set of environmental standards to follow throughout the event to help reduce the impact on the environment and keep our sea clean, with rule 47 (‘47 TRASH DISPOSAL Competitors and support persons shall not intentionally put trash in the water. This rule applies at all times while afloat. The penalty for a breach of this rule may be less than disqualification.’) being enforced. The ask of participants was:
- No Single Use Plastics – bring your bottle and use the refill station.
- Use reusable lunch bags please.
- No plastic straws.
- Avail of the composting and recycling bins.
The venue and event management team set out their commitment to do all they could to reduce the impact on the environment during the event. You can find out more about this approach to environmentally responsible events on www.sailing.ie/Our-Environment #makeadifference
The ISA hosted a number of speakers each evening to give inspiring and informative talks to the sailors, family and friends, that included an overview of the Irish Sailing Performance Pathway Programme and Race Course debrief with Sean Evans, Irish Sailing Academy Coach, 49er Sailor Seáfra Guilfoyle , 49er Olympians Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove (via Zoom ) and our own Olympic Silver Medallist Annalise Murphy who shared her journey on the Performance Pathway.
