Irish eSailing National Championship is Launched

8th April 2020

Irish Sailing has teamed up with World Sailing and Virtual Regatta, the leading digital sailing platform, to launch the Irish eSailing National Championship.

“Virtual Regatta Inshore” is a free-to-play game available online or as an app, and at 10 am this morning we launched the Irish eSailing National Championship on it. You can now register as an Irish sailor and aim for the top of a new Irish Leader Board. You can play against friends, fellow sailors and members of the Irish Sailing Team including Olympians Annalise Murphy, Ryan Seaton and Finn Lynch. All Irish registered players will be automatically put into the Ireland rankings, and entered into the Irish eSailing National Championship. The top 10 ranked Irish sailors on 1 September 2020 will automatically represent Ireland at the eSailing World Championship Finals Playoff.

During this current lockdown, Irish Sailing are looking ahead to the future, and want to encourage as many people as possible to get sailing – first in the virtual world, and then in the real world when things go back to normal. We want to use eSailing as a way of engaging with a brand new audience and introduce them to the joys of sailing.

Already we know amongst our sailors that eSailing is a popular bad-weather alternative and a great way of keeping sailors entertained between races at events. As Afloat previously reported, eSailing can also help sailors to practice skills, demonstrate racing tactics or learn weather patterns in some of the most famous sailing venues in the world. We want to now broaden sailing's appeal to an even wider audience.

CEO of Irish Sailing Harry Hermon commented “We’re delighted to be working with World Sailing and Virtual Regatta to officially launch the Irish eSailing National Championship. Up until now, Irish sailors have only been able to compete in overseas events without an Ireland-only leaderboard, so now it’s time to get recognition for our home-grown eSailors and host our own national event. We know that eSailing is becoming important for our clubs and centres to help keep the social and community ties strong when we can’t get out sailing, so we’re pleased to offer the new eSailing Championship during this lockdown as a bit of a lift for us all”.

Irish Sailing’s Head Coach Rory Fitzpatrick said “eSailing is the next best thing to real sailing while we’re in lockdown. Anyone can do it - you don’t even have to get wet! Just like in real sailing, you have to understand tactics and the way wind works, and even better is that you get to compete against Olympians and the best sailors in the world. I’m using it at the moment with the Irish Sailing Team, and it’s proving to be another really useful tool in our training”.

We have 10 x VIP passes to give away to the first 10 clubs or classes who register their interest. A VIP allows a club or class to run their own event for a year (each annual pass is worth €120). Please contact Sarah-Louise Rossiter at [email protected]

The 2020 Irish eSailing National Championship is live from 10.00 am on Wednesday 8 April 2020. To get started simply visit the Irish Sailing website or on www.virtualregatta.com/en/inshore-game/ or download the ‘Virtual Regatta Inshore’ App from the App Store or Google Play.

Published in ISA, Esailing

Published in ISA

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esailing

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Treasa Cox

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Treasa Cox is Head of Communications at Irish Sailing

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Irish Sailing

The Irish Sailing Association, also known as Irish Sailing, is the national governing body for sailing, powerboating and windsurfing in Ireland.

Founded in 1945 as the Irish Dinghy Racing Association, it became the Irish Yachting Association in 1964 and the Irish Sailing Association in 1992.

Irish Sailing is a Member National Authority (MNA) of World Sailing and a member of the Olympic Federation of Ireland.

The Association is governed by a volunteer board, elected by the member clubs. Policy Groups provide the link with members and stakeholders while advising the Board on specialist areas. There is a professional administration and performance staff, based at the headquarters in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin.

Core functions include the regulation of sailing education, administering racing and selection of Irish sailors for international competition. It is the body recognised by the Olympic Federation of Ireland for nominating Irish qualified sailors to be considered for selection to represent Ireland at the Olympic Games. Irish sailors have medalled twice at the Olympics – David Wilkins and Jamie Wikinson at the 1980 games, and Annalise Murphy at the 2016 games.

The Association, through its network of clubs and centres, offers curriculum-based training in the various sailing, windsurfing and powerboating disciplines. Irish Sailing qualifications are recognised by Irish and European Authorities. Most prominent of these are the Yachtmaster and the International Certificate of Competency.

It runs the annual All-Ireland Championships (formerly the Helmsman’s Championship) for senior and junior sailors.

The Association has been led by leading lights in the sailing and business communities. These include Douglas Heard, Clayton Love Junior, John Burke and Robert Dix.

Close to 100 sailors have represented Ireland at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Membership of Irish Sailing is either by direct application or through membership of an affiliated organisation. The annual membership fee ranges from €75 for families, down to €20 for Seniors and Juniors.