250 Sailors To Convene In Howth For Four-Day ISA Youth National Pathway Championships

Tomorrow morning (24 April) the picturesque waters of Howth Harbour will be awash with hundreds of boats as over 250 of Ireland's top young sailors convene in the Dublin seaside town for the annual four-day ISA (Irish Sailing Association) Youth Pathway National Championships. Three separate race areas will be laid north of Irelands Eye in order to accommodate the large number of competitors.

From the 24th to the 27th of April, Howth Yacht Club will be the host venue for the most prestigious annual youth sailing event on the domestic calendar. All of the ISA Performance Pathway classes will be represented and up for grabs will be the coveted places on summer squads and teams for international events. Each day over 100 volunteers will be on hand to cover race management, rescue, mark laying and jury. This will including a fleet of over 35 powerboats and RIBs, nine yachts and committee boats and an additional 40+ support RIBs from Howth and clubs as far across the Bay as Dun Laoghaire.

Racing will be hotly contested as the 2014 ISA Youth Pathway National Championships gears up to be one of the most exciting in recent years. In the Laser Radial class, many of last year's top performing sailors have progressed on to the senior Standard class. This has opened up the competition to the new wave of younger ambitious athletes eager to take the prized podium places. In the two-person 420 class, locals Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove will be the ones to watch. The 2013 champions are currently in transition year and have spent their academic year studying in France where they have also been able to put in a lot of training and competition time on the water.

On a separate race course for the week, the 60 strong Optimist fleet will contest the first leg of their annual trials for representing Ireland abroad at a host of summer events. One of the pinnacle events will be the Optimist European Championship which this year will be hosted in Ireland by the Royal St George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire. With just under three months to go to the opening ceremony there are currently 250 registered sailors from 43 countries from as far afield as Bermuda, Japan, India and Iceland. They will arrive with 80 coaches and support personnel and many travelling with their families.

The ISA Youth Pathway National Championships will also be complimented by the Dublin Bay Prawn Festival which will see the entire harbour front filled with tents and stalls offering various culinary delights related to Howth's world famous crustacean. There will also be a carnival on the green of the harbour for the children and their families.