Northern Irish sailors shine at the Irish Team Racing Nationals

Northern Irish sailors Liam Glynn and Emily Hill enjoyed success as they won the Irish Team Racing Nationals at the Royal St George Yacht Club on the 18^th and 19^th of November.

The pair, who sail from Ballyholme Yacht Club and County Antrim Yacht Club respectively, were sailing as part of the “George Jesters” team alongside teammates Kathy Kelly, Jack Fahy, Tom Higgins and Cian Lynch.

In a tense final versus Baltimore Sailing Club, they managed to fight back from 1 nil down to secure a 2-1 victory in challenging conditions.

For Liam, it represents another tremendous achievement in his team racing season after he won the British University Sailing Association Championship in April with University College Dublin, beating some of the best team racers in the United Kingdom.

Liam said: “Team racing is like a bit of a ‘chess game’ and that works for my mind to figure out what’s going on tactically. When I moved out of fleet racing it gave me another forum that was fresh and it meant that my passion for sailing didn’t drop.

“Team racing is also great socially. I really enjoy sharing the wins alongside my teammates.”

Emily added: “After making my way through the RYA pathway, I went to university where team racing was the main type of sailing available. With such short races, this exciting format of racing really engaged me and I began to develop an interest in applying rules in different scenarios.

“Too often we find women drop out of sailing due to a lack of confidence or not being the appropriate size for the next boat in their pathway. Along with a great social atmosphere, team racing can provide a welcoming way for women to gain confidence in their ability and see a future in the sport.

“The extremely tight racing tests your boat handling skills as much as rules knowledge, narrowing the emphasis on size and strength. This makes team racing a great platform to encourage diversity and inclusion in sailing.”

RYA Northern Ireland’s Team Racing Plans

As part of RYA Northern Ireland’s five-year strategy, Navigating The Future, we want to expand the pathway opportunities for sailing across the country.

With this in mind, we will be hosting team racing training as part of an upcoming pilot project called Project THEIA. Our goal is to bring under 19 team to the Elmo Cup Trophy at the Royal St George Yacht Club in Dublin in August.

For the coming year, this is an overview of RYA Northern Ireland’s team racing plans, however some dates may be subject to change.

Over the coming weeks we will be releasing more details about how to sign up to these team racing training sessions, so in order to never miss in RYA Northern Ireland news, subscribe to our bi-monthly Ezine.