|
|
Optimist Performance Group
Tuesday 9th February
|
|
|
Training for the Optimist performance Group took place in Howth last weekend the 5th & 6th of February. The dinghy pen in HYC was a hive of activity as Lasers and Oppies rigged together and wondered aloud would the fog clear.
The Optimist Performance Group is a joint initiative between the RStGYC, NYC and HYC clubs. It is a dedicated winter training program to prepare the sailors for the IODAI Optimist trials and is under the leadership of top RYA coaches Ollie Green and Josh Metcalfe.
The Trials will take place in Lough Derg on the 9th, 10th & 11th of April and again on the 1st 2nd and 3rd of May. The purpose of the trials is to select Optimist sailors to represent Ireland at International events abroad. This year IODAI (International Optimist Dinghy Association Ireland) have decided to send teams to the European championships in Poland and the French Nationals in La Rochelle.
Qualifying for the trials is difficult and only the top 35 sailors (junior & senior) are invited to attend.
The coveted green lifejacket that a sailor is presented with if they represent their country is worn with pride by these sailors for years to come. In the past few years Howth has been fortunate to have top Optimist sailors Diane Kissane, Ali Dix and Tara Flood representing both Howth YC and Ireland. These sailors have now moved onto sailing 420's and are all busy training in HYC over the winter period.
This year 13 sailors under the age of 12 have qualified for the trials and will form the under 12's squad where they will represent Ireland at the British Nationals in Weymouth & Portland Sailing Academy (the site of the 2012 Olympics). Of these 13, three Howth Sailors have qualified for the national trials. They are Fergus Flood, Aoife Hopkins and Richard Hogan.
These three sailors have worked exceptionally hard in difficult conditions over the winter period and could be seen in the New Year launching their boat in the snow!
All the sailors in the group had great time training in Howth and they would like to thank all concerned who made the weekend run so smoothly. In particular Emmet Dalton ran a fantastic session about protests on Saturday evening.
Howth have a number of representatives on the IODAI committee so feel free to ask them for advice on all things Oppie. They are Robert Dix, Des Flood, Jill Sommerville, David Delamer and Niamh Hopkins. More information on IODAI can be found on the association's web site, www.iodai.com
Niahm Hopkins
|
|
|
|
