David Branigan

The close of the recent marathon World Championships at Cadiz sees most of the Irish Olympic squad taking a well-earned break from competition, including declining invitations from the Irish Sailing Association to take part in this weekend's Allianz Helmsman Championship.

But the absence of our elite cadre serves to level the playing field for our domestic champions. Defending title-holder Conor Walsh from Ballyholme faces stiff opposition, as class champions for the season form the backbone of the event.

Just 470 helm and former winner of this championship, Gerbil Owens, will represent the Olympians among a fleet that includes Tim Goodbody (Royal Irish YC, Dun Laoghaire), who won the Alfa Romeo Sigma 33 European Championship on Dublin Bay in June. A former offshore sailor, his wins have included the Fastnet Race and he has also sailed Dragon keelboats to be used this weekend.

Also in the field is Sean Craig (Royal St George YC, Dun Laoghaire), who had one of the best performances of an Irish crew on the Flying 15 class circuit, including winning the UK National Championship. Craig ended the recent Subaru World Championship second best Irish boat in a competitive fleet.

The International Dragon was another class to stage its European Championship in Ireland this summer. Neil Hegarty (Royal Cork YC, Crosshaven) topped the national fleet at the event by taking seventh overall. Along with the crew of Phantom, he recently took the national championship title at Glandore.

Mel Collins (Royal Cork YC, Crosshaven) is a former Mirror class world champion who helmed the top all-Irish entry in the recent Fáilte Ireland 1720 European Championship staged at Howth. In a fleet that included a veteran round the world race sailor, a triple Laser World Champion and the current World Match Race champion, Collins helmed Des Faherty's Aquatack into third overall.

But the line-up isn't just restricted to these helms. This event's history has frequently seen many of Ireland's leading dinghy sailors overturn pre-championship expectations. Amongst the other contenders is past-winner Ruan O'Tiarnaigh (Royal North of Ireland YC) representing the Squib class, who is also a proven Dragon sailor and on a par with Walsh, Goodbody, Craig, Hegarty and Collins.

Northern Ireland has an especially strong contingent at this year's Helmsman Championship with Paul McMahon (Strangford Lough YC) of the Laser Radial fleet and Russell McGovern (Ballyholme YC) of the larger rigged Laser class. Carrickfergus's Patrick Kelly is sailing for the Puppeteer 22.

A new development is the inclusion of the lesser-known Junior Helmsman event that will include a Girls' division. Normally sailed at the start of September, combining the two championships should give prominence to the country's youth sailors. A point of note from the recent worlds was that of the 26 medallists, 16 were former Optimist sailors.

Meanwhile, the ISAF world rankings were released yesterday and the standings for the Star class may serve to defuse the bitter row between the candidates and the Irish Sailing Association.

While Olympian Mark Mansfield with Killian Collins is fourth overall, newcomers Max Treacy and Anthony Shanks moved from 16th to 13th following their 11th overall at Cadiz. Although the ISA has since declared that a trials will apply to this class anyway, Treacy and Shanks' result satisfies Mansfield's original contention that only pre-selection criteria of a top 16 result in these rankings could trigger trials.