Dublin Bay's Van Steenberge and Riordan Take the 29er Lead at Irish Sailing Youth Nationals in Crosshaven

5th April 2024

Clementine Van Steenberge (left) of the National Yacht Club, sailing with new crew Jessica Riordan of the Royal St. Goerge Yacht Club lead the 29er skiffs at the Irish Sailing Youth Nationals at Crosshaven in Cork Harbour

Over 90 boats and more than 100 sailors competed on a wet opening Thursday at the Irish Sailing Youth National Championships ahead of Storm Kathleen's expected arrival in Cork Harbour this weekend.

The Royal Cork Yacht Club-hosted event saw three dinghy classes compete on one course—ILCA 6, 420, and 29er—while the Optimist class ran on a separate course.

Reigning world champion Clementine Van Steenberge of the National Yacht Club, sailing with new crew Jessica Riordan of the Royal St. Goerge Yacht Club, stamped their authority on the eight-boat 29er skiff fleet, winning two of the four races sailed to lead by seven points from Oisin Pierse and Fionn Daly on 13. Third is Hugh Meagher and Oisin Alexander on 16.

With three wins from four races Max O'Hare of the Royal St. George Yacht Club leads the 38-boat Optimist class by seven points. Patrick Fegan lies second on 15 with last weekend's Brassed Off Cup winner at Howth, Juliet Ryan lying third.

Belfast Lough's Bobby Driscoll has a three-point advantage at the top of the leaderboard after four races sailed in the 29-boat ILCA 6 class. The Ballyholme Yacht Club sailor won the first three races to be ahead of Andrew Kingston on 12 and Lewis Thompson on 20.

An ILCA 6 competitor completes a tack on the first day of the Irish Sailing Youth National Championships at Crosshaven in Cork Harbour

Waterford Harbour reigning Ulster champions Max Sweetman and Fionn Lynch lead by a point after four races sailed in the 16-boat 420 class from Cora McNaughton and Sean Cronin (BSC/MSC) on eight. Third is Galway Bay duo Sean Lemonier and Killian Mathieu on 10.

Sean Evans, High-Performance Development Manager for Irish Sailing, said, “The standard on the water was phenomenal, and it was obvious that a lot of hard work has gone in over the winter by these young sailors. I must congratulate the event committee for managing to run four races today, maximising the current sailable conditions ahead of storm Kathleen, which is forecast to hit our shores over the weekend. We will now look forward to the weekend hoping we can get in some more racing for the series.”

Racing is scheduled over the next three days.

Results below

Race Results

You may need to scroll vertically and horizontally within the box to view the full results

Published in Youth Sailing, 29er, Royal Cork YC, ISA

Published in Youth Sailing

Tagged under

Royal Cork Yacht Club

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