Royal Cork ILCA (Lasers) hosted the grand finale of the ILCA summer sprint series on Sunday 17th. The series, including ILCA racing across five venues throughout the summer, saw twenty-seven ILCAs compete in three different classes from five clubs on the Curlane Bank in Cork Harbour.

The favourable weather throughout the day from the east held well, allowing the sailors to complete four races on the day. There was some very tight racing in a strong ILCA 4 fleet, making for an exciting competition.

In the ILCA 6 class, three sailors finished on the same points tally, making it even more exciting to decide the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place. The tri-series trophies were presented based on the best three results from the five regattas.

ILCA Summer Sprint Series racing

The series started in June at Glandore Harbour Sailing Club and was followed by Kinsale Yacht Club in July, Bantry Bay Sailing Club in August, Iniscarra Sailing and Kayaking Club, and the finale in Royal Cork. It allowed local sailors to explore some of Cork's great sailing venues throughout the summer.

Each regatta used the sprint format with five quick 20-25-minute races with a single discard on the day. A social barbeque was then hosted at each club for sailors, parents, and helpers. Over fifty ILCA sailors raced in at least one of the regattas throughout the summer.

Special appreciation was given to Harriet Emerson in Glandore, John O'Sullivan in Kinsale, Kathryn Kingston in Bantry, and Aoife O'Herlihy in Iniscarra for hosting the previous events in the series. 

Royal Cork's Rear Admiral Dinghies, Maurice Collins expressed his joy for the successful conclusion of the series, as he was pictured with tri-series winners Eolann Miles (ILCA 4), Jonathan O'Shaughnessy (ILCA 7), Andrew Kingston (ILCA 6), and class captain Eddie Kingston at the Triseries prizegiving

For those who missed the summer sprint series, more ILCA sailing is coming up at the RCYC Frostbite League in November.

Three sailors from the Dun Laoghaire Harbour ILCA fleet recently competed in Douarnenez, France, showcasing their skills against a formidable field of over 270 competitors across 31 countries at the 2023 ILCA European Championships, with all three Irish sailors achieving at least one top-20 result.

Despite the Breton coast typically experiencing a steady 15-17kts sea breeze, the sailors faced challenging conditions due to the unprecedented hot and humid weather, which produced a combination of light and shifty conditions along with heavier sea breezes and 1.5m swells.

Hugh Delap, Brendan Hughes, and Ali Robinson began their campaign last October at the start of the local DMYC Frostbite series. They competed in provincial events and ultimately ended up in Howth at the end of August, where they raced in 30 knots of wind. 

This proved hugely beneficial to all three in terms of strength and conditioning ahead of the Europeans.

Brendan Hughes rounding the windward mark at the ILCA European Championships in France

The Irish sailors competed in the Apprentice and Masters fleet, which included John Emett, coach of Lijia Xu, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist. Also in this fleet were the current female European champion, a number of previous Olympic sailors, and national and ex-world champion ILCA sailors.

Ali Robinson defending on the downwind at the ILCA European Championships in France

All three sailors spoke about their incredible learnings from the event and emphasised the intense but physically and mentally enhancing experience of having six days of racing in a row. The sailors plan to build on their learnings and continue to develop physically, technically, and mentally, with their sights set on the 2024 Europeans in Portugal and the 2025 Worlds to be held in Hayling Island, UK.

The beauty of the ILCA Masters sailing format is that anyone over the age of 35 can compete against gold medallists, and World and European champions, and continue to compete for as long as they can get into the boat.

The Howth Yacht Club (HYC) hosted International Laser Class Association (ILCA) National Championships and saw sailors from three different clubs take the top spots across the three fleets.

Despite losing a day of racing due to strong winds and rough seas, the remaining two days provided plenty of action.

On Saturday, the start of the races was delayed due to the remnants of Friday's storm, but the wind eventually moderated to 15-23 knots, allowing the ILCA 7s to complete four races and the ILCA 6 and 4 fleets to complete three races each. The choppy conditions from the south-easterly breeze made it a challenging race course.

Sunday saw more manageable conditions, with a 12-20 knot breeze welcoming the sailors to the race course. Scorie Walls and her team completed four races for each of the fleets.

Local sailor Jamie McMahon, who had just returned from a summer in the USA, took the crown in the ILCA 7s, narrowly beating Australian Isaac Schotte by one point.

Jonathan O'Shaughnessy from the Royal Cork Yacht Club (RCYC) had remarkably consistent results and came in third, while Ballyholme's Colin Leonard was the first master and came in fourth.

In the ILCA 6s, East Antrim's Tom Coulter won by one point from RStGYC's Fiachra McDonnell, despite McDonnell's storming day two with three of four race wins. HYC's Sienna Wright was first lady and secured her spot to represent Ireland at the World Sailing Youth Championships.

Carlingford Sailing Club's Lucy Ives showed the rest how it's done in the ILCA 4s, winning the fleet, followed by Liam Duggan (RCYC) and Patrick Foley (RStGYC).

The team trophy was awarded to the club with the best result across the three fleets, which went to RCYC for the second year in a row. HYC and RStGYC were also contenders, but RCYC was the strongest across the fleets.

The event was sponsored by Rooster, who provided prizes for the event, as well as bibs for competitors. HYC played host well, providing food and entertainment ashore for all sailors, with photos from the day's racing displayed on a big screen and music playing, creating a great atmosphere for all involved.

Results here

Hungary's Maria Erdi won the final gold medal at the 2023 Allianz Sailing World Championships in The Hague in a tight medal race.

The 25-year-old moved up from third place to claim her first world title in the ILCA 6 medal race.

Australian sailor Matt Wearn confirmed his own world title in the ILCA 7, adding to his Olympic gold won in Tokyo 2020.

The Netherlands finished as the most successful nation, with gold medals for Luuc van Opzeeland in the iQFOiL and Bart Lambriex and Floris van de Werken in the 49er, retaining the IOC President's Trophy for the best nation.

Australian sailor Matt Wearn is carried ashore after winning the ILCA 7 division at the Allianz Sailing World Championships in The Hague Photo: Sailing Energy

As Afloat readers know, Ireland's Finn Lynch from the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire won Ireland a place at the Paris 2024 Games at The Hague in the ILCA 7 class.  

Big breeze and sea state in Howth Sound were too much for the first day of racing at the Irish ILCA/Laser National Championships hosted by Howth Yacht Club today (Friday, August 18th).

"We're hoping this storm passes through quickly and we get a full day of sailing tomorrow (Saturday)", organiser Conor Murphy told Afloat.

In 33rd position, Finn Lynch (National Yacht Club) has four ILCA 7 races left on Thursday at the Sailing World Championships in The Hague to make the medal race top ten plus a top 16 overall position to qualify Ireland for the Paris 2024 Olympics. 

After a 15th place and a 58th scored in Wednesday's wind against strong tide conditions, the Carlow sailor has it all to do on Thursday with countryman and rival for the single Irish berth, Ewan McMahon (Howth Yacht Club), just nine places behind in 42nd overall in the 69-strong division.

At the front of the fleet, Micky Beckett (GBR) overcame a black flag disqualification in the first race to extend his lead in the ILCA 7, thanks to a second in the day's final race.

However, Olympic champion Matt Wearn (AUS) was the big mover, with a first and a third to move into second overall, albeit still 15 points behind Beckett.

However, a strong start to competition in the gold fleet, Wearn will hope to match his exploits at the Paris Test Event when a strong finish saw him overhaul Beckett for victory.

Results here

The U21 ILCA ILCA Europeans sailing competition has kicked off in Stavanger, Norway, with 230 sailors from over 36 nations competing for top honours.

155 ILCA 7 sailors and 75 ILCA 6 female sailors will participate in the event, with 59 of them vying for U21 and U19 prizes.

Irish youth sailors Sophie Kilmartin, Oisin Hughes from the Royal St. George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire and Royal Cork's Jonathan O'Shaughnessy represent their country in the competition, having recently completed their state exams.

The event, which began last week, is scheduled to run until August 13th, and strong winds are expected to give way to more moderate conditions as the week progresses.

Results can be found here

There was a great performance by Monkstown Bay Sailing Club's Dan O’Connell at the UK ILCA Masters at Hayling Island Sailing Club in Hampshire at the weekend.

All four ahead of the Cork Harbour ace in the 54-boat fleet were either Olympic campaigners or Olympians in the men's singlehanded class.

In fact, there was great Irish interest throughout the ILCA 7 and ILCA 6 fleets with 1996 Irish Atlanta Olympian Mark Lyttle, (sailing under GBR), leading halfway through the ILCA 7 regatta but then overhauled by Australian Brett Beyer, a  full-time coach and racer.

There was also big ex-pat interest in the top dozen in ILCA 6s too with Roger O’Gorman (MBSC also), Bob Cudmore, Niall Peelo (Malahide) and Marshall King King (Greystones) all competing.

Results below

After a hugely successful ILCA/Laser sprint event in 2022 that was held across three clubs, the series has expanded to five locations, with a five-race sprint regatta to be held at each club from June to September.

What better way to see some of County Cork's finest sailing harbours in fun but competitive events?

Four qualifying sprint events will be held with a minimum of two qualifier event entries to allow you to win the overall series.

Starting off at Glandore Harbour Sailing Club on June 24th, then Kinsale Yacht Club on July 23rd, Bantry Bay Sailing Club on August 6th, Inniscarra Sailing & Kayaking Club on Sept 3rd and the final event will be at Royal Cork Yacht Club on Sept 17th. The clubs will individually host the sprint regattas for ILCA4, ILCA6, and ILCA7, with prizes awarded on the day for each regatta.

The series winner will be decided after the final sprint event at RCYC on Sept 17th.

All details, NOR and entry can be found here. This is an open event, so sailors from across the country are welcome.

The overnight leader Marco Sorgassi of the host club, emerged as the overall winner after six races sailed in the 6-rig at the Irish  ILCA Masters' Championships sailed under the burgee of the Royal St. George Yacht Club.

The consistent Italian scored two wins and all results in the top five [(5) 2 5 1 1 2] to be three points clear at the head of the scoreboard on 11.

The 53-boat regatta opened in light easterly winds and bright sunshine on Dublin Bay, but Sunday presented a different weather scenario at Dun Laoghaire with a much stiffer breeze up to 17 knots and a Bay chop for the dinghy sailors to negotiate.

Dublin Bay delivered on weather and wind with conditions varying from 7-10 knots on Saturday to 17 and champagne conditions on Sunday. ILCA Masters Championships Race Officer Harry Gallagher, assisted by three additional National Race Officers made the most of conditions and delivered six races thus ensuring the champions had to perform in a variety of conditions, a true test. Photo: Afloat

In second overall, by a single point, was the Australian Great Grand Master Robert Jeffreys from Royal Cork Yacht Club on 14. In third place was Malahide Apprentice Darren Griffin with 15. 

Twenty-seven competed. 

ILCA 6 Irish Masters Champion (and Grand Master Masters Champion) Shirley Gilmore of the RstGYC and ILCA 6 Masters Champion Marco Sorgassi of the RstGYC

Byrne wins in ILCA 7s

In the ILCA 7 rig, overnight leader, Ballyholme Yacht Club's Great Grand Master Gareth Flannigan from Belfast Lough was overhauled by local Apprentice Conor Byrne of the host club after the Northern Ireland ace had a costly retiral from race four.

Byrne, who was four points adrift on Saturday evening, took a 3, 3, 2 in the breezier conditions on Sunday to finish on 11 nett points to edge out Flannigan on 13. 

Carrickfergus's Stephen McLernon was third on 20. 

Twenty-three competed.

National ILCA 6 Female Masters Title for Shirley Gilmore

Shirley Gilmore of RstGYC, who opened up a considerable lead on day one and maintained it in the breezier conditions, claimed her first National Title ahead of club mates Ali Robinson and Mary Chambers.

Irish  ILCA Masters' Championships 2023 Results

ILCA 7

1. Conor Byrne RstGYC and 1^st Apprentice
2. Gareth Flannigan BYC and 1^st Master
3. Stephen McLernon Carrickfergus SBC

1^st Grand Master Theo Lyttle RstGYC

1^st Great Grand Master Chris Arrowsmith RstGYC

ILCA 6

1. Marco Sorgassi RstGYC and 1^st Master
2. Robert Jeffreys RCYC and 1^st Great Grand Master
3. Darren Griffin Malahide YC and 1^st Apprentice

1^st Grand Master Marc Coakley RstGYC

ILCA 6 Female

1. Shirley Gilmore RstGYC and 1^st Grand Master
2. Ali Robinson RstGYC and 1^st Master
3. Mary Chambers RstGYC and 1^st Great Grand Master