Royal Irish's McDonnell Reigns in ILCA 7 Leinster Championships on Dublin Bay

27th July 2025

Afloat.ie Team

An ILCA 7 Race 4 start on Sunday, 27th July at the Leinster Championships at the National Yacht Club Credit: Con Murphy

Royal Irish's Fiachra McDonnell was the ILCA 7 Winner at the ILCA Leinster Championships at the National Yacht Club on Sunday (27th July). The 2032 Brisbane Olympic campaigner beat overnight leader Liam Glynn to take the title. East Antrim Boat Club's Zoe Whitford was the ILCA 6 Winner. The host club's Kate Kenny was the ILCA 4 winner.

Day two of the Championships, under International Race Officer Con Murphy, saw the 90 competitors in the three ILCA classes (7, 6, and 4) complete the full schedule of races in a shifty 6-12kt westerly breeze, which provided tricky tactical racing.

ILCA 4 Race 6 Start Photo: Con Murphy

A strong flood tide under the fleets resulted in the majority of the nine races being started under the black flag rule to get the fleets away.

The arrival of a sea breeze on the final downwind leg of the third race turned the reaching leg to the finish into a nerve-racking short beat!

ILCA 6 Race 4 start Photo: Con Murphy

ILCA 6 fleet leaders rounding leeward gate in race 5 Photo: Con Murphy

Overall winners were:

ILCA 7 Winner - Fiachra McDonnell RIYC is presented with his prize by National Yacht Club Commodore Peter Sherry

ILCA 6 Winner - Zoe Whitford, East Antrim Boat Club

ILCA 4 Winner - Kate Kenny, National YC

1st Master - Conor Byrne, RStGYC

The next event on the ILCA calendar is the National Championships (15-17th August), being hosted by Ballyholme YC on the 50th anniversary of the inaugural national championships on Belfast Lough in 1975.

Race Results

You may need to scroll vertically and horizontally within the box to view the full results

Published in Laser, National YC, Royal Irish Yacht Club

@ CH Marine website

@ CH Marine Facebook

@ CH Marine NI Facebook

@ CH Marine Twitter

Published in Laser

Tagged under

ILCA

About The Author

Afloat.ie Team

Email The Author

Afloat.ie is Ireland's dedicated marine journalism team.

Have you got a story for our reporters? Email us here.

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.

You might also want to read...

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

ILCA 2026 Calendar

Apr 04–05 — Munster Championships — Baltimore SC
Apr 09–12 — Irish Sailing Youth Nationals — Ballyholme YC
May 09–10 — Ulster Championships — East Antrim BC
May 23–24 — Masters National Championships — Howth YC
Jun 27–28 — Leinster Championships — Skerries SC
Jul 24–26 — National Championships — Royal St. George YC
Sep 11–12 — End of Season Championships — Waterford Hrbr. YC

2026 ILCA World Championships

Men ILCA 7: Aug 23 – Aug 30
Women ILCA 6: Sep 04 – Sep 12
Royal St. George Yacht Club & National Yacht Club (Dublin Bay)

At A Glance – Laser Dinghy Specifications

Designer Bruce Kirby & Ian Bruce

Year 1969

Crew 1
Draft 0.787 m (2 ft 7.0 in)
Hull weight 58.97 kg (130.0 lb)
LOA 4.2 m (13 ft 9 in)
LWL 3.81 m (12 ft 6 in)
Beam 1.39 m (4 ft 7 in)
Mainsail area 7.06 m2 (76.0 sq ft)

Racing D-PN 91.1 RYA PN 1088 PHRF 217