Thirteen sailors were greeted with glorious sunshine as the Royal Cork Yacht Club ILCA class officially kicked off their 2024 season with a three-day clinic on the Curlane Bank in Cork Harbour.
This year marks a significant milestone for the Munster club, with the first female Admiral, Annamarie Fegan, set to take office in a few weeks. The ILCA racing season will start locally in February with a defroster series, followed by the Munster championships in Baltimore on March 30th and 31st. The Irish Youths championships will take place from April 4th to 7th, followed by the Connaught championships on April 27th and 28th.
Further afield, the ILCA World Masters will take place in Adelaide from February 2nd to 9th, with Royal Melbourne's Rob Jeffreys and Dun Laoghaire's Royal St George's Sean Craig competing.
Meanwhile, the ILCA 6 World Championships in Argentina (starting January 3rd) will feature Howth YC's Eve McMahon, who is continuing to improve in her bid for an Olympic berth in Paris.
The start-of-season kickoff clinic was led by coaches Michael Crosbie, Jonathan O'Shaughnessy, and Micheal O'Suilleabhain, who took a fleet of ILCA 4s and ILCA 6s out for a fantastic session on the Curlane bank. Alongside this, an open training session for ILCA 4s will be hosted by the RCYC from February 15th to 18th, featuring top-class coaches and some planned racing.
Those interested in joining the ILCA fleet for an exciting year can contact [email protected]. The Royal Cork Yacht Club has sailors across ILCA 4, 6, and 7, with a good mixture of male and female sailors involved. There are some club boats available to lease and several boats currently for sale
With the club looking forward to Cork Week Regatta in July, the ILCA class is sure to provide some exciting racing this season.