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Irish Laser/ILCA Sailing Dinghy News & Regatta Results
Eve McMahon, pictured here racing in 2022, was named Sportsperson of the Year at the UCD Athletic Union Council Sports Awards on Thursday 16 May
Howth Yacht Club’s Eve McMahon is UCD’s 2024 Sportsperson of the Year, as announced at the UCD Athletic Union Council Sports Awards last Thursday (16 May). The BComm International student and ILCA 6 sailor receives the award for her phenomenal…
Local ILCA, Fireball and Melges 15 classes compete in DBSC dinghy racing on Tuesday, May 14th Scotsman's Bay against the backdrop of the visiting 300-metre-long Norwegian Star cruise liner to Dun Laoghaire Harbour
After some late April cancellations, Tuesday night AIB-sponsored Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) dinghy sailing is off to a gentle start in May with some good turnouts across ILCA 6 and 7, Fireball, IDRA 14, PY and a DBSC debutante…
National Yacht Club junior sailors (from left to right) Sam Ledoux, coach, Alex Butcher, Jacob Browne, Louis Tricket, Eabha Brennan Hobbs, Alanah Whelan and Cormac Whelan
After a frustrating May Bank Holiday weekend and the absence of wind that led to the cancellation of the Feva East Coast championships, the various host yacht clubs around the country were rewarded with great conditions last weekend. The Optimist…
2024 ILCA 6 Masters National Champion Sean Craig  of the Royal St. George Yacht Club (left) is congratulated by Howth Yacht Club Commodore Neil Murphy
The ILCA Masters National Championships proved that the ILCA is a boat for all ages. The masters travelled to Howth Yacht Club to race in the sunshine and a steady south-easterly breeze ranging from 8 to 14 knots. Under the…
Ballyholme Yacht Club 1984 and 1988 Olympian Bill O'Hara competing at the 2023 ILCA/Laser Masters Championships hosted by the Royal St. George Yacht Club
Olympians and former champions are set to compete in this year's ILCA Masters Championships at Howth Yacht Club. The event comes just nine months after the North Dublin club hosted the national championships for the 2023 class last August. One…
The ILCA 6 Connaught Championships start line at Lough Ree Yacht Club. Fortune favours the brave
Light winds in Lough Ree did not stop the ILCA fleet from completing two days of very tight racing in 5 to 10 knots. In stereotypical lake sailing weather, the light northerly breeze kept all three fleets with their heads…
The ILCA Connacht Championships are to be used to award the ILCA 4 Irish Sailing Youth National Prizes 2024
In the aftermath of Storm Kathleen, the ILCA 4 Class was left without any competitive sailing at the Irish Sailing Youth Nationals held at the Royal Cork Yacht Club in early April. However, ILCA Ireland has stepped up to the…
A live Q&A session with Ireland's Paris Olympic ILCA Representatives Finn Lynch and Eve McMahon
The Irish Laser Class Association (ILCA) has announced that its annual general meeting (AGM) will be held virtually on April 17th at 6:30 pm. The meeting will be followed by a live Q&A session with the ILCA representatives who will…
Olympic ILCA 6 qualified Eve McMahon (Howth Yacht Club) had the best result of the Irish Team at the Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma, finishing 14th overall of 114 boats after a 5th place finish on her final day of racing.
Olympic ILCA 6 qualified Eve McMahon (Howth Yacht Club), the 2023 Irish Sailor of the Year, had the best result of the Irish Team at the Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma, finishing 14th overall out of 114 boats after a…
Micky Beckett, 29, dominated the men’s dinghy class at the traditional Olympic classes season opener in Mallorca
The British Sailing Team’s Micky Beckett scored a crucial victory in the countdown to Paris 2024, winning the Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma for the third consecutive year. Beckett, 29, dominated the men’s dinghy class at the traditional Olympic classes…
An ILCA 6 race start on the only day of racing at the 2024 Irish Sailing Youth National Championships at the Royal Cork Yacht Club
Not many were surprised when the Irish Sailing Youth National Championships, which have been taking place at the Royal Cork Yacht Club since Thursday, concluded early due to the landing of Storm Kathleen and a deteriorating forecast for the following…
Some of the junior 4.7 fleet racing in the ILCA Munster Championships 2024 at Baltimore Sailing Club in West Cork
For ILCA sailors Easter always means the Munster Championships in Baltimore Sailing Club in West Cork. Despite the early Easter this year the Munster Championships lived up to all expectations, with nearly a hundred boats travelling from around the country,…
29er action at the 2021 Irish Sailing Youth National Championships held in Cork Harbour. The 2024 event returns to Royal Cork Yacht Club this morning
Over 170 young sailors are set to compete in Ireland’s largest youth regatta, which starts today, April 4th at Crosshaven in Cork Harbour. The 2024 Irish Sailing Youth National Championships, which will be hosted by the Royal Cork Yacht Club…
Ballyholme Yacht Club on Belfast Lough hosts the European ILCA 6 Championships this summer
Since the doors opened for the European ILCA 6 Championships at Ballyholme Yacht Club a few weeks ago, 388 applications for 440 places have been received. The club lies on the north shore of County Down near the mouth of…
Howth's Eve McMahon continues to lead the ILCA 6 U21 European Championships in Mallorca
Ireland's Paris 2024 representative in the ILCA 6 class, Eve McMahon, continues to lead the 2024 Women's U21 European Championships after five races sailed in Mallorca on Wednesday, but Poland's Lilly May Niezabitowska has whittled the Irish woman's margin down to…
Double jobber…..Colin Leonard of Strangford Lough and Ballyholme won Silver at the ILCA Masters in Australia in February, and also collected an Irish Cruising Club award
There seem to be two Colin Leonards prominent in the sailing scene in the north, but in fact, it’s one and the same man making the best of several possibilities. Colin Leonard of Ballyholme was tops in the medal stakes…

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

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

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