Great response to Mullingar Sailing Club junior course

Thirty-six budding young sailors aged between 11 and 18 took to the shores of Lough Owel during the past three weeks to undergo training for an Irish Sailing Association Level 1-4 certificate.The Junior Angling Course is an annual undertaking at Mullingar Sailing Club and continues to attract new members each year for the 44-year-old club, which is based at Lough Owel.The course began on Monday, June 30, and after three weeks of instruction, finished on Friday of last week, July 18. The 36 students - most of them from the Mullingar area - sailed 9 to 5 on Monday to Friday for the three weeks, and earned their qualifications with distinction.Manning 23 rubber dinghies, nine of the graduates competed in a special regatta at Sligo Yacht Club, Rosses Point, as part of their certificate qualification.Dermot Hogan, the junior organiser with Mullingar Sailing Club and the course co-ordinator, said he was very happy at how successful this year"s course was, and thanked the parents of participants for their assistance.'The course was oversubscribed this year; we had to turn twenty students down,' Mr. Hogan told the Westmeath Examiner. 'We hope to accommodate more students in our next programme.'The course finished on Friday evening last with a barbecue for the students, along with their parents and families. Certificates were presented to the successful graduates on the night.