Wicklow Sailing Club's Michael Norman, who won the Great Grandmaster title at the ILCA 6 Irish Laser Master Championships on Dublin Bay on Sunday was still in winning form on the Bay last night, taking the gun in the DBSC's AIB Summer dinghy series Tuesday evening Laser Radial Race. 

Second was Alison Pigot of the National Yacht Club. Third was Royal St. George's, Hugh Cahill. Four competed. 

In the PY fleet, the National Yacht Club's Noel Butler sailing his RS Aero 'Orion' was on top again with another win in his RS Aero dinghy to bring his strike rate to eight wins from nine races sailed.

Full results in all DBSC classes are below. Three live Dublin Bay webcams featuring some DBSC race course areas are here

Ballyholme is famous for the big rolling seas with a northeast breeze of strength and on Super Saturday at the Youth Sailing Championships, the ILCA6 Under 17 world champion Eve McMahon showed her strength with a dominant display in strong winds and big seas on Belfast Lough.

The Howth teen sailor won three out of four races sailed in her 38-boat fleet to move ahead of clubmate Rocco Wright and Cork's Jonathan O'Shaughnessy (Royal Cork Yacht Club), both one time leaders at the event.

Overall victory is now to be decided in Sunday's final two races.

Johnny Flynn and Ethan Spain in the 29er, Sienna Wright in the ILCA 4, and Bobby Driscoll in the Topper 5.3 won all of their races in their respective divisions.

Howth Yacht Club's Eve McMahon has finished in fourth place overall in the Women’s ILCA6 (Laser Radial) at the Youth Sailing World Championships in Mussanah, Oman.

A 3rd, 6th and 8th place in the final three races secured Eve’s top place in the fleet of 46.

The result rounds off a successful year of competition for the Dublin teenager, winning the 2021 ILCA6 (Laser Radial) Youth World Championships in Italy; U19 Silver Medallist, EURILCA (European region of International Laser Class Association) U21 European Championships; and Silver Medallist, EURILCA Laser Radial Youth Championships.

In the Men’s ILCA6 (Laser Radial), Cork sailors Jonathan O’Shaughnessy finished in 34th place, with Ben O’Shaughnessy and James Dwyer Matthews finishing in 12th place in the 29er class.

Her coach Vasilij Zbogar said “Eve finished 4th in tricky conditions – very light winds, choppy – she was struggling, and then the last two days we made a solid plan which she executed well. She’s had a fantastic year and still has another year of youth sailing competition left".

Howth Yacht Club's Eve McMahon continues to be the top Irish performer after another big day on the water at the 2021 Youth Sailing World Championships om Oman.

With 11 events due to be decided by the end of this Friday, 17 December, the 433 sailors from 59 nations already find themselves close to the halfway stage of the competition.

McMahon, who won the youth radial world title in Italy in August, is lying sixth after four races sailed so far in the girl's radial (ILCA6) division from 46 starters.

Her Irish team-mate Jonathan O'Shaughnessy is not fairing as well in the 50-boat boys ILCA 6 division and lies 34th overall.

In the boy's 29er skiff, Ben O'Shaughnessy and James Dwyer have dropped to 13th overall after six races sailed in their 24-boat fleet.

Female Skiff 29er

Emily Mueller (GBR) was having that very conversation with her 29er crew Florence Brellisford. "By the time we’re dropping the kite at the leeward gate in our next race, we’ll be half way through our regatta," said Mueller. "It feels like we’ve only just started!" It was a very good day for the British 29er team, scoring 1,3,1 in 6 to 10 knot conditions that Mueller described as ‘snakes and ladders’. "We finally learned how to start," smiled Brellisford, trying to pinpoint what made the difference on day two. "A good start makes life a lot easier, rather than having to fight your way through from the back. But it never felt easy. It was super shifty out there, really hard to read the wind."

The British girls are enjoying the competition and using one of the many supplied equipment boats that they didn’t have to bring themselves. "The boats are really good," said Mueller. "They feel fast, everything is new. But you’re not allowed to change anything, all the rope and control lengths are set, you can only add bungee. It’s the same for everybody so it’s very fair racing."

Four points behind the British crew are Charlie Leigh and Sophie Fisher (USA), who scored two fourth places but then fell foul of the Black Flag Disqualification for starting too soon in the last race of the session.

Meanwhile, life at the Barceló Mussanah Resort is good, with the sailors enjoying the swimming pool and the balmy weather either in the morning or during the afternoon. When you get your break depends on when your racing is scheduled for the day.

Male Skiff 29er

As soon as the girls had completed three races they sailed their 29ers to the beach near the pool, at which point their male team mates took over the boats for their afternoon session. Revil & Devaux (FRA) haven’t won a race but then they haven’t finished outside of the top five either. No other team has kept all their scores inside the top 10, so the French are on a breakaway in the 29er fleet. First day leaders, the Codoñer Alemany brothers (ESP) are in second, although the race wins for the day went to Italy, Finland and Argentina.

Mixed Two Person Multihull Nacra 15

Kay Brunsvold and Cooper Delbridge (USA) had the best day in the Nacra 15 multihull. Delbridge attributed this to the decision to have more fun. "We were doing a lot of contemplation last night about our rig and the way we're positioning ourselves through the waves. And we decided we’re just going to enjoy the racing today and see how things go. Worked out pretty well!" Where most of the skippers in the Nacra fleet are boys, Brunsvold is one of the few girls steering. Asked why boys tend to make up the majority of helms in the fleet, Brunsvold joked: "Males can be a little bit more stubborn and like to choose where the boat goes. But that's the way I am too." Delbridge laughed and agreed that his helm is probably the most stubborn of the two of them. "But we don’t really have disagreements either. When things go wrong we tend to laugh about it!"

Although the Americans have closed the gap to the leaders it’s still Thomas Proust and Eloïse Clabon (FRA) who hold the overall lead just one point ahead of Olivier Jaquet and Femme Rixt Rijk (NED).

Female One Person Dinghy ILCA 6

Biggest mover of the day in the girls’ ILCA 6 singlehander was Sara Savelli (ITA). After a disastrous opening day when the Italian was penalised for a Rule 42 kinetics infringement, and scores of 39 and 14, the resilient sailor bounced back with a first and a second place today, lifting Italy to within a point of the lead. Ahead of Savelli, however, are three sailors tied on 16 points at the top of the leaderboard - Anja von Allmen (SUI), Florencia Chiarella (PER) and Marie Jacobsen Lepperöd (NOR). 

Male One Person Dinghy ILCA 6

Ukraine’s Oskar Madonich (UKR) continues to lead the boys’ ILCA 6 fleet with Przemyslaw Machowski (POL) rising to second place ahead of José Gomes Saraiva Mendes (POR) in third. 

Female Two Person Dinghy 420

Neus Ballester Bover and Andrea Perello Mora (ESP) have seen their lead reduced to just a point ahead of Manon Pennaneac'h and Victoire Lerat (FRA). Vanessa Lahrkamp and Katherine McNamara (USA) are only a point behind the French in third.

Male/Mixed Two Person Dinghy 420

Ian Clive Walker March sailing with Finn Dicke (ESP) continue to lead for Spain, but closely chased by Roi Levy and Ariel Gal (ISR) and Florian Krauss and Jannis Summchen (GER).

Female Windsurfer Bic Techno 293+

Manon Pianazza (FRA) is in a class of her own, winning all six races. Behind her a close battle for the next places, just three points between CZE, ITA, ESP and GBR. 

Male Windsurfer Bic Techno 293+

Almost as impressive as Pianazza in the girls’ fleet, Federico Alan Pilloni (ITA) has scored all firsts and is discarding a second. Boris Shaw (GBR) is the only sailor to beat Pilloni in a race and holds second overall.

Male Kiteboarding FormulaKite

Mikhail Novikov (RUS) won the first race of the day, then the next two to Max Maeder (SGP). Leader after day one, Riccardo Pianosi (ITA) fought back with a win in the last race of the day, putting the Italian in a tie with Singapore but retaining the leader’s yellow jersey. 

Female Kiteboarding FormulaKite

Gal Zukerman (ISR) continued her perfect scoreline with unbroken victories. Julia Damasiewicz (POL) is second and Héloïse Pégourié (FRA) third. 

Competition continues on Wednesday, December, starting at 1200 hours local time.

After three races sailed (under Irish Race Officer Con Murphy) at the Laser Radial (ILCA6) World Championships in Mussanah, Oman, Howth Yacht Club's Aoife Hopkins is in 28th place overall.

Hopkins is the only Irish sailor competing in the women's discipline despite the earlier official entry of Sienna Wright who does not appear on today's scoresheet downloadable below. 

The Howth sailor started well in all three races in the 63-boat fleet and went on to place 40th then 23rd and 20th in challenging light winds.

Hopkins also showed good speed downwind so will be looking to improve her first mark rounding in the coming races to utilise this strength more.

With only one fleet and none of the leading sailors escaping a double-digit result it already looks set to be a high scoring regatta. Denmark's Anne-Marie Rindom, the Tokyo 2020 Gold medallist, had been first overall but dropped to eighth after a 16th placing in race three.

Wright's brother Rocco who was also entered in the nine boat men's Radial division does not appear on the men's scorecard.

Following the Olympics, the ILCA 6 fleet first reconvened at the 2021 European Championships in Varna, Bulgaria where Agata Barwinska from Poland took the title, with Maxime Jonker (NED) and Vasiliea Karachaliou (GRE) standing beside her on the podium. These three are all competing in Oman, and they’ll be looking to repeat their performances at the World Championship level. The European Championship triumph for Barwinska came off the back of victory at the Kiel Week regatta, and it appears that she is firmly establishing herself as one of the top contenders in the ILCA 6 fleet.

Being part of the hugely successful Dutch ILCA 6 squad, Maxime Jonker has previously finished second at the 2020 ILCA 6 World Championships, so the top step of the podium has to be on her mind. Jonker makes up half of the smaller than usual Dutch squad, which has a noticeable absence from three-time Olympic medalist Marit Bouwmeester, who recently announced her pregnancy with a baby girl, but still plans to campaign toward Paris 2024. After her bronze-medal finish at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Bouwmeester is looking to add a fourth Olympic medal to her trophy cabinet, but she won’t be without competition from her previous podium rivals.

Danish Olympic Champion Anne-Marie Rindom is already featuring in Oman and it seems that her gold-medal glory in Tokyo has done nothing to distract her from further ILCA 6 success. Known as one of the hardest workers in the ILCA 6 fleet, the World Sailor of Year nominee is clearly determined to round out her outstanding year with an additional ILCA 6 World Championship title.

The championship organisers have again scheduled three back to back races for Friday which if completed will bring the event back on schedule with the final race planned for Monday.

As Afloat reported earlier, Ireland has two entries at the 2021 ILCA 6/Laser Radial World Championship while the British Sailing Team is fielding three – Hannah Snellgrove, Daisy Collingridge and Matilda Nicholls - supported by British Sailing Team lead pathway coach James Gray (pictured above). The trio will be joined by young Brits Molly Sacker and Anya Haji-Michael. Notably absent from the line-up is three-time Olympian Ali Young, who has decided to retire from Olympic campaigning.

It’s been almost two years since the last ILCA 6 World Championship was held in Melbourne, Australia. Ok, there’s been the small matter of the Olympics, but for the majority of ILCA 6 athletes this will be the first global event for a while. In fact, Young was the only Brit in the field at the 2020 event. In 2019 Snellgrove placed seventh, and you’ve got to go back to 2018 to find Collingridge’s last world championship result, an 83rd at the Sailing World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark. That was a long time ago, and all three Brits have proven themselves forces to be reckoned with since then. Collingridge, in particular, posted a seventh at the 2021 ILCA 6 European Championship with Snellgrove and Nicholls not far behind in 17th and 20th respectively.

Daisy Collingridge, 22, Waldringfield, Suffolk: “We’ve done a good training block the last two months leading up to this event, really focusing on the main progress points which came out of Europeans. It’s definitely a lot warmer out here than Weymouth (thankfully!) but I feel super prepared for racing next week. Again it’s another great opportunity to line up against the best in the world and I can’t wait to get onto the start line.”

Hannah Snellgrove, 31, Lymington, Hants: “2021 has been a long season for us and I’m looking forward to rounding it out with my first World Championships since 2019. There’s something quite special about sailing up to the start line of the Worlds and I’m looking forward to trying to capitalise on some of my good performances this year and also progress some areas of my racing that need improvements. Oman seems like a really interesting venue with quite light and patchy winds so I’m sure there will be lots of learning!”

Two Howth Yacht Club sailors are preparing for the ILCA 6/Laser Radial World Championships in Oman this morning.

Dubliners Aoife Hopkins and Sienna Wright are both on the entry list for the championship which takes place from November 29 to December 6, with racing starting on December 1.

64 entries from 31 countries are entered. 

Fresh from hosting the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 World Championship, Al Mussanah in Oman is the location for this year’s regatta. It can be a tricky venue, characterised by light, offshore winds as well as high temperatures.

Adding to the Irish interest in Oman is the fact that the Principal Race Officer is Dun Laoghaire's Con Murphy from the National Yacht Club. The event director is also Irish, Joe Rafferty, who was also in charge of the 49er Worlds at the same venue a fortnight ago.

This week's regatta follows enormous success for the Men's ILCA 7 and Radial divisions as Afloat reports here and here.

Howth Yacht Club ILCA 6 sailor Sienna Wright Photo: Bob Bateman

A third Howth sailor, the world youth radial champion, Eve McMahon, is also slated for competition in Oman when she competes at the World Youth Sailing Championships in 11 days time.

It’s been almost two years since the last ILCA 6 World Championship was held in Melbourne, Australia. Ok, there’s been the small matter of the Olympics, but for the majority of ILCA 6 athletes, this will be the first global event for a while.

The official website featuring results and the full entry list is here

Men's Radial Worlds

In what is an add-on the women's event, with an entry of just seven from five countries, Wright's brother, Rocco will also be competing this week.

The first half of the Allianz Regatta in Holland, part of the World Cup Sailing Series, has concluded with the awarding of gold, silver and bronze World Cup medals in the ILCA 6, ILCA7, Men’s and Women’s RS:X and the Nacra 17.

None of Ireland's three campaigners including Tokyo nominated Annalise Murphy were medal race participants today as Afloat reportted earlier here.

After five days of racing, Marie Barrue (FRA) and Lorenzo Chiavarini (GBR) took gold in the ILCA 6 and ILCA 7, Piotr Myszka (POL) and Marta Maggetti (ITA) won the Men’s and Women’s RS:X, and home nation favourites Laila van der Meer and Bjarne Bouwer took the Nacra 17 honours.

Medemblik saved the best for last on the final day, with 15-16 knots of consistent breeze and plenty of waves under a clear blue Dutch sky.

Poland’s Piotr Myszka and Italy’s Mattia Camboni opened up a points gap between themselves and the rest of the Men’s RS:X fleet ahead of the Medal Race, so whoever came out on top in the decider would claim gold.

Unsurprisingly there were some match racing tactics at play on the race track between the pair, but Myszka gained the advantage and never looked back as he finished second to clinch gold.

“Today the weather was perfect,” commented Myszka. “We had 15-16 knots and I really like these conditions. From the beginning, I was leading Mattia as I was only fighting him. We were match racing and I controlled him from the beginning. Mattia was far away from me as I finished second so I’m very happy.”

Camboni finished sixth which was enough for second.

Myszka was visibly delighted ashore after racing and immediately set his sights on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

“I am very happy because it’s been an amazing week here,” expressed the Polish racer. “I really don’t remember such a good week here and I’ve been here many times. This has been the best week. I’ve been on the podium many times, but I’ve never won here before in my whole career.

“I started in the blue jersey, but I finished with the yellow. I’m so happy and I hope I keep it up until the end of the Olympics.”

Angel Granda Roque (ESP) completed the Men’s RS:X podium.

Marta Maggetti (ITA) and Katy Spychakov (ISR) fought each other all week long at the top of the Women’s RS:X fleet, and that battle continued in the deciding Medal Race.

Maggetti remained consistent once again, finishing second to Spychakov’s third to clinch gold for Italy with Israel settling for silver.

“I started on port, alone,” explained Maggetti on her Medal Race strategy. “I decided to go alone because I didn’t feel so good in planing conditions with this gear. I focused on my planing and I did a good tack on the upwind and I was able to finish second. I’m pleased with the result this week.

“We were in a small fleet but we are all really good girls who are on top in the world, so it was really good preparation for Tokyo.”

Dutch favourite Lilian de Geus took bronze.

In the ILCA 7, Lorenzo Chiavarini (GBR) needed to finish ninth or better to confirm gold after a dominant week on the water.

Croatia’s Filip Jurisic was Chiavarini’s nearest rival and he kept him close by, but admittedly had some nerves on the race track. “I tried to keep it tight with Filip,” explained Chiavarini. “He did a good job at sailing away a few times. I was a bit scared at the first windward, but the rest of it was quite okay. I had a few boats behind me so I was quite comfortable. It’s always tense right up until the end.”

Chiavarini came through in seventh which confirmed the gold.

“It feels fantastic,” commented Chiavarini on his win. “I’m really happy with how this week has gone.”

Meanwhile, Jurisic finished fourth but that was not enough for silver as Joel Rodriguez (ESP) took the race win to advance up one position. The Croatian rounded off the podium.

Marie Barrue (FRA) also went into the ILCA 6 Medal Race in a comfortable position, needing to finish seventh or better.

Things panned out slightly better for Barrue than Chiavarini as her main rival, Ekaterina Zyuzina (RUS), crossed the start line early and received a full 22 points from the race.

“As soon as I saw the Russian girl was out, I was like, okay just do it, don’t touch the mark, don’t take a yellow flag, don’t capsize, don’t break the boat,” commented Barrue. “I was quite relaxed from there and I’m happy it’s over.”

Barrue has not been selected to represent France at Tokyo 2020 but her win demonstrates she has what it takes to excel at the highest level. She has her eyes set on Paris 2024 now but will also support her training group who will head to Tokyo.

“This is my first medal and it’s nice to get it before the Olympics. We’ve been working hard this winter so we’re heading in the right direction. I’m going to do some big boat racing in Switzerland, then I’m off to Hungary to do some preparation with my team mates to help them prepare.

“Paris 2024 is at home and I have to try to make that, of course.”

Maria Erdi (HUN) snapped up silver and Agata Barwinska (POL) sealed bronze.

Laila van der Meer and Bjarne Bouwer (NED) won gold ahead of the Medal Race in the Nacra 17.

“This was our first World Cup and a first win,” said der Meer through a big smile. “We were a little bit disappointed at the beginning, but we made the most of it this week. Even though it’s a small fleet, these boats are going to the Youth Worlds so it was good to sail against them.”

Silver and bronze was to be decided in the Medal Race with Jesse Lindstaädt and Jill Paland (GER) and Andrea Spagnolli and Alice Cialfi (ITA) going head to head. As the Dutch claimed the race victory, the Germans came through in second to take silver, with the Italians winning bronze.

Regatta Center Medemblik will now reset as the venue welcomes the 49er and the 49erFX fleets. Racing is scheduled to start on Wednesday 9 June and run through to Sunday 13 June but there is no Irish entry from Tokyo qualified Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove.

Two tough days of light, fickle breeze were replaced with 9-11 knots of breeze in Medemblik, The Netherlands as Irish interest in the Allianz Regatta's ILCA 6 fleet includes this weekend.

Howth Yacht Club teenager Eve McMahon dropped back from 11th to 23rd overnight with Tokyo bound Annalise Murphy moving up four places from 32nd to 28th overall. McMahon's club mate Aoife Hopkins is 43rd in the 58-boat fleet.

Every sailor in the ILCA 6 fleet has a high score that they are using as their discard and this has led to high-pressure situations on the racecourse, as sailors avoid making the same mistakes that could severely punish them and see them drop.

Consistency is really at a premium in the ILCA 6 fleet, but Marie Barrue of France has been doing enough all week to cling on to her lead. She is eight points clear of Dutch favourite and Rio 2016 Olympic gold medallist Marit Bouwmeester (NED).

Bouwmeester had the best day on the water with a 2-4 scoreline, and the next best performer was Hungary’s Maria Erdi who moves into contention for the medals, sitting just six points off third-placed Agata Barwinska (POL).

After racing, Erdi commented, “We finally had some more breeze so we got some hiking in. It was still pretty tricky. The startline was crazy with a lot of general recalls. I was just trying to get off the line. I got in really risky spots, and I just took it from there with good starts and good speed.

“I was always rounding the top mark in the top ten. I was able to make up a few places in the first race but lost some in the second but today was a good day and I’m happy with it.”

Hempel World Cup Series – Allianz Regatta is an important event for the athletes targeting Tokyo 2020 as it’s their final opportunity to test themselves before they head to Enoshima.

Erdi knows a good performance here can set the tone come Games time. She continued, “This is our last regatta before the Games, so we really want to put things together. We’re trying to improve and see how it goes.

“We decided pretty early we were going to come here because there was not much racing anywhere. We didn’t want to arrive at the Games and think ‘ahh, so this is the startline!’ We wanted to get racing and we’re happy that everyone else followed and is here.

“I have a camp with my group at the end of this month and then we fly out to Japan on the 12th for the Games.”

The ILCA 6 fleet will sail two races on Saturday before the deciding race on Sunday.

Racing continues on Saturday 5 June from 10:30 local time.

Full results here

Day one of the 2021 ILCA Vilamoura European Continental qualifier for the Olympic single-handed dinghy (M&W) was sailed in a six to 15 knot southwesterly, backing during the day.

The women's ILCA 6, formerly known as the Radial dinghy, got their two races in first, Rio Bronze medallist and 2019 World Champion Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) taking two wins to tie the overall lead with Vasileia Karachaliou (GRE).

Annalise Murphy of the National Yacht Club (already nominated for Tokyo) and who has described this regatta as 'just a training event' scored 29,8 to lie 34th overall, while Aoife Hopkins of Howth Yacht Club is 38th (15,23) and Eve McMahon, also HYC is 77th (39,33) in the 89-boat fleet. 

Racing continues tomorrow. Full results here