Storm Ellen & COVID Combine to Cancel Cork Harbour Laser National Championships This Week

18th August 2020

Storm Ellen and COVID-19 have combined to bring about the cancellation of this week's Irish Laser National Championships in Cork Harbour, one of the biggest dinghy sailing events of the year.

Both the AIB Irish Laser National Championships, hosted by the Royal Cork YC, and the Irish Laser 4.7 National Championships hosted by Monkstown Bay SC, have been cancelled according to a statement released from organisers tonight.

As Afloat reported earlier, included in the line up of over 100 competitors due into Cork Harbour on Thursday was Tokyo 2021 representative Annalise Murphy who was set to resume domestic competition in the single-handed class in one of the most hotly contested dinghy battles of the season.

The statement says "Both organising Clubs, along with the Irish Laser Association and Irish Sailing have given careful consideration to both public health guidelines and also the impending Storm Ellen due to hit Ireland on Thursday and Friday"

The statement adds: "Notwithstanding the ability for the event to run behind closed doors under the revised guidelines, the combination of that, the weather alert impacting sailing on Thursday and Friday and the number of people travelling, it was decided to cancel the event in the best interest of competitors, officials and everyone involved".

Published in Laser, Royal Cork YC, Cork Harbour

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About the ILCA/Laser Dinghy

The ILCA, formerly known as the Laser, is the most produced boat in the world, with 220,000 units built since 1971.

It's easy to see why the single-handed dinghy has won the title of the most widely distributed boat of all time.

The Laser is a one-design dinghy, the hulls being identical but three rigs that can be used according to the size and weight of the sailor.

The class is international, with sailors from 120 countries. The boat has also been an Olympic class since 1996, being both the men's and women's singlehanded dinghy.

Three rigs are recognised by the International Laser Class Association (ILCA):