Dinghy Feva prompts young fever

SailingDinghy sailing, so often described as being in the doldrums, got a shot in the arm this season with the arrival of a new national fleet of Feva dinghies, plus record numbers competing in other key classes around the coast.

The Feva fleet, now at 48 boats, is already one of the biggest in the Dublin area.

There are 29 in the Royal Irish YC, seven in the Royal St George YC, two in the National YC, seven in Howth and three in Dunmore East.

Last weekend the staggering emergence of this junior class in just one year was celebrated with the inaugural class championships off Dun Laoghaire.

Of the 39 entries there were 33 finishers, including six from Britain.

Aside from the obvious fun the under-15s had in dealing with asymmetric spinnakers in gusty conditions, there are perhaps less obvious benefits for senior fleets who support the further growth of the junior class.

If 12-15-year-olds - and there some as young as nine - can get to grips with handling these boats properly, it would be a huge plus in later years for those who want to move up to bigger craft such as the 420, 470, Fireball, 29er and 49er.

In other buoyant dinghy news, although the Irish Open Optimist Championships that attracted a massive 142 boats in Kinsale 10 days ago was dominated by visitors (the overall winner was Jordan Factor from the US, followed closely by fellow American Declan Whitmyer and a trio of British sailors), there was a battle for Irish honours between Diana Kissane of Howth Yacht Club and local Kinsale sailor Cian O'Regan.

Of the 10 races, Diana won three and Cian won two, with both sailors recording consistently good scores. Diana, aged 14, eventually took the title by two points to win the national championship for the second year running, a feat last achieved by David Crosbie in 1993 and 1994.

Diana also became the first girl in the history of the event to win the national championships for a second time.

After 10 races in the Laser National championships at Ballyholme in Co Down last weekend, it was 19-year-old Conor Byrne from Dun Laoghaire who claimed the title in the 130-boat fleet.

In the Radial fleet, local Ryan Seaton from Ballyholme YC, who had just returned after finishing fifth at the Radial World Championships, dominated the Irish event to take the title with 25 points to spare.

In the 4.7 fleet, 2005 champion Barry McCartin of Cushendall YC comfortably retained his title with an outstanding set of results which ensured he was never challenged at the top.

Staying with the Lasers, Ciara Peelo's race win at the test Olympics in Qingdao, China, has given her single-handed campaign in the Laser radial a considerable boost. The Malahide sailor was fourth overall at one stage in the women's discipline before finishing in eighth in the 34-boat fleet.

As expected, conditions at the Olympic venue were difficult with light airs and strong tides.

Off Howth, in what has been described as a "cliff-hanger finish" to the eight-race series, the local crew of Dan O'Grady, Raz Beshoff and Paul O'Reilly won the Audi Etchells keelboat National Championships last Sunday, finishing ahead of the pre-event favourite Nils Razmilovic and his crew from the Royal Swedish YC.

In the end, the title hung on the last race, and with the Howth crew on Fraculator finishing second and the Swedes back in eighth, they took the series with a five-point margin in strong westerlies.

n The International Sailing Federation's (ISAF) Nations Cup grand final 2006 takes place at the Royal Cork Yacht Club (RCYC) from next Tuesday to Saturday, September 5th­9th, where a final line-up of 10 Open and 10 Women's teams will battle it out in Cork Harbour for the ISAF Nations Cup.

Ireland are represented in the Open division by George Kingston and in the Women's division by Mary O'Loughlin.

The event is being sailed in J24 keelboats supplied by the Irish class association.

More details on: www.matchrace.ie