Irish Sailing Youth National Championships 2026
Ballyholme Yacht Club was delighted to be afforded the opportunity to host the Irish Sailing Youth National Championships between 9th – 12th April and to accomplish the aforementioned, a dedicated committee was set up.
This committee which was made up of club members started work in September 2025 in preparation to deliver what we hoped would be a fantastic and memorable event for youth sailing on the island of Ireland.
The members concerned comprised of volunteers from BYC Cadet parents, Sailing and Shore to cover the various roles necessary for the event.
In the lead up to the championship it was super to see many young sailors with coaches and family arrive early to train in Belfast Lough.
With registration on Wednesday 8th April and IODAI conducting inspections on their class, the Club was buzzing with activity, the ladies in Registration were busy checking entrants details and issuing event T-shirts, the Results Team were checking and imputing all sailors details into Sailwave, the Shore team were hard at work putting the finishing touches to the club infrastructure and on-water team checking and re checking all was in order with their respective committee boat teams and necessary equipment. The Mark Team & Rescue Team lead were hard at work confirming they had the 28 crewed ribs they required to service the 3 race courses and Jury Team, quite a remarkable feat in itself.
Day 1, Thursday 9th April, saw all the competitors on site ready to compete and after a welcome from the Mayor, Irish Sailing, PRO and ESO everyone was looking forward to the event starting.
As forecast, the wind started to build and with the committee boats on station and Rescue Teams in position the 7 fleets, comprising of (youth course) 29ers, 420s, ILCA 6, (junior course) ILCA 4, Topper 5.3, RS Feva and (Optimist course) Optimists launched and sailed out to their respective race areas. A fantastic spectacle for those watching from the shoreline.
The Optimists were sailing in the area, west of Bangor marina, the Junior Course, north of Royal Ulster Yacht Club and the Youth Course North and East of Ballyholme Bay.
Racing soon got under way but was curtailed by the increasing wind and sea state and the fleets all returned to shore having only completed one race, except for the 29er fleet which didn’t manage to get a race in.
On shore, after racing, Matt McGovern, Olympian and Olympic coach was at the Club as Guest speaker and chatted to the sailors about “lessons from chasing big goals”
Day 2, Friday 10th April, saw better conditions in the morning and as such the fleets launched an hour earlier. The 29ers got one race in before a significant wind shiftwhich resulted in the committee boats moving as necessary and the Race Officers and mark teams setting new courses. With that done, racing was underway and all classes got 3 further races in before the wind and sea state increased to the point that racing was cancelled for the day. The fleets all returned to shore for some well-earned recovery time.
With 4 races in across all fleets, the Championship had attained the required number of races.
The evening saw Cavan Fynes demonstrating and delivering virtual racing for the sailors in the Jubilee Room.
Day 3, Saturday 11th April, saw the weather forecast deteriorate and despite hoping for optimistic return on the various weather forecast models, nothing was noted that indicated any change to what the Race Management Team were seeing and as such, no racing was to take place.
This provided an opportunity for visitors to travel and take in the many great activities and locations around the province, which many duly did. Those that didn’t, burnt off energy in Sailor v Coach tag rugby while parents attended an Irish Sailing Parents Talk.
The Club had arranged a BBQ in the evening with live entertainment for members, volunteers, competitors, coaches, family and friends, and it was great to see such a busy and bustling club.
Day 4, Sunday 12th April, saw the weather forecast still quite breezy and a decision was taken to postpone the start with the hope that the low pressure would move and with it more stable and lighter winds would follow as per the weather model predictions.
With this in mind and the forecast still showing breezy conditions a decision was taken to keep the 29ers and RS Fevas ashore, the 420 class also decided to stay ashore. At 1110 hrs the Optimists were launched followed by the ILCA 6s, ILCA 4s and Toppers.
The ILCA 6s and Optimists got 2 races in with a break between them as a front moved through bringing winds in excess of 30 kts and barrage of hail. Unfortunately,this was while the Junior fleet were racing, and their race was abandoned and they were sent ashore under safety escort.
All boats were ashore and getting wrapped up by mid-afternoon, hearing requests were squared away andprize giving commenced at 4pm.
Congratulations to all the BYC sailors who competed in this challenging Championship and to name a few, Joseph Robinson and Cormac Byrne just finished outside the medals in 4th and 5th place respectively in the ILCA 6 class. Emily & Annabel Rideout, in their first year in the 29er finished 6th in the class. Polly Robinson was one point from a medal, finishing 4th in the ILCA 4 class. In the Topper 5.3, Leo West-Hurst took 1st place, with Caroline Byrne in 8th and Emma West-Hurst in 10th and in the RS Feva class, Jessica Dadley-Young & Sally Nixon finished 2nd and Peter Rideout & Rafa Cobain Oriol finished 3rd. For details of all the results, please see: (for IODAI) https://www.sailwave.com/results/IODAI/YNBYC2026.htm
and all other classes at https://www.sailwave.com/results/IrishSailingYN_BYC_April2026.htm
Event images can be found at https://irishsailingimages.myportfolio.com/youth-nationals-2026 and also by visiting https://www.facebook.com/share/18QcsxAfJ1/
I would like to conclude by thanking Irish Sailing, all the BYC members, volunteers, family and friends who made this fantastic and memorable event possible and if I may, I would like to extend a personal thanks to the Shore, Galley, Registration, Bar and Office Team for their outstanding commitment and delivery of services, and on-water to the Rescue, Mark & Support Teams who made racing possible in the ever changing lively conditions that we faced.
Thank you all again for your marvellous support to BYC and Youth Sailing.
Aidan Pounder
Principal Race Officer
Report on behalf of BYC ISYN Event Team
