Five hope to make big splash when they windsurf in Italy

They have packed supermarket bags and boxes, they have held an auction, they have appealed to the goodness of friends and family in their efforts to raise funds. When there is so much publicity about teenage drinking and other social ills, they wonder why they don't get a little more encouragement from the State.

It's a familiar story for anyone seriously involved in minority sports - but one that five young Galway men still find a little hard to understand.

Water sports have always, unfairly, been regarded as "elitist" but for this group it is anything but. Nathan Connolly (16), Daniel Hanberry (18), his brother, Greg (15), who is current Irish junior champion, Danny Mulryan (18) and Gwilym Williams (16) aim to compete in the World Formula Windsurfing Championships in Italy next month.

Travelling with them will be a sixth member of the team, Maurice Owens (19), who is from Strangford, Co Down. Last year, Owens, Daniel Hanberry and Mulryan took on the world for the first time when they travelled to Murcia, Spain.

"It gave us a real taste of what is ahead but it was tough going," says Daniel Hanberry, also a former Irish junior champion. "Whereas most of the other teams had support boats, who provided both encouragement and the essential water that you need to drink, we were out there on our own, sitting on our boards, exhausted and dehydrated, between races."

Three of the five are still at school - in Colaiste Iognaid and St Enda's in Galway - and two are at NUI Galway.

Most of them took up windsurfing by accident. They attended a summer programme run by Rusheen Windsurfing School in Rusheen Bay, off Galway's Barna Road. "I just taught them the basics," a modest Cathal Kavanagh, joint manager of the school, says. They persisted and are now under the tutelage of Jean-Philippe Roze, of Bordeaux, who is a part-time lecturer and studying for a master's in engineering at the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT).

Formula windsurfing involves the use of one board and three sails, with each sail up to 101/2 square metres, compared to five to six metres for the average. As Cathal Kavanagh explains, the board is like a floating coffee table 95 centimetres wide and fitted with a 70-centimetre fin. "It is designed to be light and performs very well, both upwind and downwind. It can average speeds of eight to 15 knots."

Training is both on and off water at Rusheen Bay and on Silver Strand in Galway Bay. The team's programme includes gym work, "crunch fitness" circuits and running. Stamina and determination are essential qualities given that a race can be 20 miles. Ultimate success, however, depends on both physical and mental effort. A knowledge of wind, tide and the local environment can also produce the best results.

Parental support and the assistance of young friends and family in raising money has been central to the effort. One sail can cost £450, and the board without fin, harness and sail is valued at more than £1,000. "I suppose if we were competing at national level in GAA or one of the other mainstream sports it would be very different," says Daniel Hanberry.

However, NUI Galway, where he is now studying arts, has given him a bursary for a year.

The World Formula Windsurfing Championships take place in Ostia, outside Rome, from August 19th to 26th.