Topper Irish National Championships at Lough Erne Yacht Club
by Peter Gilmore 7 Jul 2025 17:59 BST
4-6 July 2025
Topper Irish Nationals at Lough Erne © Stephen Carson
Sailors from Northern Ireland were in fantastic form as the Topper Irish National Championship came to Lough Erne Yacht Club in Fermanagh between the 4th and 6th of July.
Local sailor, Adam Green topped the leaderboard, winning at his home club, and fellow local sailor Ben McCaldin was the next best placed Irish boat in third.
Following his win, Adam Green said: "It was really special to win the Irish Nationals in the Topper 5.3 rig. Winning the event last year in the 4.2 rig was good but this was more special as it was in my own home club and my club teammate Ben was 2nd Irish boat to cross the line.
"The wind was really shifty and at times it was very strong. I had to fight hard with the Scottish sailor Rohan O'Kane right to the line on the last race before securing the overall win. Every race was really tight with different people battling it out for the top places."
Adam added: "I know it's me in the boat, but behind the scenes I am blessed to have such an amazing team of people. Topper Ireland is like a big family, and we all help and support each other."
On top of this, Alex Eadie, who hails from Ballyholme Yacht Club and Donaghadee Sailing Club, finished as first girl, completing a 'Northern Ireland Sailing Team Double'. In a tightly contested three-way battle, which came down to the 9th and final race, Eadie held her nerve when it mattered most to beat the other girls by just three points.
The rest of the Northern Irish Sailing Team also produced some brilliant performances across the weekend, building on the momentum from a strong 2025 season so far:
- Adam Green- 1st Overall
- Ben McCaldin- 3rd Overall
- Alex Eadie- 1st Female (6th Overall)
- Emma West-Hurst- 4th Female (12th Overall)
- James Eadie- 13th Overall
- Leo West-Hurst- 15th Overall
- Polly Robinson- 5th Female (17th Overall)
- Zoe West-Hurst- 6th Female (20th Overall)
- Charlie Haslett- 21st Overall
- Hugh Hutchinson- 28th Overall
Following these performances, Performance Manager of the
Royal Yachting Association of Northern Ireland, Andrew Baker, said: "The Irish Nationals is a big event in its own right. Most of the Irish Topper fleet will see this as their target event or their time to bring all the training together for their best performance."
For the Northern Ireland Sailing Team Topper sailors, their next major event will be the World Championships which will take place in Medemblik, The Netherlands, between 21-25 July. The team will be looking to build on this momentum to produce some more strong performances in an international field.