Personal Bests and a Race Win at ILCA Europeans in Sweden
There was no magic ending for the three Irish sailors at the ILCA European Championships today (Saturday 16th August 2025, Marstrand, Sweden) where hopes were high of a strong end to the six day regatta as the final performance event of 2025.
Ewan McMahon (Howth Yacht Club) had his best ever Gold fleet performance and a personal best finish to the championships as ninth European overall.
"I was very pleased with how I was sailing this week and to finish it off with a solid final series was really nice," said McMahon. "It's definitely a benchmark but myself and the squad have bigger aspirations for this (Olympic) quad."
His sister Eve McMahon (Howth YC) had been hoping to deliver a final day comeback to restore a top ten finish having earlier been in podium form. And on the last day, she did just that with a race win in the morning.
However, the weight of two penalty disqualifications plus two yellow flags spoiled her usual flow and in the final two races, she was unable to improve on bottom half fleet standings.
Having won bronze at the World Championships in China earlier this year, her takeaway from this event was eleventh European and another bronze medal for the Under 23 competition in the ILCA 6 women's event.
"I said it would be an interesting day and it was, definitely with a first race win that opened a lot of doors for any kind of result," commented Vasilij Zbogar, Irish Sailing coach. "But the second and third race saw everything slowly go down and we couldn't get back into the rhythm of gaining boats... the week was so tough with too much pressure from two black flags and two yellow flags."
Zbogar pointed to the psychological tiredness of consistently trying to avoid making tiny mistakes.
"Throughout the season, if Eve doesn't have issues with Black flags and Yellow flags she's always on top of the (leader) board. We need to learn from this - the disappointment is that we know we can sail well, we know we can perform."
However, there was disappointment for Rio and Paris Olympian Finn Lynch (National Yacht Club) whose regular top ten form and consistency didn't materialise in Marstrand. Falling victim to some unlucky windshifts, a third place in the opening race of the qualification round on Monday was the best of the week.
"A personal best for Ewan is the highlight for sure and a best ever Gold fleet series to be proud of," said Ben Walkemeyer, Irish Sailing coach. "It’s a tougher one for Finn who got unlucky with some (wind) shifts."
Lynch is determined to put the event behind while taking the learnings from both bad and good events and get ready for the next competition.
I'm disappointed, it wasn't my best week. I tried my best but it wasn't clicking," said Lynch after the series ended. "(The venue) was really difficult. Each day the wind was really unpredictable but in the end, the guys who were just starting well and going fast did well."
This event ends the competitive 2025 season for the one-person dinghy sailors but all three have been invited to compete in the Sailing Grand Slam final in The Netherlands next month that is restricted to only the top ten athletes in each discipline.
Ireland's skiff sailors are next in action in October when the 49er World Championships will be sailed in Sardinia where double Olympians Robert Dickson (Howth YC) and Sean Waddilove (Skerries Sailing Club) will be inaction.