Youth gets its fling in Schull outing

SAILING COLUMN: TODAY, WEATHER permitting of course, the latest batch of top young Irish talent should be confirmed ahead of the summer season as the annual Youth and Junior Championships are decided in west Cork.

Yet barely a few years ago, this sector of the sport was in a state of near paralysis and in free fall towards complete collapse.

Going by numbers at this week's event, and taken with consistently high standards achieved by the fleet leaders, the watchword would appear to be revival as more than 90 crews are in action.

Appropriately, the championships are being staged in Schull, where sailing has been a standard activity for all children at the local community school for 15 years.

Although competing in one of the smallest fleets in the event, the overall leader of Laser Standard Rig class is one of the leading hopes for future Irish Olympic-level talent. Natural affinity best describes the talented Ben Lynch from Carlow who, after a year of intensive training, moved from the entry-level Topper class to the front ranks of international youth level competition.

He had a podium result at his first national championship last season. This was followed by qualification for the gold fleet (top 10) at the Laser Radial European Championships on his first major international competition.

So how has such a rapid turn-around in fortunes happened? In one part, employing a full-time youth development manager for the Irish Sailing Association (ISA) has permitted better co-ordination of all the clubs and classes countrywide.

But a change in tactics has also had a significant bearing on the youth sporting elite programme.

"Previous academy emphasis was on preparing sailors for the ISAF Youth Worlds as the end game," according to the ISA's Rory Fitzpatrick. "But this has now changed to making the Olympic Games the ultimate achievement."

By inducting young sailors into Olympic-standard fleets at a younger age, they feel less intimidated when they begin the higher competition. Plus, it helps their game at Youth Worlds level, according to Fitzpatrick.

"We have some very young sailors doing well this week, such as Oliver Lockhead who leads the Laser Radial class with four first places."

And in Braassemermeer last weekend, where 220 boats competed in the Dutch Easter Optimist Championship, a fresh supply of young talent is feeding through the system. Alexander Rumball topped the Irish in the gold fleet with a race win and 17th overall, while Aodh Kennedy won the silver fleet ahead of six other Irish sailors and Mark Condy won the bronze fleet that had three Irish boats.

A sense of community among the sailors as well as the coaches and parents from the winter-training has resulted in "Competition afloat, co-operation ashore".

Gerbil Owens and Russell McGovern from the Olympic squad are assisting in the evenings by offering coaching and general campaign.

"Its important to keep it fun, if it gets too competitive then it becomes intense and people lose motivation," says Fitzpatrick.

Liam Dineen and David Harte officiated in a mix of conditions all week, but with strong winds forecast for today, an early morning call will be made on whether to continue today's final races.

Lynch would appear to have his class sewn up. Following in his footsteps is younger brother Finn, who is leading the Topper fleet at Schull.