“Probably the biggest collection of top sailors ever to have raced in Ireland” is how International Laser Class Association (ILCA) president Mark Lyttle describes the activity in Dublin Bay over the past week.
Since the ILCA Men’s World Championships opened in Dún Laoghaire, Dublin Bay has become a wonderful amphitheatre for Olympic-standard racing, with more promised when the ILCA Women’s World Championships begin on September 5th.
As Afloat has reported, Hungary’s Jonatán Vadnai was crowned ILCA 7 Men’s World Champion on Sunday, while Australia’s Matt Wearn secured silver, with Britain’s Michael Beckett taking bronze. Ireland’s Finn Lynch finished eighth overall.
Lyttle points out that many of the competitors “will become household names, if not already, in the sport in the decades ahead”.
World-Class Verdict — ILCA president and former Irish Olympian Mark Lyttle says the championships underline Dún Laoghaire's reputation as a world-class sailing venue and strengthen its credentials to host future international events Photo: Jordan Roberts
The success of the two world championships, hosted by the Royal St George and National Yacht Clubs with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, sets up the harbour as a base for other ILCA events in the future, he says.
Listen to the interviews: Lorna Siggins spoke at length to ILCA president Mark Lyttle, championship organiser Brian Craig, harbour operations manager Tim Ryan and Viking Marine's Ian O'Meara about the Worlds, Dún Laoghaire and the National Watersports Campus. Their full interviews can be heard at the foot of this article.
“Dún Laoghaire ran the under-21 ILCA World Championships last year, and it underlines its reputation as a world-class venue,” he says.
He pays tribute to the essential involvement of the clubs, their volunteers and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.
Flying Colours — Flags of the competing nations line the Royal St George Yacht Club during the ILCA 7 Men's World Championships, reflecting the international reach of the Dublin Bay event. Photo: Jordan Roberts
“You only have to walk along the seafront, along the front of the harbour, to see the vibrancy and positivity that there is in and around the community, and a lot of that is due to support of the council,” he says.
Lyttle, who represented Ireland at the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996, is still winning – he won the ILCA 7 Grand Masters World Championship in Athens earlier this year, adding a second world title to an already distinguished sailing career.
“I am still competing against people I competed with over the decades, but the Masters doesn’t compete with what we have on here,” Lyttle says.
Asked what might surprise him most if he could take the 1996 version of himself and bring that person to Dún Laoghaire now, Lyttle says it is “what hasn’t changed”.
“What would surprise me most is how little has changed in the boats that are being sailed,” he says.
“The great thing about the ILCA class – which used to be the Laser class – is that it is all down to the sailors, and it is nothing to do with the equipment,” he says.
“It is not about getting the best boat or spending more money on better sails…”
Brian Craig, vice-chairman of the organising committee for the ILCA Worlds, recalls how Dún Laoghaire had just 18 months to prepare for the two world championships, with a total of 52 countries represented.
“There are 141 men and 112 women and 50-60 coaches,” Craig says, along with about 40 officials from World Sailing and the ILCA, and 200 volunteers.
Worlds Deal — Championship organisers Con Murphy (second left) and Brian Craig (right) with Royal St George Yacht Club Commodore Paul Mulloy (left) and then National Yacht Club Commodore Peter Sherry at the contract signing for the 2026 ILCA Men's and Women's World Championships in Dún Laoghaire.
As all the craft have to be identical, a €1.5 million charter fleet of 200 boats came straight from the factory in Thailand in containers to Dún Laoghaire.
“It was quite a logistical exercise, especially as shipping has become very fraught over the last three to four months, so they came a month early.”
“Once the men’s event finished, the manufacturer checks out all the boats and they are reissued,” he says.
“A lot of goodwill helps towards financing the event, which is probably costing about €300,000 – not including the €1.5 million cost for the fleet,” he says.
There are four main sponsors, along with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and Sport Ireland.
The ILCA under-21 event was good preparation, Craig says, with trials then into using robotic marks. Several other systems have also been tested since, all of which makes filming for media coverage easier, he says.
“This is a big step for Dún Laoghaire – one of the biggest around that you could get, so if we do a good job, which I am sure we will, it certainly gives the credibility for other events,” Craig says.
Accommodation has been a challenge – many of the sailors opted for Airbnb – but the Royal Marine Hotel has been “very helpful”, he says.
Hosting the event makes a further case for the National Watersports Campus, still at pre-planning stage, he says.
Apart from what such a campus will do for high-performance events, it is also about arousing interest and “getting people in a paddleboard or kayak or Optimist out on the water,” he says.
“That should build the base of the pyramid where you have more people competing at the top end…”
Craig doesn’t think it will be on the final day, as in the women’s world championship prize-giving on September 12th, that he will know how successful it all was.
He feels he will only be able to take that sigh of relief on September 13th…
Campus Designers Observe Worlds in Action
Dún Laoghaire harbour operations manager Tim Ryan says the National Watersports Campus design team has already visited the event to observe how everything is working.
Harbour Vision — Dún Laoghaire Harbour operations manager Tim Ryan (third from right) pictured at the unveiling of the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Masterplan with, from left, Paul Kennedy, Helen Cole, Gillian Binchy, DLR Cathaoirleach Jim Gildea, DLR chief executive Frank Curran, Ryan and Ulrik Raysse
“The Carlisle Pier aims to be a multi-functional space for events. It is absolutely essential to have that amount of space to accommodate 150-300 dinghies. We split the fleets in half to launch through the two yacht clubs,” he says.
“But the Watersports Campus plan includes a new slipway which could take two-thirds of the fleet from there, and launch one third through the clubs,” he explains.
Making a Splash — An ILCA 7 competitor launches in Dún Laoghaire Harbour, where the experience of handling championship-sized fleets is already informing plans for new launching infrastructure in the National Watersports Campus. Photo: Jordan Roberts
“The first non-statutory public consultation on the campus has just finished, so now we are at the environmental studies and design stage. We are very involved in stakeholder engagement,” he says.
Carlisle Pier is just one element of the campus. The Coal Harbour, which has been used for training, is already a much livelier place, he points out.
Room to Grow — Carlisle Pier provides the space needed for the ILCA World Championships boat park, with plans for the National Watersports Campus intended to further develop Dún Laoghaire's capacity to handle major international dinghy events. Photo: Jordan Roberts
The third element will involve installing more facilities in the “Gut” area behind the West Pier for faster watersports, such as kitesurfing, windsurfing and wingfoiling.
“We use the Carlisle Pier for turnarounds on cruise ships, and we have to scan their baggage and do security checks and we have a small building for that,” he says.
“That has been turned over to the ILCA World Championships for the race office, measuring and the media room. A number of other rooms have been hired out to different yacht clubs. We don’t want to duplicate anything in the Carlisle building,” he says.
“So we are trying to use what is already there and complement it. A new events building is planned for the Watersports Campus, and there will also be a rooftop terrace for the public to view the racing out in the bay through telescopes – so that there is a better connection between the public and sailors and others,” he says.
Asked if the priority for the campus is hosting world-class events or greater public participation in watersports, Ryan says the dial is very slightly towards the latter.
“I remember how I’d see [Olympic silver medallist] Annalise Murphy sailing outside my office, and other championship sailors,” he says.
Hear more: Tim Ryan discusses how lessons from the ILCA Worlds are feeding directly into plans for the National Watersports Campus in Lorna Siggins' full audio interviews below.
“So having a world championships creates a buzz and excitement, and it is important to show the general public a route to how people can become involved – to break down some of those barriers, and make it easier to get on the water,” Ryan says.
Ryan doesn’t have precise figures for the economic benefit to Dún Laoghaire but notes that “sailors bring in coaches, crew, families”, and many have been around for six weeks and more.
“They are living here for the duration, so it is a lot of bed nights and food, and then you have people coming to view the events,” he says.
Dún Laoghaire Harbour, which transferred to the council in October 2018, is busy with cruise ships, Naval Service vessels, survey vessels and the Irish Lights ship Granuaile, but it is “keen to grow the leisure side... in a safe and measured manner”, Ryan says.
“We have forged very strong links in the last ten years with the yacht clubs and there is a lovely community sense when something like this happens,” he says.
“None of us have the capacity to run something like this on our own, and it is that collective will that helps this come across as a professional centre, with a lot of facilities,” he says.
“One of things I am probably proudest of since the harbour merged with the council in 2018 is that we can run a world-class event and receive cruise ships,” he says.
“We will put in crossing points and the harbourmaster will attend sailors’ briefings every morning. And we have put on extra resources to work around it. The ability to multitask in the harbour is very satisfying…”
The cruise ship passengers love it, he says, as the racing provides “a really nice vista when they come in”.
Flying the Flag — ILCA sailors pass Dún Laoghaire's East Pier lighthouse during the 2026 World Championships, as the harbour looks to build on its international sailing credentials. Photo: Jordan Roberts
Asked what he would like to see in Dún Laoghaire in ten years’ time, Ryan says he would wish for “a central base with an event management building”.
This would provide everything that competitors require, from “where they can store their boat to where they can stay, eat and park”.
“I don’t want to take away from all of the efforts in place already, but having the infrastructure in place will make it look a bit more professional,” he says.
And when will he feel that the organising team for the ILCA Worlds has “pulled it off”?
“At the last prize-giving ceremony – as long as it is not lashing rain!”
Business Benefits — And a Missing Link
Tim Ryan has been “brilliant for the harbour”, Viking Marine managing director and owner Ian O’Meara says.
“Organisationally”, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and the clubs have done “a superb job” with the ILCA Worlds, he says.
Business View — Viking Marine managing director and sailor Ian O'Meara says the ILCA Worlds have provided a welcome boost for his Dún Laoghaire business, but believes more reasonably priced accommodation is needed to attract further major international events. File photo
O’Meara is a member of the local business association, and he notes that a lot of businesses weren’t aware of the event until very close to the start.
It is “hard to know” how much extra business has been generated, but he was pleasantly surprised by the benefit to Viking Marine, he says.
“You are talking about under 300 people at the event at a time, which is relatively small”, and the “very fit athletes” who are Laser sailors and very visible around Dún Laoghaire “wouldn’t be the spendiest”, he says.
However, O’Meara says racing conditions were good, given that Dublin Bay can be “fickle”.
He believes the commitment made by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to the world championships “augurs well for the National Watersports Campus”.
And if O’Meara had one recommendation, what would it be?
“Dún Laoghaire needs a three-star hotel,” he says. There is provision for this in the harbour development plan.
“We need more reasonably priced accommodation if we are going to try and get this type of world-class event again…”
Listen: The Interviews Behind the Story
In Their Own Words — Hear Lorna Siggins' interviews with ILCA president Mark Lyttle, championship organiser Brian Craig, Dún Laoghaire Harbour operations manager Tim Ryan and Viking Marine's Ian O'Meara on the ILCA World Championships, the future of Dún Laoghaire Harbour and plans for the National Watersports Campus.
