The 160-boat charter fleet that helped stage two ILCA World Championships in Dún Laoghaire this summer is preparing for another journey — this time across the Atlantic to Brazil.
After returning to Hamburg for a complete refurbishment, the dinghies are due to be packed into shipping containers in early October for Fortaleza, where they will be used at another World Championship in January 2027.
Their journey from Thailand to Dublin Bay and now onwards to South America provides a glimpse into a little-seen international sailing business operated by German sailor Ferdinand Ziegelmayer.
His company currently has around 420 ILCAs in circulation, with at least 300 available for charter at any given time and the fleet sometimes reaching 500 boats.
In a typical year, Ziegelmayer supports eight ILCA World Championships as well as the World Sailing Youth World Championships, moving boats to events across North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.
Speaking to Afloat following the two Dún Laoghaire championships, Ziegelmayer has explained how the international operation works — from the economics of chartering and eventually selling the boats to the logistics involved in getting identical equipment into sailors' hands on time.
Worlds from above: The scale of Dún Laoghaire's €1.5m ILCA charter fleet is revealed in this striking drone view of 160 new ILCA dinghies lined up on Carlisle Pier ahead of the 2026 World Championships.
From Laser Sailor to Global Charter Operator
Ziegelmayer's route into the business began with sailing rather than logistics.
He raced ILCAs internationally in the early 2000s before going into commercial ship management and studying shipping and finance.
His father was already building dinghies, including 420s and 470s, and was the Laser dealer for northern and eastern Germany.
A chance conversation in 2007 changed Ferdinand's direction.
LaserPerformance was discussing with his father the possibility of taking on the dealership for the whole of Germany. His father was interested but already fully occupied with the boatyard.
“As it happened, they were discussing this over lunch at our sailing club just as I came off the water,” Ziegelmayer recalled.
“My father asked me to get changed and join them. I was 23 and thought: what did I have to lose?”
By early 2008, he had become Germany's sole Laser dealer.
The business initially supplied small numbers of charter boats to events including Kiel Week and the Europa Cup.
The first major step came in 2012 when Ziegelmayer was asked to supply 40 boats for the World Championships at Boltenhagen in Germany.
“That felt like a major investment at the time, but it worked,” he said.
Another 60 boats followed for a championship in Kiel in 2016. Then came the opportunity to supply the 2018 combined World Sailing Championships in Aarhus and other international events.
Ziegelmayer bought 160 boats in 2017 and another 160 in 2018.
“That was the beginning of the international charter operation as it exists today,” he said.
The €1.5m ILCA Worlds charter fleet arrives on Carlisle Pier in Dún Laoghaire. Photo: Con Murphy
How the ILCA Charter Business Works
The sight of €1.5 million worth of new ILCAs arriving on Carlisle Pier illustrated the scale of the investment involved in supplying a major championship.
Ziegelmayer says the economics depend on both chartering and eventually selling the boats.
“The charter fees more or less cover the cost of running the events,” he said.
“We also have to consider what the boats will be worth when we sell them after their time in the charter fleet. The business only works if we manage both sides carefully and avoid losing too much value on the eventual sale.”
Ideally, a boat moves directly from one championship to another rather than returning to Ziegelmayer's Hamburg base.
A typical boat remains in the charter operation for about three events.
Usually it is used at two championships before undergoing a full refurbishment and returning for a third. It is refurbished again before being sold, although some boats remain for a fourth event.
Eight Containers from Thailand to Dún Laoghaire
Pier Pressure: ILCA dinghies packed along Carlisle Pier during the Dún Laoghaire World Championships. Ferdinand Ziegelmayer's operation brought 160 boats from Thailand in eight 40-foot containers. Photo: Afloat
The Dún Laoghaire operation involved 160 boats transported in eight standard 40-foot shipping containers, with 20 ILCAs packed into each container.
The boats had come from Thailand, meaning they had already travelled halfway around the world before reaching Ireland.
For European championships supplied from Hamburg, transport can sometimes be arranged just two or three weeks in advance.
International sea freight is a different proposition, requiring between three and six months' planning depending on the route and transit time.
Ziegelmayer said that by August his company was already working on the logistics for the January 2027 World Championships in Fortaleza.
The Irish operation also produced an unexpected complication.
The containers arrived in Dublin before Carlisle Pier was available, leaving the fleet temporarily without a home.
Through the Dún Laoghaire clubs and organising team, Ziegelmayer was put in touch with Hyland Shipping, which provided a solution.
His team unloaded the containers at the company's warehouse, where the boats were stored for several weeks. They later returned to load everything onto lorries, transport it to Carlisle Pier, unload and unstack the boats and prepare them for collection by competitors.
It meant several separate stages of handling before each race-ready boat reached its sailor.
Ready to issue: Racks of foil bags containing daggerboards and rudders await the international sailors arriving in Dún Laoghaire for the ILCA Worlds. Photo: Con Murphy
Millimetres Matter at a World Championship
Supplying boats to some of the world's leading sailors presents another challenge: ensuring that the equipment is as equal as possible.
“Equipment equality is our highest priority,” Ziegelmayer said.
Worlds Apart: International ILCA sailors head out from Dún Laoghaire Harbour, with the championship boat park filling Carlisle Pier behind them. Ziegelmayer says equipment equality is the charter operation's “highest priority”. Photo: Afloat
Together with ILCA, his company developed a specification for charter-fleet boats requiring tighter tolerances than the standard build specification.
Builders supplying championship fleets have to work to those requirements.
“It keeps the differences between boats down to a few millimetres, as far as that is possible with hand-built equipment,” he said.
Boats are allocated using a random number generator, with each sail number linked to one of Ziegelmayer's internal boat numbers so the company knows which competitor has each boat.
If an equipment problem arises during a championship, the sailor takes it to the technical committee and class measurer.
The measurer and a member of Ziegelmayer's team inspect the equipment together, decide whether it should be repaired or replaced, and the charter team carries out the work.
Three Months' Work for the Paris Olympics
If a World Championship presents a major logistical exercise, the Olympic Games add another level.
Ziegelmayer's operation was responsible for 100 ILCA boats at the Paris 2024 Olympic sailing competition in Marseille.
“We had only 100 boats at the Olympics, which sounds simple compared with some World Championship fleets,” he said.
“In reality, the work occupied us for about three months before the Games.”
The tolerances for the Olympic boats were tighter again, while the sails and boats were remeasured and equipment checked before racing.
Security also made the transport operation particularly demanding.
Each truck was allocated a specific arrival window of just 30 minutes at the Marseille venue.
The trucks were brought to a holding area outside Marseille and dispatched individually at their allotted times.
Details and passport information for the commercial drivers also had to be supplied in advance, despite the fact that the driver assigned to a particular load can change at short notice.
“Much of the Olympic work happens long before anyone sees the boats in the park,” Ziegelmayer said.
When the Boats Don't Arrive
Not every championship movement has gone according to plan.
Ziegelmayer identifies the 2022 ILCA 7 World Championships in Mexico as probably his most difficult fleet movement.
The boats had been shipped directly from the manufacturer, but some containers were delayed at Long Beach in California.
“When our team arrived in Mexico, expecting to find the boats at the venue, there were none: the containers were still held up at the port,” he said.
Although additional preparation time had been allowed, the competitor handover date was getting closer.
The customs process involved repeated requests for documentation and Ziegelmayer eventually asked his shipping agent to find a way of getting the containers released.
“He came back with a figure of $3,000, which I authorised. The containers arrived the next morning.”
There was more trouble to come.
Another truck movement was delayed when police closed a road following a shooting, preventing unloading until later that afternoon.
One container remained stuck at Long Beach and was due to reach Mexico only two days before the event.
Ordinarily, collecting it after the ship docked could have taken four or five days. This time the team managed to obtain it within 24 hours and prepare the boats.
“There were moments when I genuinely wondered whether we would make it, but we did,” Ziegelmayer said.
Dún Laoghaire Fleet Heads for Brazil
Dún Laoghaire proved considerably less stressful.
Ziegelmayer described the Irish operation as “an absolute pleasure to work with”, praising the assistance from the organising team and the suitability of Carlisle Pier as a secure championship boat park.
“The entire team has been helpful, friendly and understanding,” he said.
“In terms of hospitality, organisation and cooperation, this has been one of our best World Championship experiences.”
But for the charter operation, the end of the Dún Laoghaire Worlds was simply the beginning of another journey.
The 160-boat fleet returns to Ziegelmayer's Hamburg base for a complete refurbishment and is due to be packed for shipment at the beginning of October.
Its next destination is Fortaleza, Brazil, for another World Championship in January 2027.
Meanwhile, the international operation continues in Vilamoura for the ILCA 6 Men's World Championship, followed by the World Sailing Youth World Championships there in December, for which Ziegelmayer expects to supply around 100 boats.
For the hundreds of ILCAs moving through his operation, a World Championship finish line is rarely the end of the voyage.
