Northern Ireland Sailing Team reign supreme at Irish Topper Nationals

Topper sailors on the Northern Ireland Sailing Team produced some outstanding results at the Irish Topper Championships between the 4^th and 6^th of July at Lough Erne Yacht Club.

After 9 races and 3 hard days of racing, local sailor Adam Green picked up the overall win and Alex Eadie finished as first female.

Green won the event with a dominant performance, counting races only within the top three and finished five points clear of his next rival. Ballyholme Yacht Club/Donaghadee Sailing Club’s Alex Eadie showed composure to pick up a fourth in the final race, meaning she emerged victorious in a tight three-way battle for the female trophy.

On top of this, Lough Erne Yacht Club’s Ben McCaldin also finished on the podium. He secured this result with a third-place finish in the final race, finishing just half a point away from his nearest rival!

The rest of the squad also finished high up the leader board, scoring results they can certainly feel proud of in a tightly contested fleet.

• Adam Green- 1^st Overall
• Ben McCaldin- 3^rd Overall
• Alex Eadie- 1^st Female (6^th Overall)
• Emma West-Hurst- 4^th Female (12^th Overall)
• James Eadie- 13^th Overall
• Leo West-Hurst- 15^th Overall
• Polly Robinson- 5^th Female (17^th Overall)
• Zoe West-Hurst- 6^th Female (20^th Overall)
• Charlie Haslett- 21^st Overall
• Hugh Hutchinson- 28^th Overall

To view the full results, click here.

Following these performances, RYA Northern Ireland Performance Manager, Andrew Baker, said: “The Irish Nationals is a big event in its own right. Most of the Irish topper fleet will see this as their target event or their time to bring all the training together for their best performance. This is true for our NI Team sailors as it is fantastic to celebrate the rewards of their hard work over the past months.”

With a 1st and 3rd for local Lough Erne sailors in home waters, some will say local knowledge, but in a shifty inland venue its consistency and putting together a scoreline that matters.”

This event marks yet another strong performance for the Topper sailors on the Northern Ireland Sailing Team. Recent performances at the Topper Southern Championships and in the Topper Traveller Series highlight the development in the skills of these young sailors- something which is grounds for serious optimism as they grow up and transition into youth classes.

For the Northern Ireland Sailing Team Topper sailors, their next major event will be the World Championships which will take place in Medemblik, The Netherlands, between 21-25 July. Stay tuned across the RYA Northern Ireland social media channels for the latest updates.