250 sailors to make pilgrimage to Lough Derg for Irish Youth Nationals

Part of the record turn-out in the annual Mitsubishi Youth Sailing National Championships 2012 on Dublin Bay © David Branigan / Oceansport

Throughout the Easter bank holiday weekend over 250 of Ireland's top young sailors will complete their final preparations before they make their annual pilgrimage to compete at the ISA (Irish Sailing Association) Youth National Championships.

From the 4th to the 7th of April, Lough Derg Yacht Club in Dromineer, Co. Tipperary will be the host venue for the most prestigious annual youth sailing event on the domestic calendar. All of the ISA Performance Pathway classes will be represented and up for grabs will be the coveted places on summer squads and teams for international events.

With the 2013 ISA Youth National Championships shaping up to be the most exciting in recent years, racing will be hotly contested and rivalries will be renewed. ISA Youth Sailor of the Year Finn Lynch from Carlow will be keen to retain his title in the Laser Radial class. Having won the event last year, Finn went on to secure a rare silver medal at the ISAF Youth World Championships in July. However he will face stiff competition from the rest of the fleet. A staggering 27 Irish Laser sailors competed in the recent Italian Europa Cup. Fionn Lyden from Baltimore beat 164 competitors to take the title and Robbie Gilmore from Belfast took second. Both will compete against Lynch in Lough Derg who won bronze at the Italian event. Sarah Eames from Co. Down did not compete in Italy but having won a bronze medal at the Laser Europeans in 2012 she will be favourite to win the girls discipline.

In the 420 class the competition will be just as fierce. After an injury setback Patrick Crosbie and Grattan Roberts from Cork can no longer be considered favourites but Ireland's 2012 Youth World representatives certainly cannot be ruled out. Dubliners Adam Hyland and Bill Staunton as well as Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove will push all the way. The 420 girls will slightly more open with no crew showing out-and-out dominance at this stage but the McDowell's from Malahide will hope to follow in fellow club member Ciara Peelo's footsteps, who won a bronze in the 1996 Youth Worlds and went on to represent Ireland at the 2008 Olympics.

On a separate race course for the week, the 60 strong Optimist fleet will contest the first leg of their annual trials for representing Ireland abroad at a host of summer events. With many of last year's eligible sailors having already graduated into 420s, this will be one of the most open years for selection yet. The Durcan brothers from Cork have both shown great form over the winter and are bound to feature but such is the talent in this class it is too difficult to name all contenders.

So while some see selection for teams as the "Holy Grail" it will be the camaraderie and craic that these dinghy sailing devotees will remember for years to come. Hopefully, with divine intervention, the weather gods will look favourably on them and the cold snap will be a distant memory when racing begins on next Wednesday.