Tralee Bay Sailing Club to host Musto Irish Optimist Champs
by Jacqui Browne 10 Aug 2008 14:04 PDT
20-23 August 2008
Tralee Bay Sailing Club (TBSC) will host the Musto Irish Optimist Association National Championship in Fenit from August 20th to 23rd 2008. The Optimist is a small single handed dinghy, usually sailed by children aged from eight to fifteen years of age.
It is estimated that there will be over 200 boats sailing in this event in Fenit, the biggest event ever hosted by the club. Many of these talented young Optimist sailors go on to become international and Olympic champion sailors in other classes of boats, as they get older.
This championship will attract sailors, their families and supporters from all over Ireland, the UK and Northern Ireland. This event should bring up to 1,000 people to the Fenit and Tralee areas for four days and should be a major source of revenue for the area in terms of accommodation, food and other services.
“Following on the success of the Topper World championships which were hosted in the club in July, we expect the Musto Irish Optimist championships to be an even bigger and more spectacular event” said commodore of TBSC Dr. David Buckley. “We are delighted to facilitate youth sailing and to encourage these young sailors to improve their racing skills, to become outstanding international sailors representing their country in Optimist and in other classes of boats as they get older” David commented.
It is expected that at least 15 of the competitors will be local sailors from Tralee Bay Sailing Club where there is a very active and strong fleet of Optimist sailors.
Commodore Dr. David Buckley said “Tralee Bay Sailing Club has been successful in attracting this major National event as a result of some major development and investment in the Club over the past few years, including a new sailing school and a new dinghy park, which received grant aid from the Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism.”
“We would encourage everyone to come to Fenit during these 4 days to enjoy the wonderful spectacle, seeing over 200 of Ireland’s top youth sailors competing in the beautiful Tralee Bay which is reputed to be one of the best sailing areas in Western Europe.” said David.
If anyone is interested in sailing they can get more information from the club or school websites.