There’s a light at the end of the tunnel that has been The Claustrophobia of Centenaries through 2025’s sailing season in Ireland. For in looking forward to 2026, it’s like a breath of fresh air to realise that next year’s Big One - the ILCA Worlds in Dun Laoghaire from 23rd August to the 5th September 2026 - only needs to acknowledge that the one date of real historic significance in the story of the globally popular Ilca solo dinghy class – formerly the Laser - is 1996, a modest thirty years ago.
That was the year when these genius boats first became an Olympic Class. It may have been the Autumn of 1969 when the late Bruce Kirby of Canada first sketched out the design. And certainly we’ve had some celebrations of the class’s Golden Jubilee in Ireland in recent years. But it was 27 years after the magic moment – Bruce’s Big Bang, as we might say - that the first stage of the Olympic linkup was made at the Atlanta games of 1996, with the Laser 7 being raced by men, and Robert Scheidt of Brazil taking the inaugural gold.
Robert Scheidt of Brazil took the first Laser Olympic Gold, at Atlanta in 1996 Photo: Tom Thow
WOMEN SAILORS BECOME INVOLVED
Then it was in 2008 - at the Beijing Olympics - that women sailors also became directly involved, racing the Laser 6 with Anna Tunnicliffe of the US taking the women’s class’s first Olympic Gold.
Looking back, there’s a feeling that these developments were all taking place in the nick of time. To be recognised as a popular global sport, sailing needed the Olympics rather more than the Olympics needed sailing.
Global appeal. Ilcas of three nations racing into Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Photo: Afloat.ie/David O’Brien
OLYMPIC SAILING URGENTLY NEEDED A CLASS OF UNIVERSAL APPEAL
But beyond that, sailing needed at least one class which had enough universal appeal to survive becoming an Olympic class. For in the history of the sailing Olympics, the elite athletics tag which invariably attached itself to any chosen boat was to be something of a kiss of death for its general popularity. Or it was until the Laser came along.
Inevitably, with its universal success, the 13.88ft Laser – with world numbers now pushing towards the quarter million mark – attracted commercial controversy, so much so that since 2019 the official class is known as the Ilca.
OLYMPIC CURSE AVOIDED
But regardless of all that, the Olympic Curse of Elite Oblivion has not struck. This remarkable boat remains popular at all levels to such an extent that some of us can happily claim to have sailed a Laser with enormous enjoyment without going anywhere near a race course at all. And several have sailed right round Ireland, the most notable being the unaccompanied Rob Henshall of Fermanagh in 1990.
Rob Henshall in 1990 with the Laser he sailed unaccompanied around Ireland.
These are serious achievements and a significant change of focus when we remember that the first boats came out in an exuberant “It’s Party Time!” colour scheme which reflected the casual fun-oriented sailing craft that you might find available for all at a mass market resort hotel.
Soft launch? There was something about the colour scheme of the first Laser which was to prove at variance with the tough nature of the little boat
Either way, it’s long way from that to Annalise Murphy’s winning of the Silver Medal for Ireland in the Women’s Ilca 6 in the 2016 Olympics at Rio de Janeiro. But with the four-year Olympic Sailing activity graph now on the upswing again towards the 2028 Games at Los Angeles, interest in the outcome of the Worlds 2026 is going to be considerably higher than it was for the 2025 Men’s World’s in Qingdao.
Annalise Murphy wins Silver in the Women’s ILCA 6 at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro – one of the few venues in which sailing could be central to the Olympic Games
This is just as well, as adverse weather meant that only two days of racing were completed. And though he made some excellent starts, Ireland’s Finn Lynch of the National YC will not recall it with the fondness that is inspired by the Men’s Worlds at Barcelona in 2021, when he took silver.
Meanwhile in the Women’s Worlds 2025 at Qingdao racing the ILCA 6, Eve McMahon of Howth took the bronze, which will make her performance in September in Dublin Bay very interesting indeed.
QUESTIONS ARISING ABOUT DOUBLE VENUE IN LOS ANGELES
But as the journey towards the 2028 Olympics heats up, there’s some concern about the destination, as one rumour from Los Angeles has it that the Sailing Olympics will now be spread across two different venues. As it is, sailing has enough difficulty making any significant impact at the Olympics, when its modest coastal venue is set against the impact of a vast city centre stadium with its tens of thousands of fans. But when you get our eccentric vehicle sport further diluted by being spread along the shoreline of the ultimate megalopolis, there’s a danger of it becoming invisible.
KEEPING THE SITUATION UNDER CONTROL
This will emphatically not be the case late next summer in Dun Laoghaire, where the indefatigable Con Murphy is bringing the organisational powers of the National Yacht Club and the Royal St George YC together to stage the Ilca Worlds 2026, using the boat-parking potential of the Carlisle Pier between them to keep the shoreside situation under control for what is in reality a very busy three weeks.
Carlisle Pier re-born as ILCA Central
But meanwhile other sailing will be going on elsewhere during Dun Laoghaire’s optimised Ilca time, and the pillar events open with the Youth Nationals at Ballyholme in April, having an extra interest, in that Ballyholme has been earmarked by government spending plans to become a major sailing centre, or even more of a major sailing centre than it is already.
2026 HEADLINE INSHORE PROGRAMME
- Irish Sailing Youth Nationals
Ballyholme YC 9 -12th April 2026 - ICRA National Championships 2026
In conjunction with Cork Week 6 - 10th July 2026 - ILCA 7 Men's World Championship
More information to come 23 -30th August 2026 - Junior Champions' Cup
Schull, Co. Cork 19 -20th September 2026 - ILCA 6 Women's World Championship
More information to come 5 -12th September 2026 - Dinghy Champions' Cup
Royal Cork YC, Crosshaven 3 - 4th October 2026 - Keelboat Champions' Cup
Royal Irish YC, Dun Laoghaire 10 -11th October 2026
Ballyholme Bay looking north across Belfast Lough. Ballyholme YC (on left) has been earmarked for major development as an advanced Sailing Centre.
ISORA PROGRAMME
The Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association programme is a masterpiece of schedule juggling:
A masterpiece of schedule-juggling – the ISORA 2026 programme
ROUND IRELAND AND K2Q
ISORA supports both the Round Ireland Race from Wicklow on June 20th and the K2Q, aka Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour, on July 3rd. This brings the fleets south for Cork Week which – from 6th to 10th July – is earlier than usual to accommodate obtuse tides. That in turn leaves plenty of time to recover before Calves Week with Schull Harbour SC in West Cork from August 4th to August 8th.
TWO CENTENARIES
There are many other events taking shape which will get further attention as we move into the New Year, but meanwhile there are two special happenings that do deserve a mention, despite resurrecting the dread “Centenary” word.
Founded in 1844, the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club has been involved with the Bermuda Race since 1906, and a hundred years ago – in 1926 – it formalized its position as joint sponsor with the Cruising Club of America.
2026 will mark a hundred years since the Cruising Club of America formalised an agreement with the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club for the joint staging of the Bermuda Race. From the very beginning in 1906, it was the Royal Bermuda which was willing to look after the finish, regardless of who started it. Thus it was the RBYC where many a sailor learned to handle the challenge of Dark & Stormy from 1906 onwards. But it wasn’t until 1926 that the Cruising Club of America – having been involved since 1923 – signed on the dotted line with the RBYC, and the great race has been secure ever since.
SECOND FASTNET RACE
The second Fastnet Race was also sailed in 1926, as the original hope with the inaugural race of 1925 was that it should be annual. It didn’t go biennial until 1931, but in 1926 a new Fife cutter, 70ft long and Bermuda rigged, was launched by William Fife at his Fairlie yard. And lo and behold, didn’t she take line honours and set a long-standing course record in the Fastnet Race in August 1926.
Designer William Fife at his most elegant – the 1926-built 70ft Bermudan cutter Hallowe’en (RIYC) took line honours and set a long-standing course record in that year’s Fastnet Race.
There’s a line of propaganda which insists that it was purely fortuitous that Hallowe’en fitted perfectly into the new Ocean Racing Club limits, and that even doing the Fastnet Race was a snap last-minute decision by owner Norman Baxendale.
Yet many years ago, in the Mudhook Inn in Fairlie, the repository of much Fife lore, I was assured that the master craftsmen building the new beauty were well aware of the intentions for Hallowe’en. For part of the deal for her contract was that three of them had been detailed off to join the crew the boat for the Fastnet Race. If there’s a better way of ensuring the highest quality of construction, then I haven’t heard of it.
So now Hallowe’en is shaping up for her Centenary in the ownership of a syndicate based on the Royal Irish Yacht Club, and once again it will be the Mediterranean classics scene where she’ll be at her successful best, shaping up for another series of boat-for-boat battles against the 74ft Mylne-designed Fife-built yawl Mariella, owned by the splendidly-named Carlo Falcone.
The majestic yawl Mariella has an unusual pedigree, as she was designed by Alfred Mylne, but then built by William Fife in 1935-36 on an unlimited budget
ROYAL IRISH CLASSICS REGATTA
But it’s not necessary to be on the shores of the Mediterranean to enjoy classics, as the Royal Irish Yacht Club Classics Regatta on June 20th and 21st has now taken sufficient shape to issue a poster, and here it is. Surely that’s enough to tempt the Royal Cork YC to send their Cork Harbour OD Jap northeastwards to show the way round Dublin Bay?
Restored Dublin Bay 21s feature in the poster for 2026’s Classics Regatta in Dun Laoghaire
