The final day of the Irish Laser/ILCA National Championships on Tralee Bay dawned with glorious sunshine but no wind.

PRO John Leech sent the fleet afloat for an earlier than planned start, but there was little action for nearly three hours as the AP and N flags were up and down like the stock exchange. Eventually, a sea breeze of 6 to ten knots filled in from the NW and all fleets had two good races. The ILCA 4 fleet just got off before the time limit.

In the ILCA 4 fleet, it was a field day for the ladies as they filled four of the first five places. Hannah Dudley Young from Ballyholme was the overall and ladies winner, with Maeve Leonard in second and Isabel McCarthy third.

In the 6 fleet, it was so close at the top that count back was required to determine the winner, with Fiachra McDonnel just edging Aoife Hopkins, who took the lady's title. Rocco Wright was third.

The 7 fleet was dominated by Masters, but Stephen Cunnane of the host club put up a great fight to finish fifth overall and first youth and included a race win on the last day. The overall winner was Dan O'Connell from Nick Walsh and Rory Lynch.

The team prize went to the RCYC.

Results below.

ILCA 2022 Prizewinners TBSC Photo Gallery

The Tralee Bay ILCA/Laser National Championship race committee has cancelled racing for the day after recording gusts of 30-knots locally.

Met Éireann also advised that conditions would deteriorate as the day went on.

Racing is scheduled to continue on Saturday.

The first day of the ILCA/Laser Irish National Championships at Tralee Bay Sailing Club in County Kerry was almost perfect; the only thing lacking was a little sunshine!

Race Officer John Leech ran three races for all fleets in winds varying from 10 to 23 knots.

A 20-degree wind shift delayed the start but thereafter, the racing was exciting and sometimes a little bit too exciting as a number of the less experienced sailors found the conditions tough to cope with.

A small number of boats also suffered damage due to the conditions but everyone was safe ashore and buzzing after a great but hard day on the water.

In the ILCA 7 fleet, Nick Walsh from the RCYC leads with two bullets and a second, followed by Dan O'Connell and Rory Lynch.

In the ILCA Six fleet, Fiachra McDonnell from Royal St. George in Dun Laoghaire is a point ahead of Aoife Hopkins (HYC), with Michael Crosbie (RCYC) in third.

Finally, the younger sailors in the ILCA Four fleet showed the way to their older colleagues, and here it is the ladies to the fore as they occupy 4 of the first five places. Hannah Dudley Young (BYC) had three bullets to lead from Maeve Leonard and Isabel McCarthy, both from RCYC.

Three further races are scheduled for Friday, and the wind looks strong again!

Tralee Bay Sailing Club in County Kerry will host this year's ILCA/Laser National Open Championship from this Thursday 18th, to Sunday 21st of August.

Eleven races are scheduled for each of the three fleets over the four-day event, and the weather forecast suggests there should be no problem completing a full programme.

The large entry includes a number of very successful sailors from the class who are sure to be at the sharp end of the fleet when the event finishes.

There is also a large entry of local sailors who have been training very hard for the event in a bid to do their home club proud.

The principal race officer is John Leech, who is well known to the class.

Sam Ledoux and Sienna Wright of the National Yacht Club and Howth Yacht Club, respectively, were the leading Irish boats at the Laser/ILCA 4 World Championships in Villamoura, Portugal.

Two races were completed yesterday in each fleet.

All 426 boats launched efficiently in under 45 minutes for a smooth start to the day.

The venue produced champagne sailing conditions, with 14–20 knots of wind building throughout the afternoon.

Some of of the Irish sailors at the ILCA 4 Worlds Opening Ceremony in Portugal

Sam picked up a 14th and an 11th place in the first two races, while Sienna did even better with two 11th places. Christian Ennis sailing under the burgee of the Royal St George Yacht Club in currently lying in the top 100 and Daniel Palmer from Ballyholme Yacht Club is not much further back.

In the girls, Lucy Ives of Carlingford Sailing Club also had a good day, and she also lies in the top 100 but again, compatriot Ava Ennis from the Royal St George Yacht Club isn’t far behind.

The most notable performance today came from the Italian sailing team, which has sailors leading both divisions after the first day of the world championship.

In the boys' division, Italian Massimiliano Antoniazzi leads the way after sailing two bullets in the green fleet. Israel’s Omer Vered Vilenchik and Greece’s Panagiotis Spanos, each sailed a first- and second-place finish in the red fleet to sit in second and third overall.

In the girls' division, team Italy continues to lead. Maria Vittoria Arseni and Ginevra Caracciolo hold first and second after today’s races. Arseni, like Antoniazzi, scored two bullets to start the championship at the top. Caracciolo had two top-three finishes today. In third overall is Annemijn Algra from the Netherlands, tied with Slovenia’s Alenka Valencic with six points.

There are two more qualifying races today and tomorrow and with a good breeze forecast, it’s going to be a challenge.

The final day of racing at the ILCA 4/Laser World Championship Pre-Event in Portugal started off with a postponement for 1 hour to allow the thermal breeze to settle.

In the end, the Race Officer managed to get two races in, and when the final points were tallied, the two Cypriot sailors were in the top 2 places.

Sienna Wright of Howth YC finished as the first female sailor and in 10th place overall, which is a super result for the 14-year-old and something she will be hoping to build upon next week once the World’s proper begin.

Daniel O'Connor 13th

Daniel O’Connor of the Royal St George YC finished the regatta in 13th place overall. This was only Daniel’s second international event, having competed in 2021 at the World Championships in Dun Laoghaire in the same boat, so he too will be very pleased with this result.

Krzysztof Ciborowski finished the regatta with one of his better performances in the last race and climbed up to 43rd overall in the 59-boat fleet.

Registration for the World’s opens today and there is a practice race on Sunday before the opening ceremony.

Racing proper starts on Monday and the first 6 races scheduled are the qualifiers that will determine what fleets the boys and girls will sail in. With 278 boys entered and 159 girls it is possible that there will be up 6 fleets of boats so qualifying will be difficult. There are 10 Irish boats entered.

Full list of entries here and the results are here

Day Two (Tuesday) at the warm-up event for the Laser/ILCA 4 World Championships proved to be a tricky one for most of the sailors with consistency hard to find in a fickle 4-5 knots of wind.

On the positive side, the fleet was joined by four more sailors providing extra competition and bringing it up to a total of 56 boats.

Sienna Wright (HYC) scored a 22nd 17th and 26th in what were very difficult conditions. She’s currently discarding the 26th place but she has slipped to 11th overall and is now the 2nd placed girl behind Talia Hamlin of the USA.

Daniel O’Connor (RSGYC) slipped from 11th place overnight to 13th place with a 23rd place in the first race of the day, followed up by a 12th and a 17th. Krzysztof Ciobrowski (RSGYC) had the toughest day and slipped to 45th place overall.

The final day’s racing is scheduled for today, Wednesday with the first of two races scheduled to start at 2 pm. The regatta has been the ideal preparation for next week's World Championships.

Results here

The first of the Cork Laser/ILCA Tri Series Sprints took place last Sunday at Bantry Bay Sailing Club in West Cork.

Race officer Deirdre Kingston delayed first gun by an hour to 12.55 pm to allow for a strong sea breeze to fill in before starting the first of five short sprints.

The format was an all-in start of 19 boats, both ILCA4 and 6 on a trapezoidal course in 12 to 14-knot winds with the backdrop of Bantry Bay.

The Tri Series Sprints sailors gather at Bantry Bay for a pre-race briefing

The racing was very tight, with the ILCA 6s going down to the last race as the battle of the Daniels, where both Daniel O'Keeffe (Bantry) and Daniel Mallon (Royal Cork) were on two wins a piece. Daniel Mallon won the last race to finish first on the day, Daniel O Keeffe second and Joe O Sullivan (Royal Cork) third.

There were 12 to 14-knot winds on Bantry Bay for the first leg of the Tri-Series

Isabel Mc Carthy was first in ILCA4, with Ethel Bateman second and Eve Mc Carthy third (All Royal Cork).

Bantry Bay Sailing Club pulled out all the stops to make everyone very welcome at the barbeque afterwards.

As Afloat previously reported, the Tri-Series is open to all, with the next event being Sunday the 4th of September in Inniscarra Sailing and Kayaking Club.

The Irish ILCA 4/Laser Squad have finished their preparations ahead of the ILCA 4 world championships next week.

The team will travel to Villamoura in Portugal accompanied by world-ranked number 1 ILCA 6 sailor Basileia Carahaliou who will be on the water with the team for the event.

The squad of seven were selected following on from their performances earlier this year at the ILCA Munster Championships and the Youth Sailing National Championships in Ballyholme.

All of the squad are under 17 years, with some being as young as 14.

The squad comprised of five boys and two girls are Daniel Palmer (Ballyholme Yacht Club), Seth Walker, Krzystof Ciborowski, Max Cantwell, Daniel O’Connor, Ava Ennis (all from Royal St George Yacht Club), and Lucy Ives (Carlingford Sailing Club).

They are also being joined by ILCA 6 Squad member Sam Ledoux (National Yacht Club) for the event, along with Sienna Wright (Howth Yacht Club), and Christian Ennis (Royal St George Yacht Club).

This Sunday sees the first of three ILCA (Laser) Sprint Regattas being held in Cork by Bantry Bay Sailing Club, Inniscarra Sailing and Kayaking Club, and the Royal Cork Yacht Club.

This Sunday's Sprint event is in Bantry Bay Sailing Club in West Cork with the first gun at 11.55 am.

RCYC Laser Class Captain Tim McCarthy says, "there will be five short (Sprint) races each day with entry open to all here on for both ILCA 4 (Laser 4.7) and ILCA 6 (Laser Radial)". 

Sunday, September 4th, Sprint is in Inniscarra Sailing and Kayaking Club, on the outskirts of Cork city.

Prizes will be awarded on the day and for the series at the series end on Sunday, September 18th in Crosshaven at RCYC.

The event schedule is as follows:

• Bantry Bay Sailing club August 7th
• Inniscarra Sailing & Kayaking Club Sept 4th
• Royal Cork Yacht Club Sept 18th