#SAILOR OF THE YEAR – At home and abroad, Irish sailors once again delivered an impressive range of results in 2011.

Review our top sailors by month here. The reviews are also in print in Afloat's Sailing Annual 2012 in shops now! And vote for them in our online facebook poll. You just need to be a facebook fan of Afloat to record your vote.

As in previous years, Afloat magazine is asking the public to give its view who should be crowned Ireland's Sailor of the Year for 2011.

The overall national award will be presented to the person who, in the judge's opinion, achieved the most notable results in, or made the most significant contribution to, watersports during 2011. Now you can log on to Afloat's facebook page and help select the shortlist from the last 12 months' top performers. Bios of each sailor of the month's performance are here.

The boating public gets to nominate their top three through the online poll, Afloat.ie gets a vote too and the Sailor of the Year judges decide the final winner.

Cast your vote by midnight February 18, 2012. The awards are administered and judged by Afloat magazine, the Irish Independent.

The judges decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

Thanks for your interest!

#DUBLINBAY2012 – The organisers of Dublin Bay 2012, the ISAF Youth Worlds bound for the capital's waters in July kicked off the new year with an announcement of a title sponsor today. It's a fair achievement in the current climate and one that is being saluted across the Dun Laoghaire waterfront tonight.

Brian Craig, Chairman, the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship 2012 ('Youth Worlds') is pictured with Annalise Murphy, Olympic sailor (Laser Radial Class) and Michael Holland, Chairman, Four Star Pizza at the announcement of Four Star's sponsorship of the event taking place in Dublin Bay this Summer.

The Youth Sailing World Championship announced Four Star Pizza as the title sponsor of the prestigious event that is coming to Ireland for the first time this Summer.  It will take place in Dublin Bay from Thursday 12th – Saturday 21st July.

400 sailors aged 16 – 19 years of age, accompanied by 150 coaches, from 60 nations representing six continents will sail in the Championship. 250 boats (including Laser Radials, 420's, RS:X's, SL16's and 29ers) will be raced by these sailors. It is expected that 10 Irish sailors will qualify to take part in the Four Star Pizza ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship. Entries have already been received from twelve nations including Brazil, UK, Georgia, Denmark, US, Belgium, France, Thailand, Macedonia, Croatia, Finland and Korea.

Speaking at the announcement of the sponsorship, Brian Craig, Four Star Pizza ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship Chairman said, 'After a competitive bidding process, Ireland is honoured to have been chosen to host this much celebrated event which is renowned for providing the world with its first glimpse of future sailing stars. We are equally honoured to welcome a great brand like Four Star Pizza as title event sponsor. Their investment will help us enormously in promoting the event and in turn promoting the very best in youth sailing in Ireland and across the world."

Also commenting on the sponsorship, Michael Holland, Chairman, Four Star Pizza said, "The Four Star Pizza network across Ireland which includes 37 outlets is delighted to have secured this sponsorship. This deal with help us to continue to leverage the Four Star Pizza brand which has a loyal following especially amongst 18 – 24 year olds so a partnership on a youth sailing event of this scale is a perfect fit for us. Four Star will do everything it can to support the organisers in making this a memorable and unique World Championship and making Ireland proud to have hosted it in 2012.'

The ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship was first held in Sweden in 1971, has taken place every year since. The last three Championships were held in Brazil, Turkey and Croatia respectively. Throughout its history, the ISAF Youth Worlds has visited over 20 nations, covering every continent, and over 100 different nations have competed. Fifteen of the sailors who won medals at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games are past medalists at the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship. France is currently the most successful nation, winning the ISAF Nations Trophy on a record 10 occasions and holding a record 62 medals: 20 Gold, 27 Silver and 15 Bronze.

#Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean – Over the last 3 days in two separate operations Units of NATO'S Counter Piracy Task Force 508 successfully identified and neutralised two ocean going dhows that had been pirated and were subsequently being used as mother ships from which Somali pirates were intending to launch attacks on merchant shipping in the sea lanes off Somalia and the southern Arabian coasts.

In the first incident on Friday 6th January the USS CARNEY acting on intelligence from other counter piracy forces intercepted the Indian flagged dhow AL QASHMI off the south western coast of Oman. Following the dhow until it was safe to intercept her, the USS CARNEY carried out a text book approach to persuade the suspected pirates that they should stop and allow a compliant boarding of the dhow. Once onboard the dhow the USS CARNEY'S Board and Search Team quickly discovered that all evidence of potential piracy had been disposed of and questioning of the dhow's crew revealed that they had been hijacked with the 9 suspected pirates launching from a different dhow. The suspected pirates were released into their own boats and given sufficient fuel, provisions and water to make the passage back to Somalia. The crew of the AL QASHMI were offered assistance and then allowed to go about their lawful business.

The second incident took place on Saturday 7th January several hundred nautical miles away to the south west and close to the Somali coast when another dhow, this time of Iranian nationality, was identified as a potential pirate mother ship by the Danish warship HDMS ABSALON.

Having tracked the dhow through the night at first light the ABSALON launched her helicopter and confirmed that the dhow was carrying fast boats that were unusual to that type of dhow but of the type widely used by pirates. ABSALON then closed the dhow to hail it but instead of stopping as requested it turned towards the Somali coast. In order to force compliance ABSALON used warning shots to bring the dhow to a stop.

ABSALON'S Board and Search Team was all ready to launch and were quickly dispatched to the dhow under cover of the helicopter before the suspected pirates were able to dispose of potential evidence linking them to piracy and this was subsequently seized along with the 25 suspected pirates. The Boarding Team found 14 crew members, 5 Iranian nationals and 9 from Pakistan who were taken aboard the ABSALON to be interviewed and for medical checks though there were no injuries sustained in the use of warning shots or during the boarding operation.

The 25 suspected pirates have been detained onboard HDMS ABSALON pending further investigation and to ascertain if they can be prosecuted and a decision on that will be made in the next few days. The dhow's crew were given access to phone calls so they could give their relatives the good news of their release and they will also now be able to continue their voyage.

Commenting on a very busy few days for his Task Force, Rear Admiral (LH) Sinan Azmi TOSUN, Commander of NATO Counter Piracy Task Force 508 said "With these two disruptions overlapping and many miles apart NATO's Counter Piracy Task Force has demonstrated its flexibility, reach, resolve and capability to work with other counter piracy agencies to provide security on the sea lanes of this large ocean. Within the last two days NATO has disrupted two piracy-related dhows with a total of 34 suspected Somali pirates now unable to engage in unlawful acts on the high seas. This is a severe loss of capability for the pirate organisers and I congratulate my units on a job well done."

#optiworldsnz – Tralee's Sophie Browne got no chance to improve on her 13th overall when the last race of the Optimist World Championships in New Zealand was abandoned yesterday due to lack of wind. The only Irish competitor in the 208-boat competition has impressed all week with a plucky performance that kept her inside the top ten of the world's toughest youth fleet until the penultimate day, when she dropped from ninth to 13th.

Although finishing 13th overall, she was second girl overall which earns her the girl's silver medal.

The result is being hailed as a major success by her club Tralee Bay Sailing Club, the first time Ireland has faced world championship competition for over four years. During the week Irish support for Sophie came from all over the world including her club mate, the offshore sailing star Damian Foxall currently racing in the Volvo Ocean Race onboard Team Groupama.

The 2011 World Champion Optimist Dinghy Sailing is Kimberly Lim from Singapore.

The Delta Flag was raised at 10.41, meaning that racing would start at 11.41. It didn't take the 210 sailors long at all to get out onto the water. The wind was very mild, around 10 knots, but the sun came back out again.

Protests from yesterday's racing had been processed and when the updated provisional results were published, there was a change on the leadership board. Ryan Lo had to give up his third position to Javier Arribas who was previously fourth.

The first fleet started the race at 1208, but all reaces were abandoned at 1308. The wind was too light for the strong current and sailors were not able to make progress around the course. At 1350 the Race Committee decided to start race 12 again, but at 1427 the very hard call was made to abandon all races for the day which means that the World Championships are over.

The provisional leader board (for the individual racing) after 11 races shows: 1 Kimberly Lim (SIN) 70 points, 2 Bart Lambriex (NED) 74 points, 3 Javier Arribas (PER) 77 points, 4 Ryan Lo (SIN) 78 points, 5 Francisco Ducasse (CHI) 87 points, 6 Ahmad Syukri Abdul Aziz (MAS) 90 points, 7 Wade Waddell (USA) 96 points, 8 Gabriel Elstrodt (BRA) 109 points, 9 Rodrigo Luz (BRA) 112 points, 10 Leonard Takahashi-Fry (NZL) 114 points.

All our coverage of the Oppy worlds in New Zealand here

#FIREBALL  – Tom Gillard and Sam Brearey, GBR 15041, are the 2012 Fireball world Champions after the 2012 title fight went all the way down to the last race.

Race Officer Robin Olsen and his team had a challenging day on the water with initial winds that swung from 185 - 240º with a strength that varied from 10 – 18knots. However, they persevered to produce the last two races of the regatta.

Tom & Sam sailed what was to be their second discard when they finished 6^th, behind their closest rivals, Robin Inns and Joel Coultas and a charging Brit pack of Wade/Saxton, Howarth/Townend, South Australians, Allison/Watson and Swiss Mermod/Moser.

This left the top two tied after the second discard kicked in, resulting in a final race duel that had everyone chewing their finger nails.

A black flag start, hitting a windward mark (GBR) and exchanges of the lead throughout the race, with significant leads being wiped out to be replaced with boat-length advantages saw Gillard & Brearey hold on to win by mere boat-lengths at the finish to take the title. The margin of victory, a single point, the difference between 1^st and 2^nd in the final race!

Gillard and Brearey will now hold the title until September 2013 when the Worlds return to Europe and Slovenia!

Tom Gillard came to initial international prominence at the 2009 Europeans and Worlds in La Rochelle when he helmed for our own Francis Rowan and won a race in each of the weeks, finishing third overall in the Europeans. Sam Brearey first came to our notice when he sailed with Tim Rush in the Nationals in Tralee (circa 2005/6). They teamed up together to win the 2010 Europeans in the Czech Republic and were beaten to the overall title in Sligo on the tenth race in June last year. They now enjoy a 21 month reign before their title is up for grabs!

Ben Schulz’ 10^th overall, with Phillip Bowley, is extremely commendable considering the work he put into organizing the event!

#oppiewordsnz – A 14th and a 42nd scored in the penultimate rounds of the Optimist worlds today drop Ireland's Sophie Browne from ninth to 13th overall. Browne needs to move up ten points with a single day's racing left to sail in Napier, New Zealand tomorrow to secure a much sought after top ten result overall. Ireland's only contender at the world's top junior championships is the second placed girl overall in the 208–boat fleet, a magnificant performance for the Tralee 14year–old.

The Optimist World Championships saw wind, rain, fog and therefore poor visibility yesterday. It wasn't until 1350 that the decision was made for the competitors to go out on the water. The wind was 18 knots, it was still raining, and the swells were 2 metres high, but the event organisers were determined to complete three races.

Sophie started out with a solid performance and a fourth place. She continued to sail well and finished 14th in her second race but then slipped back in the third race ultimately finishing 42nd which resulted in her dropping to 13th overall on the leader board.

#julesvernetrophy – As the only British crew member on-board, Brian Thompson, today clocked up two major records as the maxi trimaran, Banque Populaire V, crossed the Jules Verne Trophy finish line near Brest, France this evening.

Thompson is part of the crew that has just smashed the world speed record for a lap of the planet on-board a yacht and has simultaneously become the first Briton to circumnavigate the globe non-stop for a fourth time.  Skippered by Frenchman Loïck Peyron with a crew of 13, Banque Populaire V, beat the existing record set by Groupama 3 by over two and a half days when they crossed the finish at  22hrs 14 minutes 35 seconds GMT Friday 6th January. The Banque Populaire V crew sailed non-stop around the world in an incredible 45 days 13 hrs 42 minutes and 53 seconds.

{youtube}D0GNiPOVHVA{/youtube}

Having spent over six weeks at sea, the crew were thrilled to see a flotilla of boats and crowds on the dock ready to welcome them home and are looking forward to celebrating their success with friends and family.

A triumphant Thompson said:

"This has been an incredible trip around the planet, almost a dream ride. And that is because of the quality of the boat, of the preparation and most of all to the incredible crew on board. I am very fortunate to have sailed with Loïck, the best all round multihull sailor there is, and the rest of the team that are so talented, industrious, dedicated, fun and welcoming to an English guy with schoolboy French! To achieve my dream of finally holding the Trophée Jules Verne, and of setting the most prestigious record in sailing for the second time, feels absolutely fantastic. At the same time, to become the first Briton to sail around the world non-stop 4 times, is just amazing and feels very special"

Despite having just completed an epic voyage, Thompson is already looking to the future as he hopes to be on the start line of the Vendée Globe in November 2012. Commenting on his next goal he said:

"I have so enjoyed sailing round the world on Banque Populaire V, a trip on fast forward. And the whole way around I have been thinking about every detail on how to do another solo lap of the planet - faster, safer and more environmentally efficient than ever before. What better place to test that experience, than in the Vendee Globe 2012?"

In addition to the overall speed record, the crew aboard Banque Populaire V have already broken two other world records on this amazing sprint around the globe; one across the Indian Ocean* and one from equator to equator**. Last year this formidable yacht set two further world speed records; the first for sailing around Britain and Ireland in June 2011 and the second when the crew were the fastest the classic Fastnet course in August 2011. Although this latest world speed record relates specifically to a yacht, the lap of the planet has actually been completed faster than any other vessel ever, be that under power or sail.

# FiREBALL – As the report that precedes this one suggested, the penultimate day of the Fireball Worlds in Mandurah saw a duel in the sun and waves between the young British combination Tom Gillard and Sam Brearey and the Australians Robin Inns and Joel Coultas. The Y&Y registered report for the day advises that these two broke away from the rest of the fleet and match-raced each other around both courses today (Friday). The breeze for the day was healthy and generated big swells with both the weather mark and the gybe mark providing fun and games for all. It seems that even past champions Chips Howarth and Vyv Townend found the conditions challenging and were out-gybed by their younger rivals. The report also indicated that the time Messrs Gillard and Brearey spent in the gym, before their departure for Australia, paid dividends today.

Despite a score card for the day that reflects two wins, it seems that the lead in both races changed hands a number of times between the Aussies and the Brits. The Brits took the honours for the day but Inns and Coultas took the next best set with 2 x 2nd places.

Ben Schulz and Phillip Bowley had their best day to date scoring a 5th and a 3rd to allow themselves a spot in the overall top ten, albeit in tenth place. Martin Lewis and Richard Byne scored a fourth in the day's second race which, with a seventh in Race 7, sees them hold a 4pt advantage over Howarth & Townend and 6th place overall.

Allison/Watson had the best day of the three boats tied on 24pts behind Gillard/Brearey & Inns/Coultas. Their points tally for the day was 12pts (4th & 8th) allowing them to open a 3pt gap on Heywood/Littedike & Wade/Saxton who both scored 15pts on the day – a 6th and a 9th each – in different races.........obviously!

Fireball Worlds, Mandurah, Western Australia.

Top 10 Overall & Selected Others

Eight Races completed, Single Discard.

1 Gillard & Brearey (GBR) 1 4 2 6 1 2 1 1 12pts

2 Inns & Coultas (AUS) 5 3 1 2 8 1 2 2 16pts

3 Allison & Watson(AUS) 8 2 4 4 6 21 4 8 36pts

4 Heywood & Littledike (AUS) 7 1 3 7 17 6 6 9 39pts

5 Wade & Saxton (GBR) 3 6 11 5 5 5 9 6 39pts

6 Lewis & Byne (GBR) 12 13 9 1 4 4 7 4 41pts

7 Howarth & Townend (GBR) 6 9 12 3 2 10 3 16 45pts

8 Kubovy & Winkler (CZE) 14 7 10 9 3 3 15 10 56pts

9 Gordon & Fletcher (AUS) 2 8 13 13 7 13 10 7 60pts

10 Schulz & Bowley (AUS) 9 11 8 18 13 11 5 3 60pts

13 Goacher & Thorne (GBR) 11 16 7 65 16 7 13 13 83pts

14 Scott & Scott (GBR) 15 36 5 8 14 9 16 19 86pts

17 Jospe & Egli (CAN) 22 23 16 16 12 12 36 14 115pts

18 McFarlane & Payne (AUS) 13 15 23 12 25 17 18 18 116pts

23 Moser & Nouel (SUI/FRA0 17 20 27 22 29 15 39 31 161pts

As this report is being written, the crews in Mandurah are only 3½hrs away from the first (scheduled) start of the final day's racing. With a four-point cushion, Tom & Sam may be on the cusp of securing their first World title, but the evidence of the regatta to date is that Robin & Joel will push them all the way!

#optiworldsnz – Support from home including Volvo Ocean Race sailor Damian Foxall urged Sophie Browne back in to the top ten of the Optimist World Championships at Napier, New Zealand today. The 14 year old from Tralee maintained her position at the top of the leader board in one of the world's toughest youth sailing class against a fleet of 208 competitors drawn from 48 countries.

Day four saw racing resume for the 210 boat fleet following a lay day yesterday, and two races were successfully completed. Sophie placed 31st and 5th which, allowing for a discard, which means the Kerry sailor now climbs six places to ninth overall.

Support at home has been building throughout the week and last night from his base in Abu Dhabi Ireland's top offshore sailor Damian Foxall from Team Groupama added his support on afloat.ie 

"Hi Sophie, Well done, great to see you are still forging ahead. Good luck for the rest. Maybe see you in Galway, hi to all the family" the Groupama crew boss wrote last night on this site.

Browne is the sole representative for Ireland at the Championships with racing having begun on New Year's Day.

The 210 competitors from 48 countries have been divided into six groups resulting in three fleets per race and a spectacle on the start line with seventy boats per race. Light winds have unfortunately hindered some racing with only one successful race being completed on both Day 1 and Day 3 however four successful races on Day 2 and two on Day 4 (today) tally an overall of eight solid results for Sophie, allowing for one discard. Sophie has maintained her position at the top of the leader board with all seven of her results in the top 20, three of which in the top 5. She is currently 9th overall with racing continuing until Monday the 9th.

It was busy at the breakfast table this morning with sailors keen to get back onto the water after a day of sight seeing.

Sailors went onto the water at the scheduled time to start the first race at 1025, but with winds between 1 and 4 knots, there was not much sailing.

"We made the call to send the sailors back to shore at 1245" according to Gerald Martin, Principle Race Officer. "No racing had been done, and it didn't look like anything was going to happen any time soon as there was hardly any wind" Mr Martin continues.

Sailors were called back onto the water by 1310, but it wasn't until 1535 before the first race of the day started. The leader board changed after the seventh race: Ryan Lo who held the first position was disqualified from race 7 and dropped to place 7. Bart Lambriex from the Netherlands who finished second in race 7 took over the leadership position.

Wind increased to 8 knots by the time the eight race started, and the race committee managed to do all three fleets. It was a long day for the sailors with many headed back to shore just before 1900.

Bart Lambriex finished 15th in the eight and last race but managed to keep his prime position om the overall scores, followed by Ahmad Syukri Abdul Aziz from Malaysia with Javier Arribas solid in place three. The first female sailor is Kimberly Lim from Singapore on place four.

Whether there will be any sailing tomorrow depends entirely on the weather. The weather prediction at 2200 are very strong winds: up to 31 knots, heavy rain: 13.9 mm/hr and very high swells. We expect the Race Committee to make a call first thing tomorrow morning.

The provisional leader board (for the individual racing) after 8 races shows: 1 Bart Lambriex (NED) 40 points, 2 Ahmad Syukri Abdul Aziz (MAS) 48 points, 3 Javier Arribas (PER) 48 points, 4 Kimberly Lim (SIN) 59 points, 5 Miel Verstraete (BEL) 61 points, 6 Ryan Lo (SIN) 68 points, 7 Leonard Takahashi-Fry (NZL) 68 points, 8 Maria Vittoria Marchesini (ITA) 70 points, 9 Sophie Browne (IRL) 73 points, 10 Rodrigo Luz (BRA) 78 points.

#optimist – Impressed with the sailing success of 14-year-old Sophie Browne in New Zealand this week? Could you be the next to represent Ireland on the world stage? The Irish Optimist class is making every effort to bring on as many 'Oppy' sailors as possible with an Invitation to all Optimist sailors to its 2012 Spring Training Week in Baltimore from 13-17 February 2011, the school half-term.

IODAI, the International Optimist Dinghy Association of Ireland, organises a Spring training week every year which is open to all Optimist sailors in Ireland.

Baltimore in West Cork sits near the very southern tip of Ireland on the beautiful southwest coast roughly mid-way between the busy tourist destination of Dingle and Kinsale. Slightly off the tourist trail, Baltimore has restrained a village atmosphere, but it still has plenty of top class accommodation and a great place to eat and drink.

The village of Baltimore will be taken over by approximately 150 sailors and their families for the week of February mid-term. Coaches have not yet been announced, but typically are a mix of the top Irish and international coaches; in 2011, the Irish coaches were joined by coaches from Denmark, Spain and Italy.

Training will be provided daily for sailors of all competencies, from those who have never sailed before – pre-Regatta fleet level - to those who are competing internationally.

The class particularly would like to encourage sailors who have not attended an event outside their own club in the past, to consider coming to Baltimore, which is a non-competitive, fun week intended to build enthusiasm for sailing and to allow sailors from around the country to get to know each other.

The Baltimore event is considered to be one of the top International clinics in Europe.

It is very much a family-oriented event, with a programme of activities for children too young to sail, and events also organised for adults, such as the 'How to Rig an Oppi' class for novice parents!

The event is organised by IODAI which is comprised of volunteers, mainly parents of sailors, who organise the Optimist events calendar. Because everyone is a volunteer, Baltimore is an 'all hands on deck' week, with parents encouraged to lend a hand with the work that goes into making it such a special event. Helping out with making sailors lunches, doing slip duty, rescue on the water, or safety checking of boats, means that parents will get to know each other just as well as the sailors do.

Evening activities are also on offer, including the ever-popular 'Pizza night with the Coaches', tours of the Baltimore castle and RNLI station, and cinema night. And of course the cake competition on the last day of sailing.

An IODAI forum takes place during the Baltimore week where all parents are invited to express their views or seek information on the running of the Optimist class.

Entry is open to all interested sailors and entry can be made through the online Sailracer system, or directly by contacting the organiser Aidan Staunton at [email protected].

Baltimore has accommodation to suit our Sailors with a wide selection of Holiday homes, Apartments, Bed & Breakfast and Casey Hotel. Families can choose somewhere near the harbour or centre of the town. Accommodation can be booked on www.baltimore.ie where you will find a comprehensive list of accommodation.