A record number of ILCA Master class sailors are in L'Escala on the Costa Brava, Spain, to contest the 2022 EurILCA/Laser Master European Championships and two Irish sailors are among the 263 sailors aged over 30 years who will be competing for European titles.
The fleet will have representatives from 26 European countries but also from other parts of the world, such as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Morocco, the United States and Canada.
Among them are up to 11 participants over 75 years old and 21 women.
Royal St. George's Sean Craig from Dun Laoghaire Harbour is competing in the ILCA 6 division, which has 138 ILCA 6 entries, 48 of whom will race separately in Craig's GrandMaster (GM) division. Entry list here
The flag is raised at the 2022 EURILCA European Championships Photo: Thom Touw
As regular Afloat readers know, when Craig took fourth in the Worlds last year, all three ahead of him were Europeans, but significantly the silver medal; on the occasion was Miguel Noguer-Castellvi from Spain, who has now moved on to a higher age division, so there is the prospect of a podium finish for Ireland, but nothing is guaranteed on the Costa Brava even though conditions are expected to be good next week, with 10-20 knots in warm water and air temperatures.
Craig did not compete in yesterday's practice race.
Very eagle-eyed Irish sailors looking at the entry list may recognise Noguer-Castellvi as the Olympic Gold medalist in the Flying Dutchman class in 1980 in Tallinn when Wilkins and Wilkinson took silver for Ireland!
Current GrandMaster World Champion Gilles Coadou will compete for France, as will Belgium’s Pieter Van Laer, third at last year’s Barcelona Worlds and Father to Belgium’s Full rig representative at the Tokyo Olympics.
The GM fleet is boosted by non-European entries from Argentina, and other age divisions feature Australians, Americans, and Brazilians.
Ireland has one other entry, London-based ex-pat John Curran, a member of Wembley SC who travelled over to the Irish Masters in May, featuring quite strongly though his best place of a second was lost to a Black Flag infringement. Curran races in the Masters' division.
Most of the top ten from the World Championships are competing, including Ulf Myrin from Sweden, who beat Craig into second at the Malta Masters in March this year, and Dutchman Wilmar Groenendijk, who pipped him by one point for first GM at the Spanish masters in April.
