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.

Expression of interest for TY 2021/2022 programme

The TY Sailing Members Program has run for a number of years now, very successfully between the Dun Laoghaire clubs and has proved to be a great way to keep our teenagers involved in sailing, prepare them for instructing and build lifelong friendships so we really hope they get involved.

Please note that the TY Program can only run if supported by volunteer parents. We will be looking for your assistance throughout the year and you will also be asked to volunteer during individual course registration sign ups.

If you are interested in expressing your interest to sign up or for further information please fill in the details below.

Please complete the expression of Interest form by 15th August 2021 so we have an idea of our population: CLICK HERE TO COMPLETE THE FORM

Please note this is NOT a formal sign-up for each course.
If you have any further questions you can email sailing@rsgyc.ie or reception@rsgyc.ie

IMPORTANT - Your child must be a Cadet member of your Club

Lough Ree Yacht Club hosted the 2021 Connaught Championships on a hot sunny but not so breezy two-day event. Still conditions proved challenging for all competitors with only two races being run on Saturday and luckily a fresh afternoon breeze on Sunday allowed them to get a third race in and finish on five races. At the top of the leader board in Senior Fleet Ava Ennis repeated her performance from the Leinsters, taking third place on Saturday and a second-place finish on Sunday to finish fourth overall in a 49-boat fleet. Strong performances in senior fleet were also seen from Maria Butler and Theo Madigan who endured and finished the two-day event.  In Junior fleet three NYC Sailors performed well in the changing conditions, Jonathan Dempsey, Louise Hanley and James Gorman. Well done all sailors and next up the National Championships at Lough Derg Yacht Club.

Finally, many thanks to Lough Ree Yacht Club for hosting such a fantastic event and we hope to visit your fine facilities again soon.