ISA Junior All Ireland Sailing Championship

The ISA Junior All Ireland Sailing Championship got under way today in Schull, Co. Cork. The invitational regatta saw 21 of Ireland's top young sailors take to the water in TR3.6 dinghies for the initial five races. A further three more races may be sailed tomorrow (Sunday) followed by a double points medal race decider for the top 10 sailors.

Conditions were perfect in Schull Harbour for the windward leeward course with an easterly breeze of between 10 and 12 knots. The first race got off to a clean start at 11.40am which set the tone for a smooth day of fair sailing expertly managed by David Harte and his race team.

Storming in to the lead was Fionn Lyden and his crew Anna O'Regan from Schull Community College Sailing Club. The ISA Academy sailor finished the fifth race on 4 points , including the discard, having won all five races. Hot on his heels was fellow ISA Academy sailor and current European U17 Laser Radial champion Finn Lynch from the National Yacht Club. Finn and his crew of Sean Donnelly kept the pressure on Fionn finishing second in four of the races and the day on 8 points overall. In third place and on 16 points is Eoin Lyden and Darragh McCormack from Royal Cork Yacht Club.

At the end of 2011 the ISA appointed a Review Group to look at aspects of the ISA All Ireland Sailing Championships including both the Senior and the Junior events. One of the changes to the Junior event meant that the nomination process no longer included an obligatory proportion of spaces allocated to girls, which had been done so in the past. Girls are now invited to compete on their own merit. A total of eight female helms and a further eight female crew are competing at the event, a figure which is a credit to the talent and dedication of Ireland's up and coming female sailors.

Among those are Aisling Keller, a Laser sailor from Lough Derg and Laura Gilmore, a Toper sailor from Strangford Lough who both had very successful races. Aisling had four top 10 results and now lies 6th overall on 25 points while Laura had three top 10 results and sits in 8th place on the leader board on 32 points.