National Yacht Club Winter sailing programmes have been full throttle in the various classes supported by the club, preparing actively for the beginning of the racing season.
The Flying 15 winter training has led the way with an early launch every Saturday and Sunday morning, alternating self-training with sessions including video support. Two of the four teams training have been reunited with their boat in Perth, Australia and have just passed the world championship's halfway mark. After nine races, John Lavery and Alan Green lead Irish hopes in 15th overall.
The Optimist fleet has been training hard with a mix of special clinics led by the club Head coach and regular Saturday afternoon training under the guidance of club coach Conor Gorman. The OptiOrange event in Valencia, Spain, was the perfect opportunity to test progress in a very competitive 450 boats international fleet (over 25 nations competing). 10 sailors from NYC flew to Valencia to compete in the 12 races series. The Irish Fleet, in general, has a lot of work left to do to climb back international ranks, however, progress was noted with Gemma Brady securing a comfortable top-half finish and Hannah Walsh just about missing out on that top half for a final event in an Optimist. She will be joined in her transition into a youth boat by Lucas Browne who finished what was somewhat a tough event with his two best races on the final day.
The 29er fleet had a few sessions under the leadership of Tadgh Donnelly before heading to Weymouth (venue of the next worlds) for a UK Grand Prix. Ryanair cancellations and bad weather made it for a challenging weekend as some sailors travelled by road and others by air. No Irish partnerships managed a full series because the flights were delayed by almost 24 hours. The UK 29er class was very accommodating and we could recombine partnerships to optimise our time on site. Lauren O'Callaghan and Ethan Spain partnered up for the first three races on Saturday (and took the lead in the mixed category) before their own partners eventually arrived. The rest of the team could complete the last race on Saturday before completing the full series on Sunday. Ben O'Shaugnessy and Ethan Spain eventually found the extra gear they were missing to win the final race.
Third event in a row for head coach Thomas Chaix with the Topper winters in Lough Derg. It certainly felt like winter with polar temperatures, strong winds and rain. Eight NYC sailors, including four newbies, competed in the four races series. Ella Fitzgerald felt a bit rusty not having sailed her Topper for a while, and settled with 10th overall in the 55 boats fleet. The club sailors collected 2 minor prizes with Kate Molloy 3rd lady junior (Hannah Walsh 4th and Grace Keating 5th) and Lucas Browne 3rd boy junior, for his first event. Our youngest member ten year old Ava Molly, was competing in the 4.2 rig fleet completing race three despite the bitter cold.
We are now focusing on the last couple of weekends' training prior to the Youth nationals, where our ILCA4, ILCA6, Topper, 29er and Optimist sailors will compete.