Girls in Control at the Irish Sailing Youth Nationals in Dun Laoghaire
Competition continued on Day Two at the Irish Sailing Youth Nationals at the Royal St George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire. Shifting conditions led to some classes sitting out today’s racing but there was great determination from competitors with the Donagh sisters dominating the Optimist class.
After monitoring the morning forecast which promised breeze in the high teens to mid-20’s the race committee made the decision to delay racing for a short period. During this time the Irish Sailing Academy Coaches provided educational talks for the competitors and families.
A window soon opened up to get the Optimist, ILCA 4, ILCA 6 and Topper fleets on the water. Two solid races were sailed on the Optimist course in Dublin Bay with quite puffy conditions from a south easterly. The trio of the Donagh sisters (Royal St George Yacht Club / Lough Derg Yacht Club) again took charge of the fleet recording two firsts, a second and a third between them leaving them in first, second and third place. They are closely followed by Charlotte Crosbie (Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club) and Kate Spain (Royal St George Yacht Club / Howth Yacht Club) leaving an all-female top five in the Optimist Class.
The ILCA 4’s put in three races within Dun Loaghaire harbour, very close, competitive racing, with the whole fleet rounding the windward mark in 20 seconds of each other. This was day one for the ILCA 4’s and ended with Emily MacAfee (Ballyholme Yacht Club) in the lead with two wins and a third place. She is followed by Rory Brennan-Hobbs (Royal St George) in second and Irish Sailing Youth Sailor of the Year nominee Leo O’Doherty (Sligo Yacht Club) in third.
The ILCA 6 fleet completed two races in the bay with Bobby Driscoll and Daniel Palmer, both of Ballyholme Yacht Club scoring a win each leaving them in first and second respectively and Lucy Ives of host club Royal St George sitting in third.
Toppers showed huge amount of determination to get out on the water. Unfortunately, with prevailing conditions and a restricted race area within the harbour it was decided in the interest of fairness that the opening race of the series for this fleet be declared as abandoned. We look forward to tomorrow’s racing which predicts a more suitable forecast.
All competitors will be looking forward to lighter conditions over the weekend, stay updated…
Sean Evans, Irish Sailing Development Manager said,
“There was some top sailing out there today with competitors’ winter training put to the test with all sailors showing real true grit in testing conditions. We’re delighted to have gotten the races in that we did, for safety reasons we held back the 420’s and 29er’s but we will see all fleets on the water tomorrow.”
Racing continues over the next two days at the Royal St George Yacht Club.