Ballyholme Yacht Club was to have been the venue in early July for the huge Laser Radial European Championships but the Iatest news from the EurILCA team is that due to the COVID-19 situation and expected restrictions on travel during July and possibly August (and to help allay fears of people having to travel abroad during those months), EurILCA and Ballyholme Yacht Club have come to the very difficult decision to cancel the event this summer. This will hopefully allow EurILCA enough time to try and reschedule it elsewhere possibly in October or November at a different “warmer” venue.
Although there is virtually year-round dinghy racing at Ballyholme, the weather is too unpredictable in the Autumn for a week-long championship and the days are too short to fit in the necessary number of races.
Ballyholme has said thank you to all who applied to race there this summer; “Hopefully you will get the chance to come here in the future for a different event, or just come here on holiday – we are always happy to welcome other sailors to our club”.
In a message from EurILCA they said: “Dear sailors, due to the situation with the COVID-19, it is with great regret that Ballyholme Yacht Club and EurILCA have decided to cancel the event”.
Ballyholme Yacht Club and its volunteers have been preparing for months for this event and EurILCA has thanked them for the effort, time and energy they put in the preparation. BYC are bidding for the same event in 2023 and the EurILCA is working to find a new location to hold this 2020 event later in the season - maybe October or November 2020.
In a message, this morning event chairman Mark Mackey said “Thank you to all our supporters and volunteers who have worked on this over the past 18 months to set up what should have been a fantastic event. And to those who had already volunteered to help during the weeks of the event -there are too many to single out by name – events like these can use well over 100 volunteers – but thank you".
