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Ireland’s most prestigious annual national sailing event, the ISA All Ireland Sailing Championship, will take place this weekend on Saturday the 26th and Sunday the 27th of October in Howth Yacht Club, Co. Dublin. The invitational championship, which began in 1947, will see 16 of Ireland’s leading sailors compete over two days in the Irish Sailing Association’s fleet of J80 keelboats for the title of 2013 Champion and the ISA Helmsman’s Trophy.
The 16 class representatives hail from all four corners of the country; nine sail from Dublin, three from Cork and one a piece in Westmeath, Limerick, Donegal and Antrim. Among them will be a strong up-and-coming youth contingent. Rising star Finn Lynch from the ISA Academy earned a wild card nomination for his recent performance at the Laser European & World Championships. The 17 year old took home three medals at the regatta including Gold - U21 Men’s Laser Radial Worlds, Silver - Men’s Laser Radial Europeans and Bronze - Men’s Laser Radial Worlds. Joining Finn in the line-up will be fellow ISA Academy member Séafra Guilfoyle who earned his place by winning the Junior All Ireland event last month in Co. Cork. Representing the Mermaid class will be Mark Boylan who this year became the youngest ever Mermaid National Champion at the age of 20. And making up an all youth crew for ISA Optimist Squad coach Thomas Chaix will be Dara O’Shea and Douglas Elmes who have since graduated from Oppies and Johnny Durcan who is still on the ISA Optimist Squad.
Due to prior sailing commitments Peter O’Leary will be unable to defend his 2012 title, and fellow Olympic sailors Annalise Murphy, Ryan Seaton and Ger Owens, who also received nominations, will too see prior commitments prevent them from challenging for the coveted prize.
The 16 boats will compete in two fleets of eight on Saturday, each scheduled for three races. From there the top three boats from each fleet will progress to Sunday’s final four-race series with two places remaining for the top two boats from a two-race repechage on Sunday morning.
Competitors
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| Class | Name | Surname | Club |
| Mermaid | Mark | Boylan | Skerries SC |
| Fireball | Noel | Butler | |
| ICRA '1' | Colin | Byrne | Royal Irish YC |
| Laser Radial | Thomas | Chaix | Kinsale YC |
| J24 | Cillian | Dickson | Howth YC |
| SB20 | Ben | Duncan | |
| Junior Winner | Séafra | Guilfoyle | Royal Cork YC |
| Shannon OD | Laurence | Hanley | Lough Ree YC |
| Ruffian | Trevor | Kirkpatrick | Carrickfergus SC |
| Wild Card | Finn | Lynch | National YC |
| Flying Fifteen | Ian | Mathews | National YC |
| ICRA '2' | Simon | McGibney | Foynes YC |
| GP14 | John | McGuinness | Moville BC |
| RS400 | Emmet | Ryan | Royal St George YC |
| Multihull | Mark | Small | Kinsale YC |
| Howth 17 | Mike | Toomey | Howth YC |
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