The Irish Laser calendar has been confirmed for 2018 as follows: 

Munster Championships 31st March/1st April - Baltimore Sailing Club, Cork

Ulster Championships 28th/29th April- Ballyholme Yacht Club

Irish Laser Master Nationals 19th/20th May - Royal St George Yacht Club, Dun Laoghaire

Connaught Championships 16th/17th June - Royal Cork Yacht Club, Crosshaven

Leinster Championships 21st/22nd July - Howth Yacht Club

Irish Laser Nationals 23rd to 26th August - Lough Derg Yacht Club, Dromineer

The Irish Laser Association has recently finalised the 2018 Laser racing calendar. Two events in the calendar (Munsters and Ulsters) stand out as they represent the final chance for Irish sailors to get some ranking points for the Master Worlds which will take place in Dun Laoghaire from the 7th to the 15th of Sept 2018.

The Worlds is not an 'open' event and all Irish competitors must be ranked by the Irish Laser Association (ILA) for entry by early May 2018 (entry dates are still TBC). This ranking is based on the results of the previous five qualifying events. These five events are the 2017 Leinsters, Connaughts and Nationals plus the 2018 Munsters (Baltimore 31st March-1st April) and Ulsters (Ballyholme 28th -29th April).

The number of entry places that a country receives is based on the size of the domestic Laser Class Membership. On this basis Ireland can expect approximately 10 places in the first round allocations. As the host country we will also likely receive another ten places. Late entrants often also receive places as other countries don't take up their full allocation.

The ILA is expecting a large number of Irish Laser sailors will want to compete and that there will be high demand for places. The initial allocation of places will be awarded based on the ILA ranking ladder.

The Irish Laser Class is interested to see as many Irish sailors as possible sail in the Irish Worlds and will work on behalf of all class members to achieve this. If you have an aspiration to enter the Worlds the simplest way to make sure you are in the running for a place is to get on the ranking ladder by taking part in the forthcoming Baltimore Munsters (31st March-1st April) and Ballyholme Ulsters (28th -29th April).

The Irish Masters Nationals (not included in the ranking for the Worlds) will be held in the RStGYC, Dun Laoghaire on the 19th and 20th May. It is expected that this will be used as a dry run event for many worlds aspirants and will be a well attended.

Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club (DMYC) starts its 47th Season of dinghy frostbite racing in Dun Laoghaire Harbour this Sunday with a warning signal at 01.57 hrs.

The series is open to monohull centre board dinghies and attracts entries from clubs in the greater Leinster area.

The Winter 2016 series saw 19 races over the period November to the end of March. Organiser Neil Colin of the DMYC says the popular series 'offers great value for money, and with the discard system in the results, eases the pressure to turn up every week'.

In response to the changing dynamic of the entrants, with exception of the Lasers, the balance of the fleet will race in two PY fleets with the cut off set at 1068 between fleet 1 & 2, as further detailed in the Sailing Instructions.

Daily “Mug” prizes will be presented after racing in the DMYC, with soup and refreshments available along with the post race chatter.

The DMYC have limited dinghy parking for visiting entries on a “first come” basis. Full details are available here. Download the poster below.

While sailing is now a year-round interest, and for many a year-round activity too, the notion of a traditional season is natural for anyone who lives in Ireland. Admittedly, there are times when we seem to be experiencing the four annual climatic seasons in just one day. But this sense of a seasonal change, and the appropriate alterations in activity which accompany it, are in our genetic makeup. And though marinas and the Autumn Leagues which they facilitate have pushed the season’s end back to the October Bank Holiday Weekend, for many, that’s it. It’s finally time for boats to be rested and energies deployed in other ways. W M Nixon reflects on highlights of the year.

These times we live in, they tend to emphasise big events – celebrity happenings you might call them – and our perceptions of a season past may be skewed by how the major fixtures played through. But your true Irish sailing season has at its core the classic club programme from April to October, with its plethora of weekend and weekday evening events. If you want to sense the beating heart of our sailing, you have to take the pulse of this local and club scene.

We know it’s not for everyone. Some dinghy crews only emerge for major regional and national championships. But week in, week out, it’s the regular local sailing, from the smallest club right up to the majestic programme of Dublin Bay Sailing Club, which sets the tone for the majority of sailors.

Week in, week out, Dublin Bay Sailing Club provides a comprehensive programme of local racing from the end of April until the end of September, and it has been successfully doing so since 1884. Here the club's Beneteau 31.7s, one of DBSC's largest one design keelboat fleets negotiate a weather mark at the class championships Photo David O’Brien/Afloat

And for those who sailed regularly all through the time-honoured season, it has to be admitted that weatherwise, we experienced a very mixed bag. As we shall see, there were brief periods of good weather which blessed some events. But in any case, one dyed-in-the-wool cub sailor firmly told us that as far as he was concerned, it was a very good season.

“For sure, there was rain and wind,” he said. “But we need wind for sailing. If you get a long period of rain-free weather, the evenings are likely to be wind-free as well. Frankly I’d rather get a good race in rain than sit becalmed on a perfect summer’s evening. But as we’re an east coast club, we often get that east coast effect of Atlantic weather without Atlantic rain, which is ideal for club racing. By and large, it has been a good sailing season, and race management seems to be improving all the time. So 2017 is going to go down as a good year for club sailing, but only a very average year for sunshine”.

As for Irish sailing’s national structure, inevitably there’s a clashing of events. There is only a finite number of weekends available at peak season when different big ticket regattas and championships hope to be staged, but as well, each club and area quite rightly expect to bring prestigious fleets to its part of Ireland.

However, in 2017 there was increasing emphasis at official club level on making sailing fun again. We’d begun to take it too seriously, something reinforced by the grim years of the recession, and then the winning in 2016 of Annalise Murphy’s Silver Medal at the Olympics in Rio.

Olympic Silver Medallist Annalise Murphy led the way in signalling a change of mood for 2017 after the seriousness of her 2016 campaign towards success in Rio. In the early part of the season, she concentrated on the International Foiling Moth, and in this 223-strong fleet at the Worlds on Lake Garda in May, she became the Women’s World Champion. She is currently on a completely different direction for ten months on the Volvo Ocean Race as a crewmember on the One-Design Volvo Ocean 65 Turn the Tide on Plastic

Of course the winning of Annalise’s medal was a matter for fun-filled celebration once it had happened, but the buildup to it was deadly serious, and that affected the tone of the national sailing mood in every area. But with the Medal in the bag, 2017 could reasonably expect to have a lighter mood, and this in turn helped us to adjust to an over-crowded programme, as crews could plan on a series of campaigns which balanced between serious events which provided proper championship results of national significance, and events which officially claimed to be providing everyone with a good time, even if some crews raced with deadly seriousness.

Either way, so much was going on that a review like this can only hope to give an impression of the season rather than a detailed analysis, but we’ll try to give it a comprehensible shape by listing the main events of Irish interest at home and abroad under either the “serious” or “fun” categorisations:

March/April: Intervarsity Championships – serious, UCD selected to represent Ireland

April: Irish Sailing Youth Pathway Nationals, Ballyholme - serious (and impressive), Ewan McMahon the star, Rush SC prominent in success

The hyper-busy J/109 Mojito managed a hard-fought overall win in the ISORA Championship, successful participation in the Rolex Rastnet Race, and a second place in the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race.

April: Season-long ISORA Championship get under way, several venues – inevitably serious. In due course, J/109 Mojito (Peter Dunlop & Vicky Cox, Pwllheli SC) has very close overall win – despite taking time out to do the Fastnet

May: Scottish Series at Tarbert– serious, Pat Kelly’s J/109 Storm and Stephen Quinn’s J/97 Lambay Rules top their classes.

June: Howth Lambay Weekend – Fun

It could be a remote part of the West Coast, but Howth Yacht Club’s annual Lambay Race is a reminder that Ireland’s least-spoilt coastline is on an East Coast island. Photo courtesy HYC

June: ICRA Nationals Royal Cork – probably the most serious of them all. John Maybury’s J/109 Joker 2 RIYC), Ross MacDonald’s X332 Equinox (HYC), and Paul Gibbons’ Anchor Challenge (RCYC) win the three main classes.

Rob O’Leary racing the Dubois 36 Dark Angel from South Wales to class success in the ICRA Nats at Crosshaven. Photo: Robert Bateman

Paul O’Higgins’ JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI shortly after the start of the very tough Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race, which she won, while a sister-ship Bogatyr was also winner of the likewise rough 608-mile Rolex Middle Sea Race in late October. This photo goes some way to revealing the reason for the JPK 10.80’s success – she is only 35ft LOA, yet you’d think you’re looking at a significantly larger boat. Photo: David O’Brien/Afloat.ie

June: National YC Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race – serious

June: Sovereign’s Cup at Kinsale – fun

By maintaining its position as a standalone event, the Sovereign’s Cup at Kinsale can invite non-IRC classes to compete, and the 1720s responded with this keen turnout. The overall winner across all classes was adjudged to be Rob McConnell’s A35 Fool’s Gold from Dunmore East. Photo: Robert Bateman

June: Dinghyfest at Royal Cork – brilliantly balanced mixture of serious & fun

July: Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta – superb, and fun

July: WIORA Championship at Aran Islands – unique

WIORA Nationals 2017 – and first time at the Aran Islands. Irish Sailing President Jack Roy (left) with WIORA organiser Cormac Mac Donncha. The popular Irish Sailing President seemed to have several doppelgangers, as that same evening he was present at the Opening Ceremony for the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, in which he also served for the entire four days as a Race Officer.

With more than sixty boats taking part, the Irish Cruising Club Rally in Northwest Spain was an outstanding success. This is Michael Holland’s 70ft 1993-built Dubois ketch Celtic Spirit – a veteran of Arctic and Antarctic cruising - making knots down the coast of Galicia. Photo: Trish Phelan
July: Irish Cruising Club Rally in Northwest Spain – seriously well organised, great fun to take part

July: Glandore Classics – fun, yet serious too

August: Rolex Fastnet Race from Cowes – serious

Fastnet Rock astern for Jedi, the Irish National Sailing School’s successful J/109, which won class IRC 3B in the Fastnet Race, and also the Roger Justice Trophy for the top-placed Sailing School boat. Jedi is one of the 15-plus class of hotly-raced J/109s in Dun Laoghaire, whose annual championship was won by the Kelly family’s Storm from Rush SC and Howth, while the most successful boat in other events was John Maybury’s Joker 2.
August: Calves Week from Schull – prides itself on being a neat balance between fun and “quite serious racing”, and succeeds in being so.

Everybody likes her, even if she beats them all. The characterful Swuzzlebubble racing to success in the Half Ton Classics at Kinsale. Photo: Robert Bateman

August: Half Ton World Classics at Kinsale: Supposedly serious, but in the ultimate lotus-eating venue and with such an extraordinary selection of boats, it couldn’t help but be fun. And everyone likes the slightly eccentric overall winner, the legendary Swuzzlebubble

August: Crinnui na mBad, Kinvara – traditional and fun

The annual Crinnui na mBad at Kinvara in August may not have been favoured with good weather, but it was as popular as ever. This is one of the winners, John Flaherty’s Galway hooker Naomh Cailin, going out to race. Photo: Pierce Purcell

August: Laser Nationals Royal Cork YC – serious

RCYC Admiral John Roche, 2017 National Champion Finn Lynch (NYC) and Mark Whisker of sponsors Volvo at the prize-giving for the Volvo Laser Nationals at Crosshaven. Photo: Robert Bateman

September: Autumn League at Howth – fun event, but run with such serious efficiency that they’d a full programme completed after six weekends despite losing two days of racing to the late season’s poor weather.

Royal St. George's Michael O'Connor, Davy Taylor and Ed Cook – SB20 'Corinthian' World Champions and Irish Champions

 

September: The SB 20 Nationals, incorporated into the first weekend of the Howth Autumn league as a three-day separate championship, had extra interest as it included recently-crowned SB 20 Corinthian World Champions Michael O’Connor, Davy Taylor and Edward Cook of Royal St George YC, who had won in the Worlds at Cowes. They added the Irish title to their 2017 trophy list.

October: Autumn League at Royal Cork - fun

October: Mini-Transat at La Rochelle – serious

Ireland’s Tom Dolan in the first leg of the Mini-Transat 2017, 1,400 miles from La Rochelle to Las Palmas. He finished this stage 12th in a class of 55 boats The second Transatlantic stage starts on 1st November

October: Junior All-Ireland at Schull – serious

Junior All-Ireland winners on the podium. Kinsale YC’s champions Michael O'Suilleabhain and Michael Carroll, with second placed Rian Geraghty-McDonnell and Harry Durcan (RCYC) and Loghlen Rickard and Nathan Van Steenberge third. Photo: Robin Bateman

October: Senior All-Ireland Sailing Championship at Mullingar – serious and historic, as it is staged at one of the smallest, most rural clubs in the country, and raced in GP 14s.

Fionn Lyden of Baltimore, All-Ireland Champion 2017, at Mullingar with the famous silver salver with crewmate Liam Manning of Schull. Photo: David Branigan/Sailing Ireland

October: Student Yachting Worlds in Marseilles in France – serious. Ireland – a winner in times past –places fifth this time round.

October: Rolex Middle Sea Race from Malta – serious

October: Volvo Ocean Race from Alicante – serious

This fun/serious differentiation seems to have been supported by our wayward climate, which often managed to come up with good weather just when it was needed for the fun events, yet it achieved this in the midst of a generally very unsettled and often plain inclement summer.

The photos are all that is needed to show how this was so during 2017’s premier event, the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2017 from July 6th to 9th. It wasn’t a sun-blasted regatta, but it wasn’t a wind-blasted one either – it was just a brief period of exceptionally pleasant warm weather with enough breeze for good racing , yet not too much wind to make it difficult to provide the in-harbour finishes which were introduced in special acknowledgement of the fact that they were also celebrating the Bicentenary of the massive work starting on the construction of this truly monumental and architecturally magnificent artificial port.

Piling them in – the good-humoured yet busy atmosphere off the National YC slipway after another day of racing in the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta. Photo: W M Nixon

With 34 classes racing and boat numbers pushing towards the 500 mark, obviously it would have been totally inappropriate to try to include the ICRA Nats within it, as some have suggested. But even with such good conditions in its relaxed form, it could easily have got out of hand. However, with Organising Committee Chairman Tim Goodbody apparently yet always very quietly here, there and everywhere to ensure that all was running smoothly with a skillfully delegated team, it ran like clockwork to round out his two year stint in the top role with considerable style and success.

One noted visiting crew enthused that it was the best four days of sailing they’d ever had, and that was before they became aware that they’d won the ultimate trophy, the Kingstown 200 Cup, complete with a hundred guinea purse and a framed picture of the first regatta ever staged in what is now Dun Laoghaire, the Kingtown Regatta of 1828.

The sweetest boat in the fleet – Myfanwy from Wales - racing in the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta. Photo: David O’Brien/Afloat.ie

That was Rob Mason and his shipmates from Milford Haven with the classic 37ft Alexander Richardson-designed 1897-built gaff cutter Myfanwy, which Rob restored himself and sailed to Dun Laoghaire for the newly-introduced Classics Division, which was supposedly a one-off gesture to the Bicentenary.

But it worked so well that there’s talk of repeating it in 2019. Be that as it may, after the last race I was commiserating with the the Myfanwy team on their final placing, as I thought they’d sailed well enough to be comfortably on the podium, but Performance Echo decided others. Maybe they sailed too well. Yet far from being disappointed, they were on top of the world, and then when they went along to the huge prize-giving at the Royal St George, it was to hear to their complete surprise that the much-admired Myfanwy had been awarded the Kingstown 200 Cup and the prize purse and the historic picture……

Before and after. Myfanwy’s crew celebrating “four days of the best sailing we’ve ever had” immediately after coming ashore at the conclusion of the final race in the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2017. They are (left to right) Max Mason, his father Rob who restored Myfanwy, Andy Whitcher, and Gus Stott. The photo below shows them genuinely gobsmacked after finding they’d won the big trophy and its associated prizes. Photos W M Nixon and Gareth Craig/Fotosail

This classics success reflected a good year for the classic boats in Ireland, as six of the Howth Seventeens (1898) and a dozen of the Water Wags (1887 & 1900) made their way to the famous Sailing Week in the Morbihan in southern Brittany in May. Then at the end of July, the newest Howth 17s, Orla built in France for Ian Malcolm by the famous Skol ar Mor, arrived home, and in an epic effort in late August, in honour of Class President Hal Sisk, the continually reviving Water Wags managed their first turnout of more than thirty boats for their traditional Wednesday evening racing.

Howth Seventeens racing in their annual championship with Ireland’s Eye beyond – the new boat Orla (no 21) is on the right. Photo: Neil Murphy

With a history going back to 1887, the Water Wags became an overnight success at the end of August when they finally managed a turnout of more than 30 boats. The clear winners were David & Sally MacFarlane with No 15 Mousmie, aged 107 years. Photo W M Nixon

This has inevitably only been a skim across the events of 2017. An extraordinary season. Many hoped at the beginning of the year that it would see some relaxation after the intensity of the Olympic year, and while that may have been the overall mood, the achievements recorded above show that some sailors continued to take their own sailing very seriously indeed.

That is as it should be. But if I had to select a photo which captures the mood of 2017, the determination to make the best of it whatever the weather, then the Thomas Gautier image of Aoife Hopkins in devil-may-care mood, flying over a big sea off Douarnenez in Brittany on her way to winning the Laser Radial Under 21 European Championship, would undoubtedly be it. At that moment, Aoife was sailing for all of us.

Sailing for all of us. Aoife Hopkins in devil-may-care style, on her way to winning the Laser Radial U-21 Euros at Douarnenez in July. Photo: Thomas Gautier

The Howth Yacht Club Laser dinghy Frostbites starts on Sunday, 5th November.

Two races are planned each Sunday starting at 10:45. The Laser series runs until March 10th 2018 with the 'famous' Round The Island Race to close out the winter programme.

Entry now open online here.

Aoife Hopkins finished 21st in the Senior European Laser Championships that concluded today in Barcelona. Rio Olympian Finn Lynch, in the men's standard rig division, finished in 33rd.

There was a slight delay in the launching as once again the weather repeated the pattern of the previous days and the sailors had to wait for wind.

Two races were completed In a strong thermal breeze which was a relief to the sailors after the light tricky conditions of the last few days.

Nick Thompson (GBR) took line honours in the men's standard rig followed closely by Francesco Marria (ITA) and Andrew McKenzie (NZL).

In the women's radial fleet Marit Bowmester (NED) the current World Champions and Rio Olympic gold medalist once again dominated. She was followed by Rio silver medalist Anna-Marie Rindom (DEN) with Vasileia Karachaliou (GRE) in third.

The radial men's line up was Marcin Rudawski (POL) followed by Marcelo Cairo Assenza (GRE) and Dimitris Papadimitriou (ESP).

The young Irish team had some exceptional performances in a fleet dominated by seasoned campaigners. The championship consists of the Europeans (European sailors only) and an open event. This event is considered significant by Sport Ireland and sailors are judged on this European result. In Gold Fleet, Aoife Hopkins, who has yet to turn 19, from Howth Yacht Club finished in 21st (23rd open event) with a 6th position in her first race of the day. 22–year–old Rio Olympian Finn Lynch in the men's standard rig division finished in 33rd in the Europeans (37th open event) and also had a good first race scoring a 12th. Ronan Wallace in the men's radial division finished in 43rd (42nd open).

In the silver division (men's standard rig) 18–year–old Ewan McMahon from Howth Yacht Club in his first senior event finished up 4th silver (61st Europeans and 67th open). Aisling Keller from Lough Derg following an unfortunate protest that pushed her from the bottom of gold fleet into the silver fleet sailed at the top of the fleet and finished up 2nd silver (41st Europeans and 47th open). Sally Bell had a better day today scoring an excellent 15th in her first race today and finished 79th in the Europeans (87th open).

This is a critical year in the Irish teams development and they will be training hard all winter in preparation for the Olympic Qualifying event in Aarhus next summer.

Day five of the Senior European Laser Championships in Barcelona started with the usual postponement as the sailors waited for the thermal breeze to build. It was another tricky day with light winds, big shifts and a large sea swell.

Ireland's gold fleet sailors had a mixed day. Race 1 was reasonably light with a big sea swell. Aoife Hopkins from Howth Yacht Club came out of the traps fighting hard and was rewarded with a 15th placing. The breeze built a little for Race 2 and her score wasn't as good with a 34th (discarded). She is now 20th in European Championships (European sailors only) and 22nd in the open event and meaning the young Tokyo 2020 aspirant is currently Ireland's top performer.

Over in the men's standard rig fleet fleet Rio Olympian Finn Lynch of the National Yacht Club had his toughest day yet scoring a 53rd & 41st. His overall pacing has dropped slightly to 38th in European Championship and 42nd in the open event.

Ireland's only other gold fleet sailor Ronan Wallace of Waterford Harbour also didn't have the luck of the Irish on his side and started the day with a black flag, but recovered slightly with a 44th in the second race. leaving him 49th in the European Championship and 50th overall.

In Silver fleet, Aisling Keller Lough Derg Yacht Club had her best day yet starting off with a bullet in race 1 and concluding with a 7th leaving her 55th in the European Champions and 51st overall (6th silver).

In the men's standard rig Silver fleet Ewan McMahon of Howth Yacht after a great day yesterday failed to find his momentum and scored a 16th & 39th leaving him 62nd in the European Championships and 69th overall (6th Silver)

18 year old Sally Bell from Royal North Yacht Club continues to gain valuable experience in her first senior event which will benefit her for many years to come.

The Senior European Championship concludes tomorrow and two races are planned with a second discard due to take effect after the first race tomorrow.

19–year–old Aoife Hopkins from Howth Yacht Club started the her first day in gold fleet at the Laser European Championships in Barcelona with a mid-fleet result in race one followed by a 31st (discarded) in race two. Hopkins currently lies 20th overall in the 90 boat fleet.

Today’s racing started with a postponement, as the gradient wind that had been there from early morning died away. The sailors settled in and waited for the thermal wind to come in eventually launching at 2:30pm to light shifty conditions.

The Irish sailors that had made Gold fleet discovered that the rumours are true – it is indeed tough at the top! 

Rio Olympian Finn Lynch from the National Yacht Club in the Men’s standard rig fleet scored a 54th (discarded) and 33rd and currently lies 31st overall in the 125 boat fleet. Ireland only other gold fleet competitor Ronan Wallace in the men’s radial division is currently scored DNC on the score sheet.

A protest yesterday pushed Aisling Keller from Lough Derg Yacht Club into silver fleet in the women’s radial. Aisling scored a 38th and an 18th leaving her 59th overall. Sally Bell in her first senior European event scored a 45th and 44th . In the men’s standard rig Ewan McMahon also in his first senior event enjoyed some racing at the top of silver fleet to score a 12th and a 4th bringing him up the score sheet nicely to 65th overall.

Results are here.

Dublin sailors Aoife Hopkins and Finn Lynch currently lead Irish hopes at the Laser European Championships in Barcelona after a delayed start this week. 

Racing started yesterday with two races completed. Yesterday was cloudy and the sailors launched in a light drizzle with a 10-15kt breeze.

By the time racing began the wind had dropped to 7 knots and further to 5 knots or less for the 2nd race. The conditions were described as shifty, gusty and tricky by the competitors.

Lynch, in the mens full rig division, scored a 4th and a 14th leaving him 12th overall after day one. Hopkins, in the women's radial, scored a 15th and a 7th and lay 18th overall going into the second day.

Today was a different day entirely and the day dawned bright and sunny which brought a thermal wind. Trying to make up for the races missed on day one, the race committee planned three races.

Howth Yacht Club's Hopkins scored a 5th, 5th and 12th ending the day lying in 11th overall. A fantastic achievement for the first year Trinity Maths student who won the U21 Euros this season. 

The National Yacht Club's Lynch scored a 19th, 19th and 23rd, leaving him 32nd overall after a two-place drop on protest.

Aisling Keller, who has been sailing full-time for the last year and has now returned to education studying Physiotherapy in Trinity College, dropped from 43rd to 49th place after protest yesterday evening and will now sail in the Silver fleet.

Other Irish sailors in the radial fleets are Sally Bell at 69th and, in the Men’s radial, Ronan Wallace at 33rd.

Ewan McMahon enjoying his first standard rig event, having recently moved from the radial, lies 70th overall in this highly competitive fleet.

The qualifying series has now been concluded and tomorrow sailors will be divided into Gold and Silver fleets. Hopkins, Lynch, Keller and Wallace have all made the Gold fleet cut in their respective fleets. However with 3 days more of racing it’s still all to play for at the European Championships. See the latest standings HERE.

This post was amended at 11am on Friday 6 October to reflect position changes after protest.

Stoppages in Catalonia after independence poll violence has affected the Laser European Championships in Barcelona today. 

Irish sailors, including Aoife Hopkins, who won the U21 Euro title in July, competing at the event are staying about eight km from the centre of Barcelona.

Hopkins, who was delayed getting to the venue because of a cancelled Ryanair flight, took to social media 'to let everyone know, the Irish sailors are all safe and well'.

Hopkins along with Aisling Keller and Sally Bell will compete in the womens's Radial division when racing resumes tomorrow.

Finn Lynch and Ewan McMahon are slated for the mens standard class competition.