News and Media
No fun in the sun for Biznet’s Irish champion as he moves up a class!
Tuesday 03 April 2007 Business and GovernmentBiznet-sponsored Irish Sailing Champion over the last 2 years heads off for Italy this week to face Olympic sailors as his competition, as he is now in the most competitive class in world sailing.
The 2005 & 2006 Laser 4.7 Irish National Champion, Barry McCartin, 17, of Cushendall Sailing Club, heads off this week to Andora, near Genoa in Northern Italy to a Europa cup event with a field of competitors from around the world with Olympic aspirations for 2012, as well as the Youth World Championships 2007 which take place in Holland in August.
Barry, in his boat 'Biznet Solutions', has dominated junior sailing in all of Ireland over the last 2 years, winning 4 national titles in all, adding that of Irish Junior National Champion to 3 class titles, in both Laser and Topper. The manner of his victory last year at the national championships was described thus by the Irish Times sailing correspondent, David O'Brien, "comfortably retained his title with an outstanding set of results which ensured he was never challenged at the top. The minor positions, however, were hard fought for with only .75 points separating 2nd from 3rd and same again with 4th".
However, Barry has for this season moved up to the Laser Radial class, and now has to do it all again. The Radial rig is the main male youth class worldwide as the last stepping-stone to the Olympic Full rig, and is in fact the full Olympic class for women - a very tough call indeed. The weight band for serious international competitors is approx 62-75kgs - so Barry only just makes the minimum of the scale at 64-65kgs - an advantage if the winds are light/medium, horrendous if it blows over 20 knots!
The Andora event lifts the curtain on a testing few weeks for not only his skill, but also his stamina and endurance - the day after he returns from Italy he has to go into school to review his AS-level coursework, then immediately head off to Baltimore in Co Cork for the Munster Championships over the Easter weekend - another title he won last year in 4.7's - followed immediately by the Irish Youth Championships for the rest of Easter week, one of the few events he didn't win last year as he didn't attend due to his forthcoming GCSE's.