Sutton Dinghy Clubs David Johnston was in Royal North, Cultra, just outside Belfast this weekend competing in the RS Nationals. David is racing an RS200 with his crew Louise Flynn-Byrne (HYC). The RS Nationals attracted over 75 boats across the RS Feva, RS200 and RS400 fleets over 3 days.

Following a slow start on the Friday when David, had 2 11th’s and a 14th, Saturday went much better on the water for David and Louise. 4 top 10 finishes including a 4th and a 5th in the RS200 fleet saw the pair move up to 8th overall at the end of second day.

Sunday brought another great days sailing in Cultra (Royal North of Ireland YC) and saw David add two 5th’s and a 4th to finish in a very creditable 8th overall, 6th Irish and 2nd under 19 at the RS200 Nationals.

This is only the second RS200 event for David and Louise (both aged 16) and the pair posted a very consistent set of results against some experienced RS sailors and indeed a number of former National Champions, that included five top 5 placings from the 10 races.

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Next up, David is hoping to make it down to Lough Derg along with the other Sutton Dinghy Club Mirror crews (Sinead Dickson/Eve McMahon, Shane McLoughlin/Ben Jennings & Conor Twohig/Matthew Cotter) for the 2013 Nationals and World Championships at the end of the month.