Hi All,

February again and time to start thinking about Junior Sailing. Five of our juniors have already started sailing in Wexford’ s winter series and two more sailing lasers in the Howth winter series. This year looks like an exciting one, with junior racing starting on Sunday 3rd April. On Sunday the 8^th May we will start training for all juniors with an extra safety boat. We will also provide extra supervision for our younger junior sailors. In August Blessington Sailing club is hosting the Topper European Championships.

    This year the Committee has decided to run its own Junior Training Course at the Club from Monday 4^th July to Friday 22^nd July. They view the Club’s Junior Training Course as an integral part of the sailing activities for their juniors.  The Committee wishes to place its emphasis on juniors owning their own boats, joining in with other juniors in organised sailing activities and racing throughout the season, while learning their basic sailing skills on the Club’s Junior Training Course. It is hoped that parents will come down to the club during this three weeks to help with all aspects of the course.       

Juniors will have to provide a boat (or a place in a boat) to participate on the Junior Training Course. Most types of boats are suitable for junior training once they are seaworthy.  It is not necessary for parents to spend a lot of money buying a boat for Junior Training.  It is only when juniors reach a certain racing level that parents need to upgrade their boats if they wish to race competitively on the open meeting circuit. Both Gerry Ryan (Tel 01 4947199) and myself (Tel: 01 4936092, Mob: 087 2621616) are available to assist and advise parents if they wish to purchase a boat for their children for Junior Training or if any parents wish to sell a junior boat.  

The number of places available on the Club’s Junior Training course will be 30.  Places will be allocated on a “first come, first served” basis on receipt of a completed application form with deposit of €30.  The length of the ISA level 1 and 2 courses is two weeks, commencing on 4^th July.  A third week is optional for juniors who want more practice.  The length of the ISA level 3 and 4 courses is three weeks, commencing on 4^th July.  The total cost of the two week ISA level 1 and 2 courses is €180 and the three week ISA level 3 and 4 courses is €270. As club members are running this voluntarily, please assist by getting your application form in A.S.A.P. Junior Training Application Form

This year Blessington Sailing Club will be running the Topper Europeans championships from the 15^th to the 20^th of August. Following the Club’s Junior Training course it is hoped that many of our juniors will be confident to compete and enjoy this international event. It is a big commitment for the club and any help or ideas on sponsorship would be very much appreciated. As the year progresses on we will keep you up to date on this event.

Peter Dolan
Junior Organiser

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Topper Training - early January 2005.
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On 13 March twenty one juniors attended a very successful training course run by Dave Cockerill, the British National Topper Squad Coach.  Dave arrived in Blessington with nine new racing toppers, three for the club and six for club members.  He instructed the juniors on how to tune a topper and make it go faster in different wind conditions.  He also showed, via his lap top, a video of one of his squad members racing with a camera fixed to the front of his topper.  This was very interesting as it showed at close quarters all the movements of the sail and the helm while tacking, gybing, planing and sailing in waves.  The video showed the UK national squad sailors adjusting their sails continuously on the running legs as the apparent wind changed due to the boat accelerating and slowing down.

This coaching course will be repeated over two days, 8th & 9th July, when Dave comes back to Blessington prior to the Topper Euro Cup championship on 10th & 11th July hosted by our club.  A squad training week will take place in the week commencing 28th June for those intending to race in the Scottish Euro Cup.

Our toppers have already attended 4 one day events in the Topper Traveller series.  The first event at Lough Erne in March was in very light winds, Karl Smith recorded the best Blessington result.  Next up was Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club on Belfast Lough, where Simon McAree finished 9th overall out of 44 boats, with great 2nd place in Race 2.

The next outing was a small event for Southern toppers in Wexford which was won by Laura Ryan in winds up to 18 knots.  The most recent Traveller event at Ballyholme Yacht Club saw Ben Lynch finish 1st in his class and 7th overall out of 34 toppers, an excellent result.  Maria Dolan and Simon McAree was also well placed, rounding the weather mark close to the leaders in a couple of races.

A number of the younger juniors have now started to join the Sunday club races, sailing a shortened course.  While the younger juniors start with the older ones, they are only required to race a much shorter course.  There will be separate prizes for the younger juniors.  Hope to see more of them on the water.

Results of Junior Regatta 2003

The Junior Regatta took place on Saturday the 12^th of July

There were twenty-three participants 12 boys and 11 girls. There were two classes in the regatta Toppers and 405s. The largest fleet was the Topper class which 13 boats entered.
Most of the participants had taken part in the Junior Training Programme and the increase in skill was evident.

Four races were held, two in the morning and two in the afternoon under the watchful eyes of Gerry Ryan (officer of the day and omniscient regatta man), Peter Smith and Peter Dolan. It was a fabulous, sunny day but the wind died for the third race. After great consultation of the rule book and much mathematical calculation a list of winners was produced. Commodore Joe Crilly thanked who came along for their energetic participation and  presented the silverware and glass to winners as listed below.  To the accompaniment of suitably loud music the day closed, well, went on for a long time afterwards with nature walks in the dark, serenading of unresponsive trees and no-one getting lost in the woods.

The winners were
405s
1^st        Aisling O'Sullivan and Craig O'Rourke
2^nd       Aoife Lennon and Katie Bolton
3^rd        Caoimhe McDonald and Maebh McDonald
4^th        Catherine O'Sullivan and Orla Bowes
5^th        Connor O'Neill and Jessica Barnes

Toppers
1^st        Laura Ryan (overall winner)
2^nd       Karl Smith
3^rd        Josh Waterstone 

Under 12s
Maria Dolan
Jennifer Dolan
Kevin Dolan
Robert Tam

Under 14s
Karl Smith
Ben Lynch
Barra Roantree
Dan Waterstone

Under 19s
Laura Ryan
Josh Waterstone
Niall Sherry
Cormac Lennon

St. Peter tried unsuccessfully to walk on water but Peter Dolan ? -  What can he not do?

A huge vote of gratitude to Peter Dolan who not only organised the course and  worked as race officer for the day but also supplied the home made lunch rolls, brought the burgers, chopped the salad, set up the barbecue, acted as chef, obtained the medals but generally was the foundation stone for all that happened on the day. The success of the Junior Regatta was due to Peter and to him we give our heartfelt thanks and to his wife Aisling for her support.

Gerry Ryan
Without Gerry's coaching the Topper Class would not be the thriving junior section it currently is. Every Sunday without fail Gerry is there setting up the course for the Junior Sailors and encouraging them in developing their skills, giving them a variety of starting lines and opportunities to familiarise themselves with different course layouts. All this has been invaluable in giving the junior members of the club a  chance to participate in the Sunday series. Gerry's racing experience great interest in nurturing the talent of the young members is one of the most exciting developments in the Junior section to date.

The President's Award (Gaisce)
Any young person, between 15 and 25, willing to give one hour per week (for 15 weeks - 3 months) to help out with a range of club activities will be eligible for a Gaisce Community Involvement Certificate. There are numerous opportunities to get involved - Writing for the newsletter; helping with mail shots, organising fun events for young Juniors, preparing courses for races; painting the outside of the Junior club house, keeping in contact with and extending the junior membership; assisting in the organisation of club events etc.

In this way Gaisce participants will be helping themselves (towards an excellent, highly regarded award) and their club (through their voluntary work).

Additionally, if a person wishes to gain a Gaisce Physical Recreation Certificate they can do so by participating in the Club racing season. All you need is to sail for one hour per week for at least twelve weeks.

Contact Elizabeth O'Gorman (045-867 339) to sign up and for further details.

If you already have a Gaisce bronze award why not aim for silver or Gold.

Junior Training
Junior Sail Training took place from June 19 to July 10^th

Over the three weeks 28 (approx.) members took part

New boats were available - Hobie 405s. In addition there were a larger number of school Toppers. Overall this made for an improved Junior Training  Course.

Final details on numbers who passed are not yet available as some of the trainees have opted to continue in order to achieve their level.