ISA Mitsubishi Youth Nationals
Racing on Dublin Bay out of Dun Laoghaire, the stakes are high for the competitors at the ISA Mitsubishi Youth Nationals as they are vying for not only the National Championship title, but also selection for Ireland spot in July’s Four Star Pizza ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships to be raced on the same race areas.
After two days of fickle sub-8 knots winds, the five classes which raced enjoyed brisk, chilly north-easterly breezes of over 20 knots accompanied by choppy seas on Saturday’s day 3 of racing.
In the 26 strong 420 fleet, it is the French team of Guillaume Pirouelle and Valentin Sipan, from Le Havre who head up the leaderboard. They are primarly in Ireland on a training mission in advance of their trials series which will select the French team for the Four Star Pizza ISAF Youth Worlds, but they are proving to be the class act in the 26 boat international fleet. They lead the class comfortably after winning all three races on Friday, but crew Sipan cautioned that their regatta is far from won yet.
“We have not won the regatta yet, we still need another good day, but today really set us up,” he said, adding, “It is not decided yet whether we will be here in July, there are two weeks of trials. But we are the only French boys team who are here, along with the girls.”
In the battle for Worlds selection among the Irish 420 crews, the odds moved in favour of Cork’s reigning ISA Optimist Youth National Champion, Patrick Crosbie with crew Grattan Roberts. They improved race by race, scoring 7,6,5, to move up to sixth overall in the international fleet but crucially gaining themselves a 17pts cushion on their nearest selection rivals Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove of Howth YC.
“We were just concentrating on keeping clear air and following the gusts as much as possible. We are certainly better in the stronger breeze but so we are also grand in the light stuff. We only started sailing together in August last year and would love to do the Worlds here in the summer. I don’t want to say how confident we are, not wanting to jinx anything. We have a friendly rivalry between us all, but for sure there is more pressure this year with the Worlds here, but I like to think we are rising to it,” said helm Crosbie.
Top 10 Results - After 8 Races
| Pos | Nation | SailNo | Helm/Crew | Gender | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | Pts |
| 1 | FRA | 53922 | Guillaume Pirouelle/Valentin Sipan | M | 3 | 4 | 2 | -6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13 |
| 2 | CHI | 54269 | Nadja Horwitz/Francisca Fuentes | F | 2 | -9 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 20 |
| 3 | FRA | 54184 | Jennifer Poret/Louise Chevet | F | 1 | 1 | 6 | -8 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 28 |
| 4 | GBR | 54314 | Annabel Vose/Kirsty Urwin | F | 4 | -10 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 29 |
| 5 | GBR | 54182 | Craig Dibb/Charlie Cox | M | 7 | 8 | 4 | -16 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 38 |
| 6 | CAN | 53800 | Max Flinn/Andrew Burns | M | 5 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 15 | 11 | -16 | 49 |
| 7 | IRL | 53156 | Patrick Crosbie/Grattan Roberts | M | 8 | 7 | 11 | -14 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 50 |
| 8 | FRA | 54132 | Laure Ferchaud/Juliette Le Friec | F | 10 | -14 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 61 |
| 9 | POR | 54439 | Diogo Pereira/Pedro Cruz | M | 11 | 6 | 9 | 2 | -17 | 12 | 14 | 8 | 62 |
| 10 | IRL | 52407 | Adam Hyland/Bill Staunton | M | 12 | 3 | -13 | 9 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 63 |
Other Info ...
• Event Website
• Results
• Facebook Photo Gallery
• Irish 420 Nationals News
Source: Event Media
Image: 420 Action © Gareth Craig fotosail.com
