All Three Irish Sailors Qualify for Gold Fleet Final Round at European Championships
After racing concluded in the qualification round of the ILCA European Championships today (13th August 2025 - Marstrand, Sweden) all three Irish boats are through to the Gold fleet for three further days of racing.
Ireland's Eve McMahon (Howth Yacht Club) is second European overall in her ILCA 6 women's series in a very packed leaderboard separated by single points.
The Dublin sailor completed just one race today following a drop in winds which led to the cancellation of race six. Nevertheless, her earlier result for the day, an eighth place, means that she has only scored top ten results for the event at the halfway stage. She faces up to six more races but has also incurred two technical penalties. Any further infringements will result in automatic retirement from the relevant race.
After several weeks of fresh winds, the Marstrand venue has given way to very light breezes and strong coastal currents.
The conditions on Day three upended the Irish standings in the ILCA 7 men's event where Ewan McMahon (Howth YC) had delivered an outstanding opening two days to his series. He has slipped to 30th overall with a 20-point gulf to overcome to achieve a top ten result by Saturday's last race.
Finn Lynch (National Yacht Club) fared better though also found the conditions challenging and lies 16th overall. A 20-point gap for him to overcome in the next six races would open up a podium prospect by the end of the final round.
"It was light and tricky today and there was a strong current with the wind pushing boats back to the start line making the upwinds very long and the downwinds very short," commented Ben Walkemeyer, Irish Sailing coach. "Gold fleet starts tomorrow and the points really count; some people would say that the real racing begins then."
The event will feature live tracking for the Gold fleet round for the coming three days which can be viewed here: https://www.metasail.it/incoming/740/