Northern Irish Sailing Team sailors shone at the Topper World Championships in Medemblik, The Netherlands, battling tough conditions against the World’s best.
7/9 of the Topper squad who travelled to the event made the Gold Fleet of the competition, carrying on their fantastic form from earlier in the season.
Adam Green finished as top Irish boat in 5th overall but there were strong performances from the whole team with several others scoring top 10 results in individual races.
Adam Green said: “”It still hasn’t fully sunk in! Racing against top sailors from all over the world felt a bit intimidating at first, but once I got into the racing, I realised I could actually hold my own.”
Conditions during the week were very mixed and the team experienced everything from thunder and lightning storms to no wind at all. Their consistency to perform in these challenging conditions is testament to their hard work in training and the guidance from Topper head coach, Luke McIlwaine.
In the 131 strong fleet, the sailors finished in the following positions:
- Adam Green- 5th
- Ben McCaldin- 19th
- Leo West-Hurst- 25th
- James Eadie- 37th
- Polly Robinson- 40th
- Alex Eadie- 46th
- Zoe West-Hurst- 67th
- Charlie Haslett- 79th
- Emma West-Hurst- 86th
Full results can be read here.
Next up for the Topper squad is the British National Championships which will be hosted in Largs between the 2nd and 8th of August and while performances at the Topper World Championships were very impressive, the team will undoubtedly be looking to build on their learning points from the event.
For many of the younger sailors on the Northern Irish Sailing Team, large events such as the World Championships and the British National Championships prove to be an invaluable learning experience as fleet sizes within Ireland are much smaller which is often less challenging. It is see such strong performances at international events for such a young team, early in their development journey.
The Northern Irish Sailing Team sailors will be in action at the John Minnis Youth Championships on the 13th and 14th of September at Ballyholme Yacht Club.
You can now enter the event here.
