At the 52nd Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca on the Bay of Palma, both the Men's and Women’s ILCA Class Sofia titles have been won even before Saturday’s Medal Race is sailed.

Ireland's Finn Lynch from the National Yacht Club's ended the series in 25th overall in the ILCA 7. Rival for Paris 2024 Ewan McMahon of Howth Yacht Club ended in 37th place in the 184-boat class. 

The Irish camp say that recovery from the Europeans two weeks ago wasn't managed well enough. Lynch's hand injury still hasn't healed fully but his boat speed is clearly very good and he showed this week that he can recover from a bad starting position in the fleet 'really well'.

Ewan's sister Eve McMahon who achieved Gold fleet on this, her first World Cup of Sailing regatta, was disappointed with 35th in her 107-strong ILCA 6 event. 

The National Yacht Club's Finn Lynch ended the series in 25th overall at the  52nd Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca Photo:Sailing Energy

The nett result is no Irish medal race participation tomorrow in either ILCA class. 

Coming back from a maternity break Holland’s Marit Bouwmeester, who won the overall Princesa Sofía trophy in 2014, made a clear statement to the class as she carries a leading margin of 35 points into Saturday’s double points Medal Race for the top ten sailors.

Triple Olympic medal star Bouwmeester winning with a day to spare is less of a surprise than Britain’s Micky Beckett retaining the Men’s Plama title even before the Medal race, achieving the early victory leaving all three Tokyo medallists in his wake.

“I have managed to stay consistent this week. I often struggle early season coming out of the winter but this pre season has been really good so far.” reflected Bouwmeester, “Coming here I really just did not know what to expect other than training has gone really well. Coming back from pregnancy and not having put in the hours the others have, you just don’t know what to expect. You don’t know what you can pull together, you don’t even really know if you can hold it together through eight straight days on the water, it is still tough to through long days on the water and so I am as happy with that. But this is such a competitive fleet and the differences are so small, you can’t read too much into it. But I am a long way short of full fitness, but it is always to start ahead of the fleet than be catching up. Now I hope I can put some more hours in. Physically I can improve, I struggle – with a kid – to even keep my weight up and of course you need to do that.”

Michael Beckett

West Wales’ Beckett admits that his focus over past weeks and months has really been on repeating his 2022 win here, the first big international regatta victory of his career. And with no counting result worse than tenth over his series his mission is already accomplished.

West Wales’ Michael Beckett in fine form in Palma Photo: Sailing Energy

Keys to his consistency has been Beckett’s starting and first beat execution in a very big and very tight fleet and his ability to change gears across the different wind strengths of the week, rewards for the breadth of his winter training, where other World Champions like Germany’s Philipp Buhl and French training partner Jean Baptiste Bernaz, 2022 champions, have struggled at times.

“When you see a video of our first mark rounding yesterday, for example, it is absolute chaos. The only way to deal with it is to be top five. To be a couple of seconds later you are history, you are in he melee, you are in the mess and no matter how well you sail you really can’t get out the mess. It is so, so unforgiving in this fleet.” Beckett asserts, “I am happy I have put in so much work in these last four months leading up to this regatta. We have done three weeks here but trained with the Aussies and Kiwis and this proves that my training and methods were vaguely on the money.”

Beckett missed out on selection for Tokyo 2020 in favour of Eliot Hanson but worked hard as a training partner, giving him a real insight into what he needs to achieve to make the Paris 2024 spot. “Four years ago I was not good enough but because of the one year delay for COVID I got so much valuable experience. In terms of selection other people will make what they want of this win. There was the pressure of expectation because I won before but I dealt with it.”

Results here

Howth Yacht Club's Ewan McMahon leads Irish hopes heading into the Gold fleet for the ILCA 7 class in 25th overall at the Princess Sofia Trophy in Mallorca.

McMahon's rival for Paris 2024, Finn Lynch of the National Yacht Club posted seventh and eighth places, which pulled him up to 34th overall and, crucially, inside the Gold fleet cut as the Rio veteran had been as low as 124th after a day one UFD flag penalty.

Jamie McMahon (Howth YC) placed 140th overall and will compete in the Bronze Fleet finals.

The 2021 World Champion Germany’s Philipp Buhl came back from a black flag to record a 1,3 to lie second, whilst Australia’s Olympic champion Matt Wearn drops to 11^th after a BFD also.

GBR’s Daniel Whitely has no counting score worse than second, and so leads the Men’s fleet, which has only managed five races over the first three days of racing.

Irish coach Vasilij Zbogar, maintains that as tomorrow is the start of the finals, "everything is still open".

Racing continues for the next three days, with sailors competing to win a top ten place for Saturday's single medal race final.

Results are here

The ILCA/Laser class has responded in 'massive' numbers to the Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) call for early entries to their summer race series.

At the last count, a staggering 48 entries were listed from clubs across the Dun Laoghaire waterfront. The ILCAs 4, 6 and 7 rigs will race, thanks to DBSC, on a Tuesday evening in Scotsman’s Bay and on ten selected Saturday afternoons.

The ILCAs now represent the largest class entry and are looking forward to some very tight racing throughout what will be a fleet with huge depth.

Many sailors will be looking forward to the warmer weather and conditions outside the harbour, having completed the DMYC Viking Marine Frostbite series.

In a new initiative, the Dun Laoghaire ILCA class has formed a group to support sailors taking to DBSC racing for the first time this summer or having very little racing experience.

This will kick off with a session in the Royal St George YC on April 18th covering starting sequences, courses, planning your race, basic rules and what to expect in Scotsman’s Bay. Sailors will be supported during the season with ongoing advice and help. Sign ups are rolling in; please email [email protected] for more information and signup.

The first DBSC Tuesday is April 25th, and to celebrate the whopping entry, sailors are invited to the bar of the RSTGYC after sailing for a warm welcome, spot prizes and sailing supper.

The last Sunday of the Frostbites, hosted by Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club (DMYC) and sponsored by Viking Marine at Dun Laoghaire Harbour, ended on a high with steady winds out of the north that allowed two races to be sailed without adjustment of the course, allowing two 3-lap Olympic courses to be set. The wind strength was up on forecasts on both XCWeather and Windy, getting as high as 16/17 knots in Race 1 but easing for Race 2.

This allowed a large course to be set on the N/S axis of the harbour with a mark in the middle of the harbour mouth, a gybe mark in the middle of the harbour and a leeward mark off the end of the Carlisle Pier and close to the East Pier. Indeed, some of the pedestrians on the East Pier were able to enjoy a close-up view of a Fireball trying to get off the wall, which at that stage was almost like a lee shore.

All three fleets, PY, ILCA 7s & 4s and ILCA 6s, had good fleets out for the first race, but the robust conditions of the early afternoon took its toll on the ILCA 6s in particular, with nearly a quarter of the fleet not staying out for the second race. The races were sailed in overcast conditions with a bit of drizzle that gave way to drier conditions, and late in the afternoon, the sun also appeared.

A late prompt from a competitor suggesting the start line was very pin biased caused the Race Officer to amend the pin position, and this paid off as all three fleets got away cleanly at the first time of asking. In the PY race Frank Miller (14915) persuaded the newest helm in the Irish Fireball fleet, Jack McNaughton, to go on the trapeze and they were rewarded with a big win on the water, romping home by 1:30 on father and son Frank & Hugh Cassidy (14934) with Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (14775) a further twenty seconds adrift and Alastair Court & Gordon Syme (15167) another twenty seconds behind. Court & Syme’s early race was looking much better, but a hail of water at the first leeward mark from Cassidy and a subsequent capsize in dropping the kite didn’t help the Court cause. As usual, however, despite a delta of 2:40 on Noel Butler (Aero 6 3289) and 4:28 on Roy Van Maanen (Aero 6 3822) on the water, Miller & McNaughton were relegated to third on handicap. Behind Miller, the Aero 6 (3433) of Sarah Dwyer and the Aero 7 (3288) of Stephen Oram closed out the top five.

The ILCA 7s have seen an injection of enthusiasm in recent weeks and they had eight boats on the water for the third or fourth Sunday in a row. Racing in this fleet has been tight and as of the previous Sunday less that ten points covered positions 1 – 4 in Series 2.

Here the order saw Conor Byrne lead them home in Race 1, followed by Gary O’Hare, Sean Bowden, Gavan Murphy and Niall Cowman.

Conor Byrne (181204) leads Chris Arrowsmith (201829) with Niall Cowman (211857) and Gary O’Hare (201364) in close pursuit in the final race of the Viking Marine DMYC Frostbites at Dun Laoghaire Harbour Photo: Ian Cutliffe

In the ILCA 6s, the master has been Sean Craig – those that know Sean will recognise the pun! He scored the first of two wins by a comfortable margin with the chasing pack led by Conor Clancy and followed by John O’Driscoll, Brendan Hughes and David Cahill.

Sean Craig (218154) and Darren Griffin (219867) in close company at the weather mark in Race 1, Sunday 26th March in the final race of the Viking Marine DMYC Frostbites at Dun Laoghaire Harbour Photo: Ian Cutliffe

In the ILCA 4s Lucy Ives has made a late-season entry into the proceedings and has been rewarded with a win in each of the races in which she has featured. On Sunday, she took both races with Patrick Foley and Zeta Tempany finishing behind her in the same order, second and third, in both races.

The second race, the starting procedures was blotted by one OCS, but the transgressor was identified and the appropriate flag flown – the boat didn’t return.

In the PY Fleet, Court and Syme made amends for their struggles by winning by a huge margin – they were the only boat to finish in under 30 minutes, 28:47. As a measure of their lead on the water, some random finish times are as follows; Butler, 32:33, Oram, 32:46, Dwyer, 34:38, Colin & Casey 30:01 and Miller 31:11. But on paper, they lost out to Butler by 47 seconds, but saved their time against Oram, Dwyer and Van Maanen.

In the ILCA 7s, Byrne and O’Hare repeated their feat of first and second from the first race, but behind them, the order was changed, with Murphy, Chris Arrowsmith and Niall Cowman closing out the top five.

In the ILCA 6s, Craig took another win, with the order behind him being Hughes, Hugh Delap, Clancy and O’Driscoll.

And that brought the curtain down on the 2022/23 Frostbites!

Noel Butler, Aero 6 with the PY Perpetual Trophy of the Viking Marine DMYC Frostbites at Dun Laoghaire Harbour Photo: Frank Miller

Sean Craig (ILCA Winner across 3 ILCA fleets) with Viking Marine DMYC Frostbites at Dun Laoghaire Harbour sponsor Ian O’Meara (R) Photo: Frank Miller

Neil Colin and Ian O’Meara enjoying a moment at the Viking Marine DMYC Frostbites prize-giving Photo: Frank Miller

PRO Frostbites, Cormac Bradley addresses the Viking Marine DMYC Frostbites prize-giving with DMYC Commodore, Ian Cutliffe, in a relaxed mode in the background Photo: Frank Miller

Gordon Syme (L) and Alastair Court, Fireball 15167, with the Fireball Perpetual Trophy at the Viking Marine DMYC Frostbites prize-giving Photo: Frank Miller

1st Lady in the ILCA 6s, Shirley Gilmour, with Ian O’Meara at the Viking Marine DMYC Frostbites prizegiving at Dun Laoghaire Harbour Photo: Frank Miller

Zeta Tempany, Winner ILCA 4s overall of the the Viking Marine DMYC Frostbites Photo: Frank Miller

Sarah Dwyer, Aero 6, 4th overall at the Viking Marine DMYC Frostbites at Dun Laoghaire Harbour and 1st Lady PY Fleet, with Ian O’Meara Photo: Frank Miller

Gavan Murphy – ILCA 7s winner of the Viking Marine DMYC Frostbites at Dun Laoghaire Harbour Photo: Frank Miller

Roy Van Maanen, Aero 6, 3rd overall in PY Fleet of the Viking Marine DMYC Frostbites at Dun Laoghaire Harbour with Ian O’Meara Photo: Frank Miller

Stephen Oram, Aero 7, 2nd overall in PY Fleet of the Viking Marine DMYC Frostbites at Dun Laoghaire Harbour with Ian O’Meara Photo: Frank Miller

Frostbites Series 2 Overall

PY Fleet
1st Noel Butler, Aero 6
2nd Stephen Oram, Aero 7
3rd Sarah Dwyer, Aero 6
4th Stuart Harris, Aero 6
5th Pierre & Remy Long, IDRA 14.
6th Alastair Court & Gordon Syme, Fireball.

ILCAs 7s
1st Conor Byrne
2nd Theo Lyttle
3rd Sean Bowden
4th Gavan Murphy
5th Chris Arrowsmith

ILCA 6s
1st Sean Craig
2nd Conor Clancy
3rd Darren Griffin
4th John O’Driscoll
5th David Cahill

ILCA 4s
1st Patrick Foley
2nd Zita Tempany
3rd Grace Gavin.

At the post-racing prize-giving in the DMYC clubhouse with Frostbite sponsor Ian O’Meara in attendance, the prizes for the combined Series were awarded with Ian doing the honours in tandem with Frostbites Director Neil Colin, who welcomed the competitors to the club.

Principal Race Officer, Cormac Bradley made a few observations on the racing, noting that since Christmas we had managed to race every Sunday, only losing three races, one to rising winds and two to insufficient wind. This contrasted with the pre-Christmas Series when only six races from a potential fourteen had been completed. He thanked those competitors who had discreetly assessed his beats at his invitation to make sure this leg of the course was fair. He also noted and thanked the volunteers who turned out week in, week out to allow racing to take place – mark-layers, rib crews, committee boat volunteers, the results team and the bar and catering staff who look after us after racing. DMYC Commodore, Ian Cutliffe, thanked all the competitors who raced the Series and also thanked the volunteers.

Viking Marine sponsored Frostbites results

Overall Series Results 2022/23
PY Fleet (37 entries)
1st Noel Butler, Aero 6, 31pts – Perpetual Trophy
2nd Stephen Oram, Aero 7, 90.5pts
3rd Roy Van Maanen, Aero 6, 112pts
4th Sarah Dwyer, Aero 6, 118pts
5th Stuart Harris, Aero 6, 131pts
6th Alastair Court & Gordon Syme, Fireball 15167, 144pts – Perpetual Trophy.

ILCA 7s (11 entries)
1st Gavan Murphy, 212521, 78pts
2nd Conor Byrne, 181204, 81pts
3rd Theo Lyttle, 211129, 90pts.

ILCA 6s (39 entries)
1st Sean Craig, 218154, 30pts – Perpetual Trophy
2nd Conor Clancy, 213048, 58pts
3rd Darren Griffin, 219867, 65pts
4th John O’Driscoll, 210361, 106pts
5th David Cahill, 186302, 116pts
7th Shirley Gilmour, 143pts.

ILCA 4s (8 entries)
1st Zita Tempany, 211122, 37pts
2nd Patrick Foley, 211274, 39pts
3rd Grace Gavin, 213526, 50pts.

Fireballs only (12 entries)
1st Frank Miller & Ed Butler, Neil Cramer, 14915, 48pts
2nd Alastair Court & Gordon Syme, 15167, 53pts
3rd Louise McKenna & Hermine O’Keeffe, 15016, 65pts.

Aeros only (8 entries)
1st Noel Butler, (6) 3289, 26pts
2nd Roy Van Maanen, (6) 3822, 60pts
3rd Stephen Oram, (7) 3288, 66pts.

In addition to perpetual trophies for the PY Class, the ILCAs and the Fireballs, vouchers for the first three in each of PY, ILCA 7s, 6s and 4s were presented by Viking Marine as well as prizes to Shirley Gilmore and Sarah Dwyer for being the first Lady in the ILCA 6s and the PY Fleets, respectively.

On receipt of his perpetual trophy, Sean Craig spoke on behalf of all the ILCA fleets to commend DMYC and the volunteers for what he considered an exceptionally good series, particularly since Christmas. He noted that the day’s racing would not have looked out of place at a more serious championship. He suggested that a racing fleet of 39 ILCA 6s would currently be hard to beat anywhere.

Noel Butler addresses the Viking Marine DMYC prize-giving with Ian Cutliffe (Commodore DMYC) and Neil Colin (Frostbites Director) for company Photo: Frank Miller

Noel Butler echoed Sean’s sentiments and noted that this was his 28th or 29th Frostbites without missing a year and agreed that the racing in 2023, in particular, had been very good.

The HYC Dinghy Frostbites kicked off its 2022/2023 season in perfect conditions on Sunday, with 40 boats entered, blue skies, and a warm southerly breeze putting on a special show of benevolence for the first of the planned 18 weekends of dinghy racing writes Conor Murphy.

The regulars welcomed newcomers from all over Dublin and further afield.

Also joining the fleet were some long-time HYC members - lately more used to keels and crew delegation - who have swapped their usual chariots to experience hiking pads, toe-straps, and the challenges of verticality - welcome to Colin and Ronan. The 22/23 series is a first for the long-running event in that a PY class is competing alongside the traditional Laser/ILCA competitors.

Racing kicked off after a slight delay, due to the shifting southerly breeze coming over the Head. A highly qualified team of Neil Murphy, Richard Kissane, and Liam Dineen started all the Classes together. The strong ebb tide, and an excess of enthusiasm by some to bag a front-row spot, saw the fleet immediately earn the first General Recall of the winter. A successful restart under the U flag sent the fleet on their triangular course.

Due to some challenges in finding the gybe mark (or at least the correct one from the selection available) in the rougher water of the Sound, a windward-leeward course was set for the second race, which got away cleanly on the first attempt.

Competition is tight across all ILCA fleets, with 4 of the top 5 Irish-ranked sailors competing in the ILCA 7 fleet. The 7s saw very close racing with multiple lead changes throughout both races, as each sailor sought the best breeze and least tide on a challenging race track.

Series regulars Ronan Wallace of Wexford (1, 2) and Daragh Kelleher of Skerries (3, 1) lead the fleet, followed by event newcomer Rory Lynch (2, 3). A special shout-out goes to Conor Costello for finishing the first race before accepting defeat and acknowledging that the bung is definitely a critical piece of equipment and best fixed in the transom
before going afloat - he thankfully made it back to the Club before going into full submarine mode.

The ILCA 6 fleet saw extra competition this year, with two Dun Laoghaire Masters joining the fray. RStGYC’s Marco Sorgassi showed the fleet a clean pair of heels with two wins, showing good pace to keep up with a lot of the ILCA 7s. HYC’s Una Connell follows, leaving Hugh Delap and Fiachra Farrelly tied in 3rd.

A strong turnout in the ILCA 4s sees Howth’s Cillian Twomey leading the pack, with Ciara McMahon, Des Turvey, and Aisling Kelly trailing, only a point separating them.

The new PY fleet had a mix of participants and is being led by ex-ILCA 4 sailor Abby Kinsella in her RS Aero 6, winning convincingly over Aoibhinn Farrelly’s RS Feva and Hugo Micka’s Fireball. Competition is sure to ramp up over the coming weeks, with more RS Aeros already entered, as well as an RS800.

The series continues next week, and all dinghies from all clubs are welcome to take part in some of the best winter racing in the country.

Two sailed races were sailed on the first day of the 2022 EurILCA/Laser Master European Championships in L'Escala, Spain. 

The 2022 EurILCA Master European Championships has opened the scoreboards with two races held in the two regatta areas located in the Sea of Empúries.

The wind arrived late, so the fleet of 263 sailors had to wait in the marina. Finally, they hit the water at 1:45 p.m. with 4-5 knots of wind. An hour later, the wind shifted to 70º and intensified up to 8- 13 knots, offering excellent sailing.

Spanish Xavi Tous and Alfredo Gómez is leading the ILCA 6 Apprentice fleet) for men. The Italian Gianmario Broccia follows them.

Among the girls, another Spanish, Miriam Carlos is the leader followed by the Italian Elisa Boschin and the Greek Georgia Cheimona.

The head of the ILCA 6 Master ranking (between 45 and 54 years old) is for the French Xavier Leclair, the Dutchman Freek de Miranda and the French Jean Christophe Leydet; while among the women, it is divided between the Spanish Mónica Azón and Marina Sánchez with the German Alexandra
Behrens in third place.

The provisional men's ILCA 6 Grand Master podium is made of two French, Gilles Coadou and Luigi Santocanale and the Belgian Pieter Van Laer in third place. The French Isabelle Viazzo, Claudine Tatibouet and Helene Viazzo are the first three women in this category.  Ireland's Sean Craig is lying tenth.

The first ILCA 6 Great Grand Masters are the Spanish Miguel Noguer, the British Max Hunt and the French Jean Philippe Galle. The French Isabelle Arnoux and Evelyne Ferrat are first and second in the women's division.

As for the ILCA 6 Great Grand Masters (over 75 years), the first three classified sailors are the Australian Peter Heywood, the Dutch Henk Wittenberg and the Spanish Miguel Álvarez. Matej Vali from Slovenia, Ian Elliot from Canada and Lorenzo Cerretelli from
Italy are the provisional ILCA 7 Apprentice Master leaders.

The Greek Dimitrios Theodorakis, the American Peter Hurley and the Spanish Javier Echávarri are the first three ILCA 7 Masters.

Among the ILCA 7 Grand Masters, the Spanish José María Van der Ploeg is the first followed by the Swedish Tomas Nordqvist and the Canadian Allan Clark. The Spanish José Luis Doreste, the American Peter Vessella and the German Wolfgang Gerz are the leaders of the ILCA 7 Great Grand Master
fleet.

The Royal St George Yacht Club hosted the last of this season's ILCA/Laser championship events, the aptly named ‘2022 End of Season’, this past weekend.

This event had previously been hosted in Kinsale Yacht Club for the last two years. However, ILCA Ireland agreed that it should be held in Dun Laoghaire as a fundraiser for local ILCA sailor Kevin Doyle who was recently involved in an accident and requires ongoing care.

Between the event entry fee, raffle and gofundme donations, over €23,000 was raised, a remarkable sum and a wonderful testament as to how the ILCA class and the Irish sailing community come together when one of their own needs it most.

The event itself attracted seventy-four sailors from all four provinces, multiple counties and sailing clubs, once again, a super indication of just how popular the class and its events remain, even into the colder and breezier Autumn winter days. The event also attracted the current third ranked ILCA 7 sailor in the world, our very own Finn Lynch, who along with Annalise Murphy and Eve McMahon, very kindly offered their time to conduct one on one coaching as part of a raffle prize draw.

An ILCA 6 start at the Royal St. George hosted End of Season championships on Dublin Bay. Photo Mark Little

Race officer Harry Gallagher and his team delivered a near flawless six race event in winds ranging from 15-20kts across Saturday and Sunday. The event was spread across three fleets with forty-one entrants in the ILCA 6 fleet, fifteen in the ILCA 4 fleet and eighteen in the ILCA 7 fleet. Howth’s Gallagher delivered three back-to-back international-level racing on both days with no delays and competitors back ashore in record time.

The ladies dominated the ILCA 4 fleet over the weekend, securing slots one through four in the final shakedown. Sienna Wright from Howth took straight bullets. Lucy Ives of Carlingford took silver in all six races. Ava Ennis of the Royal St. George had only two slip ups on her path to straight thirds and in both instances, lost out to fellow clubmate Jessica Riordan, who finished in fourth overall. Cillian Twomey of Howth was the nearest challenger to the girls, taking fifth overall and first male.

In the forty one strong ILCA 6 fleet, East Antrim's Tom Coulter looked like the dead cert at the end of day one, with three straight bullets. Fellow Academy teammate, Sam Ledoux of the National Yacht Club was hot on his heels and Coulter dropped a couple of second place finishes on day two. In the end Coulter took gold with some points to spare with Ledoux in second place. Again, in this fleet the more interesting battle was for third. Irish Sailing Academy’s Sophie Kilmartin of Malahide and Royal St. George, was neck and neck with RSGYC master Sean Craig heading into the last race. Kilmartin pulled it out of the bag achieving her best result of the weekend with a third place finish, seeing off Craig for third place. Tom Fox (RSC) was third-placed male under 30 after Coulter and Ledoux. Charlotte Eadie (BYC) and Zoe Whitford (EABC) were second and third placed U30 girls in nineteenth and twenty first place overall respectively. Marco Sorgassi (RSGYC) was second master in sixth overall and Hugh Delap (RSGYC), third master in twelfth overall. In the ladies ILCA 6 master category, Ali Robinson was first overall, followed by Rachel Crowley and Mary Chambers, all of RSGYC.

In the eighteen-strong ILCA 7 fleet, Finn Lynch (NYC) unsurprisingly showed why he’s third-ranked sailor in the world, with a string of six first place results. His older brother, Rory Lynch (BSC) showed his younger sibling a trick or two of his own and finished second overall and on-form national champion, Dan O’Connell had yet another super event finishing third overall and first master. Recent ILCA 7 convert Oisin Hughes (RSGYC) showed his credentials finishing third placed U30, after the Lynch brothers, and fourth overall. Hughes was actually in third place coming into the last race, but a left shift at the start of the final race caught Hughes on the wrong side of the course, with O’Connell taking full advantage. Second-placed master in sixth overall was Gavan Murphy (RSGYC) with Gary O’Hare (RSGYC) third-placed master and eighth overall.

A very special thanks for pulling this event together, the 2021 Masters Nationals, the Leinster’s earlier this season as well as countless Sprint Series and ‘Race & Relax’ events must go to Brendan Hughes. After just starting ILCA sailing in 2018, over the last two years in his capacity as Dun Laoghaire class captain, Hughes has been the inspiration and driving force behind the continued success of the class both locally and arguably nationally. He gave countless hours of his time not only to the benefit of the Dun Laoghaire ILCA fleet, but to the fleet nationally.

All eyes are on now on 2023, with the fleet expecting to meet up again in Baltimore at Easter for the Munster Championships, which is the traditional first event of the season. It will be an exciting year for the fleet, with Olympic qualifier events taking place later in the year for the male and female national senior teams. If this weekend was anything to go by, the future of the Irish fleet beyond the current senior team is in very good shape with strong competitive sailing across all ages.

Full results are below

The final event of the Cork ILCA/Laser Tri Series Sprints took place on Sunday in Royal Cork Yacht Club at Crosshaven.

The Cork Harbour regatta was the conclusion of the series following sprint events in Bantry and Inniscarra over the past six weeks.

A total of 38 boats over ILCA4 and ILCA6 entered Sunday's sprint with sailors coming from five Cork clubs to join the home sailors.

Bob Bateman's Photo Gallery of RCYC ILCA Tri Series Conclusion

Race officer John Corkery had the difficult task of conjuring up some wind where little to none was forecast. In the end, one race was completed when a slight sea breeze filled in from the South.

First in ILCA4 was Emma Barrett, Glandore Harbour Yacht Club, second was Ethal Bateman, third Isabel Mc Carthy, and fourth Oisin Pierse all RCYC.

In ILCA6, Oisin Mac Sweeney took line honours with Robert Jeffreys in second (and first master), Fionn Daly was third and Andrew Kingston fourth, all RCYC. The first girl in ILCA6 was Ava Scarlett of Glandore.

The racing was followed by a barbeque on the club lawn and prize giving, where Rear Admiral Dinghies, Maurice Collins and ILCA Class Captain Tim Mc Carthy awarded prizes for the day's sailing.

The overall prize for the series in ILCA6 was awarded to Daniel Mallon who received the Cudmore & Maher Cup. Isabel Mc Carthy received the Cudmore & Maher Box for winning the overall series in ILCA4.

Tim thanked all the sailors for competing and all the volunteers from all the clubs both on and off the water for helping out and to Ed Kingston who was instrumental in setting up the Tri Series.

The Tri Series has been a great success and will be repeated again next year and is now seen as a great way for ILCA sailors to meet and compete in venues that are not usually on the ILCA circuit.

As well as the Tri Series Prizes, there was also a presentation of RCYC League ILCA/Laser Prizes

Bob Bateman's Cork ILCA Tri Series Prizegiving Photo Gallery

Awards presented: 

August Tuesday League

Ilca4 Olin Bateman

Ilca6 Fionn Daly

June Tuesday League

Ilca4 Megan O Sullivan

Ilca6 Robert Jeffreys 

May June Saturday League

Ilca7 Jonathan O Shaughnessy

Ilca4 3rd Eve Mc Carthy

Ilca4 2nd Max Tolan (not present)

Ilca4 1st Megan O Sullivan

Ilca6 3rd Joe O Sullivan

Ilca6 2nd Sean O Herlihy

Ilca6 1st Megan O Sullivan

Sunday 18th RCYC Tri series:

Ilca4 4th Oisin Pierce

Ilca4 3rd Isabel Mc Carthy

Ilca4 2nd Ethal Bateman

Ilca4 1st Emma Barret

Ilca6 1st Girl Ava Scarlett

Ilca6 4th Andrew Kingston

Ilca6 3rd Fionn Daly

Ilca6 2nd Robert Jeffreys 

Ilca 6 1st Oisin Mac Sweeney

Overall TriSeries Winners:

Ilca4 Isabel Mc Carthy

Ilca5 Daniel Mallon

This Sunday, the final event in the Cork ILCA (Laser) Tri Series Sprint Regatta is being held in the Royal Cork Yacht Club.

There will be five short (Sprint) races with entry still open to all here for both ILCA 4 (Laser 4.7) and ILCA 6 (Laser Radial).

30 boats have so far entered for Sunday, where the top five places in both fleets are still anyone's for the taking.

The first gun is at 11.55 am.

There will be a barbeque on the club lawn following sailing and a prizegiving thereafter where prizes for the day's sailing and the winners of the overall Tri-Series in each fleet will be awarded.

Laser/ILCA Ireland has announced that their End of Season 2022 regatta will be hosted by the Royal St. George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire this September 24-25.

The two-day end-of-season event is the final Laser class ranking event in the 2022 calendar for ILCA Ireland. This event was introduced in 2021 as an exceptional event outside of the regional and national calendar. Last year’s event in Kinsale proved so popular that the association has decided to make it a standard part of the annual event series.

As with all other regional and national events in 2022, ILCA Ireland sailors between the ages of 18 - 30 can participate in this event for free. This initiative is aimed at encouraging young adult Laser sailors who might otherwise take a break from sailing to stay connected with the class. It has been a very welcome initiative throughout the season, with higher numbers of younger adults competing.

This will be the second regional ILCA Ireland event hosted by the Royal St. George Yacht Club in 2022.

Fleet to support local Laser sailor 

The fleet is making the return to the club in support of a local Laser sailor Kevin Doyle who sustained injuries during a regatta earlier in the season. ILCA Ireland and The Royal St. George Yacht are raising funds for Kevin and his family for his care.

Proceeds from the event will be placed in a fund to support Kevin's care needs over the coming months. The club has established a GoFundMe page where people can make contributions.

Early bird entry for the event closes on Friday, September 16, with late entry closing on Wednesday, September 21.

Further details of the event are available on the ILCA Ireland website and the Royal St. George Yacht Club website.