Irish sailors compete in massive sea competition

OVER 250 sailors from 44 nations are currently taking part in the largest international sailing event on the Irish domestic calendar.

The Optimist European Sailing Championship in Dun Laoghaire this week sees a team of 14 Irish sailors competing for various European titles alongside participants from as far afield as Argentina, Bermuda, India, Singapore, Hong Kong and New Zealand.

The sailors will be competing in Dublin Bay in the Boy’s Optimist European Championship, the Boy’s Optimist Open Championship, The Girl’s Optimist European Championship and the Girl’s Optimist Open Championship.

This is the second highest entry on record for the world’s most popular junior sailing class, with over 150,000 boats registered internationally.

The great majority of the sailors are aged between 13 and 15 years-of-age.

They have been selected from trials and pre-trials involving several thousand sailors.

Unlike at other Optimist events the girls, just over 100 of them, are racing separately from the boys and this gives great emphasis to their event.

Indeed all six of the female European Olympic dinghy medalists at the London 2012 Games had participated in Optimist European Championships.

The event was last held in Ireland in 1993 at Newtownabbey. Only 27 countries (21 European) participated then, mostly because few East Europeans were able to travel but was also due to the growth of Optimist sailing in countries such as Singapore, India, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand in the last 20 years.

One of the key factors in the choice of Dun Laoghaire was the ability to house all the participants in two hotels close to the venue, creating an Olympic village type environment ashore perfect for making the friendships so valuable in this lifetime sport.