Sailing Secretary Report 2014

Spring Training: Last year started with a very well attended Spring Training. The weather conditions were pretty poor and the sea often wild but our junior sailors and their instructors continued to go on the water each weekend.  The unpleasant weather meant that the sailors were put to the test each day which gave them many new skills and confidence grew.

ISA: The SSC junior section was examined by the ISA. This meant all our facilities and paperwork and procedures were inspected. Maxine and Olive have put in a huge amount of work into everything related with the ISA and the inspection was a huge success.

Also, 2013 was probably the biggest year for junior ISA courses in Skerries Sailing Club so far. Maxine, together with Aoife and her coaches, put a record amount of junior sailors through their paces. The weather was good which prompted some sailors to do additional courses.

Junior Regatta: Again the Jnr Regatta was a big success and very well supported by many senior sailors, parents and many others to make this event possible.

Picnics/Social: The Junior Committee tried to offer a balance of club racing and fun sailing at the same time.  The idea was to offer non-competitive sailing alongside any racing that took place. This has proven not to be possible. The main reason for this is a lack of resources. To facilitate this, more active help from parents and club members is needed both on and off the water. Despite that, we managed to offer a reasonable balance between fun sailing and racing.

We had two hugely successful picnic outings with the seniors to Barngheera and to the Islands during the summer. Both dates were very well attended and the weather was just perfect. Also some fun days were being held.

Club Racing: We planned to hold 5 racing series.  Due to constraints of time and resources not all races could be held.  A lot of the senior sailors were racing away from Skerries. This gave many local sailors the chance to progress into our silver and gold fleets.

Autumn Training: Again, our Autumn Training series was well attended and rounded off a busy sailing season.

Instructors: We are in a very lucky position to have a pool of very dedicated and experienced instructors and would like to thank them for their tireless efforts.

Committee: A lot of was done on committee level.  It takes a lot of background work to get training, racing & fun events off the ground. A special word of thanks should go to both Olive and Maxine who both have put in a huge effort throughout the year.

RESULTS OF SKERRIES SAILORS NATIONWIDE & ABROAD IN 2013

(April)

Mirror Westerns in LRYC: Cian Hickey won the title, Kerrianne Boylan finished 8th and Eoin Hickey & Sadhbh Culleton finished in 15th place.

Oppies - Lake Garda: 3 SSC Oppie sailors travelled to Lake Garda to take part in the biggest one design class regatta in the world over Easter. Megan Parker, Alix Buckley and Ben Walsh joined a group of 3 other Irish sailors to compete in the event. Over 1200 Oppies took part. Great results from all and Megan finished 47th overall, taking home the 4th female helm prize of the regatta and both Alix and Ben finished at the top of the Silver Fleet.

(May)

Oppies

Fantastic results from optimist trials. Megan Parker finished 3rd & Alix Buckley 5th and both represented Ireland in the Oppie Worlds in Lake Garda last July.

Peter Fagan, finished 6th and Gemma McDowell finished 17th and traveled to Turkey for the Oppie Europeans in June. Ben Walsh, finished 14th and Ros Morgan, finished 16th and both  travelled with the International Development team to the French Nationals in July last summer.

Emma Parker finished in 33rd and was then part of the U12 Team who travelled to the Uk Nationals in Largs in July and Aaron Rogers finished in 37th place.

420s

Congrats to Bill Staunton and his helm for winning the 420 Leinster Championships  in Malahide and Sean Waddilove and his helm who finished in 2nd place. Both sailors have also been chosen for the 420 academy and  travelled  around Europe for the Worlds, Europeans and various events last summer. Sean Waddilove  also represented Ireland in the ISAF Championships in Cyprus last July.

Mirrors

Mirror Eastern Results in RNIYC: well done to Kerri Ann Boylan and George O’Connor who were placed 3rd overall, Megan Boylan and her crew finished in 8th overall & Eoin Hickey and Sadhbh Culleton finished 12th overall and Bronze fleet winners.

Fantastic results for all, well done!!!

Oppie Ulsters: Well done to our optimist sailors who travelled to Royal North of Ireland YC. Results: 2nd Megan Parker, 4th Alix Buckley, 7th Loughlen Rickard, 9th Ben Walsh, 11th Gemma McDowell, 12th Ros Morgan, 15th Peter Fagan & Junior Fleet 10th Emma Parker. Well done everyone with a fleet of 35 senior sailors & 42 juniors.

(August)

International Sailors from around the Globe:

International Development Team: Ros Morgan and Ben Walsh are now back from France. Ros Morgan finished 10th in the Silver fleet (95th overall), Ben finished 17th in the Silver fleet (102ndoverall).

Two other SSC sailors travelled to the event: Peter Fagan finished in 11th overall and Loughlen Rickard finished in 25th overall. Well done all.

Oppie Worlds: Megan Parker and Alix Buckley flew the flag for Ireland and SSC in their  trip to Lake Garda for the Oppie Worlds. Megan finished 96th and Alix finished 156th overall out of a fleet of 259.

420 World Championships.

Well done to Sean Waddilove for a 56th place overall result and to Bill Staunton for finishing 85th overall in the event in Valentia, Spain.

Mirrors

Nationals: Two weeks in Lough Derg Skerries Sailors did us proud. The first week away sailing was the Mirror Nationals and result for the SSC team were as follows:

2nd Cian Hickey & Crew, 21st Kerrianne Boylan & Ros Morgan; 35th Eoin Hickey & Sadhbh Culleton; 36th Megan Boylan & Ellen Ennis; 39th George O’Connor & Aaron Rogers.

Worlds: 16th Overall Cian Hickey & Crew; 28th Kerrianne Boylan & Ros Morgan; 47th Megan Boylan & Ellen Ennis; 53rd George O’Connor & Aaron Rogers and 55th overall and 1st in Bronze Fleet Eoin Hickey & Sadhbh Culleton. Well done all!

(September)

Well done to all our oppie sailors who travelled to Howth Yacht Club.

Senior Fleet: Peter Fagan 4th, Gemma McDowell 5th, Alix Buckley 6th, Loghlen Rickard 9th, Ros Morgan 12th. Junior Fleet: Emma Parker 6th with 2 race wins! Tough competition all round. Well done everyone!

(October)

RESULT FOR TRAVELLING SAILORS in date order:

ISA Junior All Ireland Championships: Well done to Megan Boylan and Megan Parker both who qualified and were invited to represent the mirror & optimist class respectively. Congrats to Megan Parker and her crew Ben Walsh coming home with gold medals and ISA Junior Female Champion.

ALL Ireland Schools Event: Great turnout for Skerries sailors some for their first away event. Competitors were: Loreto Balbriggan: Nicole Fischer (5th Topper), Ashling Leneghan (18th Oppie); St Patricks NS: Conor Waddilove (11th Oppie), Faye McGloughlin (26th Oppie) Heather McGloughlin (28th Oppie), Rebecca Fischer (29th oppie); Ardgillan Secondary School: Aaron Rogers (7th 4.7 fleet); Loreto on Green: Peig Staunton (12th Radial)

Optimist Connacht’s: 1st Senior Alix Buckley

Topper Traveller in SSC: Ros Morgan best placed local boat (13th overall), Nell Staunton (14th Overall), Ros Donnelly & Emma Parker 3rd U12.

Topper ISA Squad: Congrats to Nell Staunton & Ros Morgan who will represent Skerries on the ISA topper Squad

Optimist ISA Squad: Congrats to Gemma McDowell, Peter Fagan and Loughlen Rickard who will represent Skerries on the ISA Optimist Squad.