Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

ILCA 6 European Championship Racing Cancelled at Ballyholme Due to Lack of Wind

1st August 2024
Flags at Ballyholme Yacht Club indicated racing is cancelled at the ILCA 6 European Championship on Thursday
Flags at Ballyholme Yacht Club indicated racing is cancelled at the ILCA 6 European Championship on Thursday

Racing in the ILCA 6 European Championship at Ballyholme Yacht Club on Belfast Lough was cancelled today at 1 p.m., as the Race Committee decided that there wasn't enough breeze to run a race.

Meanwhile, the competitors resorted to watching Olympic sailing from Marseille on TV or exercising, perhaps in preparation for tomorrow's completely different forecast conditions, which at the moment shows 13 knots gusting up to 25 knots.

ILCA 6 competitors got to watch TV and cheer on Ireland's second-placed Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove at the Olympic Regatta, MarseilleILCA 6 competitors got to watch TV and cheer on Ireland's second-placed Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove in the men's Skiff class at the Olympic Regatta, Marseille

 With ILCA 6 European Championship Day 4 cancelled at Ballyholme Yacht Club Race, competitors opted for stretching exercises ahead of Friday's forecasted 18 knot winds With ILCA 6 European Championship Day 4 cancelled at Ballyholme Yacht Club Race, competitors opted for stretching exercises ahead of Friday's forecasted 18 knot winds

The saving grace is that it is forecast offshore, which means there shouldn't be any big rolling waves in the Bay.

The competitors have now been divided into Gold, Silver, Bronze and Emerald fleets for the Boys and the Girls, Gold and Silver. Among the Irish in the Boys' Gold Fleet is Charlie Keating from Howth YC, and in the Silver division are Seth Walker (Royal St George) and Andrew Kingston of Royal Cork. Among the eight in the Bronze are the local sailors, Bobby Driscoll and Daniel Palmer and in the Emerald fleet

BYC's Joseph Robinson and Cormac Byrne, as well as Rory Pollard and Luke Simpson from County Antrim YC on the north shore of Belfast Lough.

Showing consistent form in the Girls' fleet, Lucy Ives (CSC) and Zoe Whitford from East Antrim will join Sienna Wright from Howth in the Gold division and in the Silver Caoilinn McDonnell and Ava Ennis (Royal St George) and Glenda Gallagher of Malahide YC will race.

The warning signal for Friday's racing is at 11 am.

Betty Armstrong

About The Author

Betty Armstrong

Email The Author

Betty Armstrong is Afloat and Yachting Life's Northern Ireland Correspondent. Betty grew up racing dinghies but now sails a more sedate Dehler 36 around County Down

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven't put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full-time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.

Direct Donation to Afloat button

About the ILCA/Laser Dinghy

The ILCA, formerly known as the Laser, is the most produced boat in the world, with 220,000 units built since 1971.

It's easy to see why the single-handed dinghy has won the title of the most widely distributed boat of all time.

The Laser is a one-design dinghy, the hulls being identical but three rigs that can be used according to the size and weight of the sailor.

The class is international, with sailors from 120 countries. The boat has also been an Olympic class since 1996, being both the men's and women's singlehanded dinghy.

Three rigs are recognised by the International Laser Class Association (ILCA):

  • ILCA 4: sail of 4.70m2
  • ILCA 6: sail of 5.76 m2
  • ILCA 7: sail of 7.06 m2