The Royal St George Yacht Club hosted an end of Summer Optimsit event over the weekend of September 4^th and 5^th.  The event which counts as an IODAI ranking event saw 120 sailors compete across 3 fleets.  In winds of 10 – 15 knots, it was a very long day on the water on Sunday to achieve 3 races.  Junior and Senior main fleets sailed 6 races, with one discard, and Regatta fleet sailed 7 races with 2 discards.  The sailors enjoyed overall warm and pleasant weather conditions over the 2 days. 

The NYC was represented in both the main fleet by Theo Madigan who performed well and Ava Ennis, who won the 5^th race and finished 6^th overall.

In the junior main fleet, Louise Hanley from NYC won first prize in the Bronze Fleet.  The other participants from NYC in the junior main fleet were Felix Dion, Lucas Browne and Jonathan Dempsey.

It was in the regatta fleet that NYC scooped most prizes with a strong performance from Max Neary, who won race 3 and finished 5^th in the fleet.  Basile Dion finished 8^th and won best under 10 sailor, while 7 year old Aurèle Dion was recognised as the youngest sailor of the event and delivered a very strong performance that saw him finish 23^rd.   

Prizes were presented by RStGYC Commodore Richard O’Connor, and Regatta fleet sailors Amelia Chapman, Jacob Browne and Louis Trickett wore their medals for the afternoon as they celebrated their achievements. 

The Elmo cup took place over the weekend of the 28th and 29th of August in the RStGYC. It was a fantastic event thanks to great organisation, fierce competition and lovely weather. Both days brought winds of 5-10 knots, which was perfect for our team racing. The NYC entered 2 teams of 8 sailors - 6 helms, 6 crew and 2 subs. This meant more members got a chance to participate in the great event. The sailors on team one were Connor Gorman, Hugh O’Connor, Natasha Hemeryck, Georgie McCarthy, Hugh Turvey, Alex Trickett, Hugh Meagher and Ellen Madigan. This team narrowly missed out on a place in gold fleet on day one, but managed to dominate the silver fleet and won it on day two. The the second NYC team included Jack Hall, Cillian Cusack, Caoimhe Byrne, Theo Madigan, Scott Graham, Sophie Gorman, David Duffy and Dylan DeVreeze. This was a strong team who finished second in silver fleet. Overall, the event was very social and it was great to meet people from all around Ireland - there were teams from RCYC, LDYC and Glandore Yacht Club!

The Tri-Club TY Information Presentation and Pizza evening will be held 6:30pm , Wednesday 8th Sept, at RIYC, outdoors, tickets for half a Pizza ( Margherita or Pepperoni ) and a drink will cost €10 and can be purchased on arrival.

We will aim to serve food at 7:30pm and hope the TYers will get a chance to meet. We’ll look forward to seeing as many of you and your son/ daughters as possible. It has been decided not to communicate with the students via WhatsApp so all communications will go to parents via WhatsApp, email or your club website.

Regards. Sarah Spain. NYC TY Coordinator

Lough Derg Yacht Club hosted the 2021 Optimist National Championships over 4 days from August 18^th – 22^nd, and the event, though scaled back due to COVID 19 restrictions saw 134 sailors compete across 3 fleets.  Light winds prevailed and in true Irish weather there were gusts, squalls - all the conditions to test the sailors.

Despite the limited training opportunities over the past 18 months, the standard of sailing was high and an energetic and competitive spirit prevailed.  Main fleet sailors sailed 11 races over the 4 days, with 2 discards, and the regatta fleet sailed 7, with one discard. 

The 2021 Optimist National Champion is 13 year old Caoilinn Geraghty-McDonnell, RStGYC who won the Junior National Championship in 2020, congratulations Caoilinn, and the 2021 Junior National Champion is Andrew O’Neill, RCYC.  10 year old Patrick Fagan from Malahide Yacht Club took first prize in the Regatta Fleet. 

The National Yacht Club was represented by Ava Ennis in the senior main fleet, who despite a 2^nd, two 4^th places and a 5^th finished 9^th overall, and Theo Madigan.  There were 4 NYC competitors In the junior main fleet, James Gorman, Jamie Kirrane, Jonathan Dempsey, and Louise Hanley who won 1^st place in race 4, and finished 12^th overall – a great performance for only her 2^nd event, well done Louise. 

Regatta fleet was represented by Max Neary in 8^th, Louis Tricket and Amelia Chapman.  

This year’s Irish Topper National Championships was hosted by Carrickfergus Sailing Club on the north shore of Belfast Lough from Friday 20th to Sunday 22nd of August. The 56 competitors across the 2 fleets battled in challenging conditions from very little wind to a gusty 18 knot breeze, persistent rain, and a choppy sea. Daniel Palmer from Ballyholme sailed consistently well over the 9-race series taking the overall title. Flying the flag for NYC was Ella Fitzgerald who had mixed fortunes, having led the first race from the start completely ran out of wind within touching distance of the line dropping back 6 places. Gear failure brought the second race to a premature end, but a series of top 10 finishes secured her the overall prize for 2^nd youth girl.