Irish sailors to dig deep for best outcome at ILCA Europeans in Sweden
A long penultimate day off Marstrand today (Friday 15th August 2025) left all three Irish sailors in need of an exceptional closing day to rescue their top ten ambitions for their final event of the 2025.
Eve McMahon (Howth Yacht Club) had started the day in third overall and second placed Europeans after no races in the Gold fleet series were sailed on Thursday due to calm conditions.
However, the Paris 2024 Olympian incurred her second starting penalty of the week in the opening race of the day followed by a 13th and a 17th which left her in 20th overall.
At least two races on Saturday will permit a second event discard to come into play which will drop the penalty score and give her a reprieve of sorts. However, exceptional results are needed for the final day if the mathematically possible top five result is to happen.
"The next two races were not ideal but in the circumstances were solid results that actually give us some chances tomorrow," commented Vasilij Zbogar, Irish Sailing Coach. "Basically, everything is open including top five, we just need two or three solid races and not many mistakes."
Both Irish sailors in the ILCA 7 men's event face a similar battle on a tight points spread and opportunity from the second discard.
Ewan McMahon (Howth YC) is in 15th place while just eight points behind is teammate Finn Lynch (National Yacht Club), both of whom had mixed results.
McMahon had a hugely creditable second place followed by a ninth for the day that was weighed down by a 22nd place which could be dropped on Saturday but more top tens or better are needed.
Lynch had an eighth but otherwise scored mid-fleet in the tricky conditions.
“Today was one of the more difficult days,” commented Ben Walkemeyer, Irish Sailing coach. “It was one of those days when the wind did some of the things that were forecast and some other things that were less forecast.”
“The three races were very long and strong hiking legs became very important,” he said.
“The points are still quite tight across the fleet so we’re in a position of just going out to do the three best races they can do and just let the points sort themselves out from there,” said Walkemeyer.
The ILCA European Championships is the final peak event of the 2025 season while all the one-person dinghy sailors have been invited to compete in the Sailing Grand Slam final in September that is restricted to only the top ten sailors in the series.
The event will feature live tracking for the Gold fleet which can be viewed here: https://www.metasail.it/incoming/740/