A 15 years old third year student in Oranmore has recently qualified to represent Ireland in the 420 Junior European Competition to held in Poland this summer.
Craughwell’s Roisin Mitchell Ward, a student at Calasancgtius College is a member of Galway Bay Sailing Club and is hugely excited to have recently qualified in the Irish Sailing Youth National Championships.
Hers will be one of the two boats to represent Ireland in the 420 Junior European Competition which will be held in Gdynia, Poland in July 2023.
She started sailing when she was six years old.
“I still remember my first time. My parents launched me into my optimist and pushed me off the pier at Galway Bay Sailing Club. I screamed and cried for them to get me out. I have come a long way since then,” she said.
“I trained most Sundays in GBSC and went to the training weeks in Baltimore in the middle of February often in very tough conditions. I learnt enormous amounts of invaluable sailing information and skills. Optimists were far from my passion but then my older brother Justin trained me into 420s as a crew and I excelled. He was a very tough coach.
“Once when I was cold he made me do push ups on the side of the boat. He loved strong winds and although at this point I was still a nervous sailor, Justin taught me to love strong winds. They are now my favourite conditions to sail in and I no longer find myself nervous at any point.
“The wilder the better. Justin unfortunately was too old to compete in 420s as he is four years older than me. So I did a few training weeks and an odd competition with various partners. About a year later I was asked to partner with Max Sweetman. Max is mad about sailing and loves the strong winds.
The Youth National Championships were held in Howth, Co Dublin, in April. She and her sailing partner, Max from Waterford Sailing club are used to wild and windy conditions and were concerned that the east coast would be too calm for them to sail at their best.
But, even though the weather was mixed, they made it through to the Europeans. Oranmore and Craughwell will be keeping an eye out for them this summer.
