During May to August we run volunteer-led “Dolphins” sessions on Friday evenings, providing an opportunity for young sailors to enjoy the water and improve their skills2. If you’re interested in sailing, Ballyholme Yacht Club is a great place to be!
With 9 Friday nights of BYC Dolphin Cadet sailing completed in 2024 it is time for quick summary of what the club’s young sailors have achieved to date.
The weather theme for May and June was Wind, Rain & Low Temperatures – this did not get the cadets down hearted as 2 Bottlenose Dolphins visited the bay in May on multiple occasions to keep spirits.
(actual) Dolphins certainly like the craic on a Friday night after a hard week Dolphining, they stayed out and late and partied with the cadets until 10:30 pm on the water, with cadets swimming and sailing in amongst them as the sun set over Ballyholme Bay, simply “Magical”.
Fevas – 2024 sailing has been boosted by the addition of RS Fevas sailing. Emily Nolan, Emily Ridout & Annabelle Ridout (leading Irish Feva sailors) have offered all cadets the opportunity to crew onboard these exciting double handed dinghies. If there any parents interested in their kids doing more Feva sailing as crew or helms, please contact Matt or Glynis Ridout, Ross Nolan or Colin Robinson. Thanks to Matt & Glynis for progressing the class over the last 2 years. All children age 8 and above can participate in the Feva.
Qubes – Russel Finlay has taken Friday night improvers into it’s 3rd year and it is great to see Finn Kelly, Cian Gillespie, Freddie Robinson and many other young sailors go through a briefing and then get amongst it on the water sailing a course and practicing mark rounding. The Qubes are such a stable boat and can handled comfortably in all windy conditions, this has allowed the sailors to gain considerable confidence and experience. Once you child has a level 2 this summer, then can participate in the Qube Squad each Friday.
Bahias & Quests – Proving as popular as ever for introducing our young sailors onto the water on a safe and stable platform. Thanks to our parent and Assistant Instructor (AI) helms that go out without ear protection each week and give opportunities for kids to helm, trim sails, splash about and get familiar with the water. There are so many points of participation from a Bahia session (even getting on and off the boat safely) that are underestimated. Great work team Bahia.
Shore – The shore team have taken it up several gears in 2024 in terms of efficiency and coordination of us parents. Great work by Deidre and others in selecting a new booking tool (much better than the previous ones), online check-in and colour coding for our Bahia sailors. This is Awesome work and makes the boat go faster.
Looking Ahead to July and August
Don’t forget the BYC Regatta on Saturday the 24th of August – we have the Cadet Regatta in the morning with it’s own Classes and Prize giving. This includes Bahias and Qubes, anyone able to helm a Bahia who can participate please contact Colin Robinson or Gareth Kelly.
https://ballyholme.com/events/byc-regatta-saturday-24th-august-2024/
There are many cadets helping with the large and illustrious ILCA event in July, which the organising team is extremely grateful for.
Training
There are plenty of Summer 3-5 day long Sailing Courses on for all levels run by our excellent instructor team at BYC. Courses are for the full day and are open to members and non-members.
https://ballyholme.com/watersports/training/youth-sailing-training/
Coaching
Saturday morning Cadet Coaching and Sharks continues throughout the summer for cadets with Level 3 with their own boat, come along and practice starts, mark rounding, boat speed and more.
New for 2024 we now have a strong ILCA 4 fleet on Saturday mornings, coaching from Charlie O’Malley and Josh MacGregor is for all levels– Contact the office for the WhatAapp group link.
BYC are sending a large team of ILCA 4 sailors to events around Ireland, this is a great way for young sailors to compete at various levels.
Buying a Topper 4.2/5/3 – RS Terra – Optimist : if anyone needs any advice on buying a boat, please do not hesitate to ask the team or put a request on Cadet Info.
Other Sailing Opportunities
Club Racing – remember that Tuesday Evenings and Sunday Afternoon racing is free to enter, please come along and give it a try.
Social sailing on Saturday afternoons from 2pm run by Aileen Smith – contact Aileen or the office to get put onto the WhatsApp group.
Cadet Committee – if you have any ideas for cadets and youth sailing please reach out to the Cadet Committee Members.