Resilience and Talent on Display at Irish Sailing Foundation Youth Nationals
There were challenging but exciting conditions throughout the Irish Sailing Foundation Youth Nationals which came to a close today, Sunday 12 April.
Early this morning, the Race Management team brought the first warning signal forward from 11am to 10am in an effort to secure additional racing on Day Four, as the forecast remained unsettled. As conditions eased, the Principal Race Officer lowered AP and raised the D flag, sending fleets afloat.
The Optimist and ILCA 6 fleets launched first, followed by the ILCA 4 and Topper fleets, while the 420, 29er and RS Feva classes were stood down for the day. The Optimist and ILCA 6 fleets completed two further races before returning ashore, while the ILCA 4 and Topper fleets were forced back to shore when a severe hail squall passed over the race area.
Last year’s Optimist fleet was dominated by the Donagh sisters (Royal St George YC / Lough Derg YC), who secured a clean sweep of the podium. This year followed a similar pattern, with Emily Donagh finishing two points ahead of sister Maeve to reverse the 2025 standings. Maeve led early with two race wins, but a BFD on Day Two proved costly, allowing Emily’s consistency to secure the overall victory. Clubmate Philippa Arthurs took third place, her results included a race win on Day Two.
The 420’s course was testing but yet again, the Irish Sailing Junior Champions’ Cup proved a good future indictor as the 2025 Schull winners, Daniel Coppithorne and Matt Mapplebeck (Royal Cork YC / Schull Harbour SC), maintained their lead, with Sean Lemonnier and Killian Matthieu (Galway Bay SC) in second and Niamh Lynch and James Harvey (Waterford Harbour SC / Cumann Seoiltoirea Spideal) in third. There was, as always, great skill on display from the frontrunners of the 420’s but equally impressive was the courage and commitment of the entire fleet.
Unfortunately the 29er Class were unable to complete any further races so the results following Friday’s racing stood as final. In first place are Caoilinn Geraghty-McDonnell and Eoin Byrne (Royal Irish YC / National YC / Waterford Harbour SC) with two wins out of four races. Eoin finished second in last year’s Youth Nationals with William Walsh as helm. They were ahead of Louise Hanley and Sebastian Wright (Royal St George YC / National YC) who scored a first, second and third and in third place Juliet Ryan and Ella Rock (National YC / Lough Derg YC) who had a first and third as their best results.
In the ILCA 4 fleet, Kate Spain (Royal St George YC / Howth YC) took the honours with Adam Green (Lough Erne YC) second and Alex Butcher (Malahide YC) third.
The ILCA 6 fleet managed two further races in today’s conditions, leaving Conor Cronin of Malahide Yacht Club with a clear lead ahead of Marcus Shelley (Royal St George YC) and Eolann Miles (Glandore Harbour YC / Royal Cork YC) in third.
The Toppers sailed five races in total on the Junior Course in Ballyholme with local boy Leo West-Hurst (Ballyholme YC) keeping his lead throughout with an impressive three wins and two second places. Ben McCaldin (Lough Erne YC), last year’s winner, finished in second with two race wins and Cillian Fitzgerald (Skerries SC) was third.
Also on the Junior Course was the RS Feva Class, new to the Youth Nationals. Ellie Nolan and Niamh Coman (Royal North of Ireland YC) were victors here, followed by Jessica Dadley-Young and Sally Nixon (Ballyholme YC) in second and Rafa Cobain Oriol and Peter Ridout (Royal North of Ireland YC / Ballyholme YC) in third.
Irish Sailing Coach Development Officer, Liam Glynn said, “It was a challenging four days, with strong winds testing the resilience and competitiveness of our young sailors. While one day of racing was lost to the conditions, it was great to see strong engagement ashore, with debriefs, virtual racing, coaching sessions and a lively social programme. This event is a key marker of the work put in over the winter and signals the start of a busy summer season. We wish all competitors the very best for 2026.”
Prizes were presented at Ballyholme Yacht Club to the winners by Irish Sailing Director and International Race Officer Bill O’Hara OBE OLY.
Stephen O Shaughnessy, Irish Sailing’s Racing Manager commented “The weather at this year’s event made conditions very challenging across all fleets. It is a credit to both the competitors in each dinghy class for showing such stamina, and the race management team of Ballyholme Yacht Club, to secure a series’’
Apart from the Class prizes, The Dillon Family Trophy, a perpetual trophy presented to the sailors that best represent the spirit of the Irish Sailing Foundation Youth Nationals was presented to Tomas A Choistealbha (Malahide YC) who displayed outstanding sportsmanship throughout the competition.
A huge thanks must go to all the competitors and their families for making the journey and making this event what it was. Further thanks should be given to the host club, Ballyholme, in particular Aidan Pounder, Amy West-Hurst and their army of volunteers, without these hardworking, selfless people, there would be no sailing. Ards and North Down Borough Council were also a huge help with their sponsorship. Irish Sailing is also grateful to the Irish Sailing Foundation and the hard work they do to unlock Ireland’s full potential as a sailing nation by offering talented and ambitious sailors, regardless of their financial circumstances, support to optimise their potential.
Results:
Sailwave results for Irish Sailing Youth Nationals 2026 at Ballyholme Yacht Club 2026
Sailwave results for 2026 Irish Sailing Youth National Championships 9-12 April 2026 at Ballyholme Yacht Club 2026
Photos here: Irish Sailing Library