Royal Cork sailors shine at The International 420 Irish Nationals

Huge congratulations to Royal Cork team of Matt Mapplebeck and Daniel Copithorne (SCCSC/SHSC) on winning the 420 Nationals held over three days in Galway Bay Sailing Club. Royal Cork was also strongly represented by Billy Mallin, Matthew Thuillier, Caoimhe Corkery, Isha Duggan and Tommy Hiras

A 26 boat fleet opened in Oranmore on Wednesday for a two day coaching session before the event. A total of 11 races were held over the three days. At the end of day 1, Cora McNaughton (BSC) Junior Champions Cup winner 2024 with crew Sean Cronin (MYC) were leading.

Day 2 Daniel and Matt started off the day with three bullets which gave the pair a strong lead. Isha and Tommy took the fourth bullet of the day giving a clean sweep of firsts for RCYC boats.

Day 3 Cora and Sean narrowed the gap winning three races but it wasn’t enough as Matt and Daniel had the overall series won by two points. There was strong competitive racing at all levels of the fleet. Tommy and Isha were solidly placed in third with consistent placing in all races.
Caoimhe Corkery and Henrietta Leech took a third and a fourth finishing 1st Irish Ladies and 9th overall. First time pairing of Matthew Thuillier and Billy Mallin finished well in the highly competitive silver fleet. 

With Daniel, Cora and Isha all featuring in the top 2 places in last years Junior Champions Cup, it looks like there will be another exciting competition in Schull September 2025 for the ISA Junior Champions Cup.