The ILCA Class brought their Irish Masters Nationals to Howth YC over the weekend of May 23/24 and enjoyed spectacular sailing conditions on what turned out to be the first weekend of Summer 2026. 

The challenges of competing events and responsibilities, such as the European Rugby Cup final, first communions/confirmations and the savings of heading abroad before the school-holiday increases, saw the entry reduced to 26 boats, spread almost equally between the ILCA 6 and 7 fleets and drawn from nine different clubs. With the threshold for Masters eligibility now set at 30, there was a wide span of ages represented, ranging from low thirties up to the Great Grand Master category of 70+.

Six races were completed and despite the reputation of the ILCA Class for ‘competitive’ starting techniques – i.e. repeated recalls – the twelve races were completed with just a single general recall and one individual recall.  While the forecast sunshine brought fears of drifting conditions and long waits for the racing to get underway, the fleets enjoyed breezes of 9 – 13 knots with occasional planing on the reaching legs and a relatively stable direction that rewarded those who stayed in sync with the shifts.

 In the ILCA 7 fleet, Roger Craig (RStGYC) put in a dominant performance to take five firsts and discard a 4^th, securing both first overall and the title of Master’s Champion.  Conor Byrne (also RStGYC) took second overall and first Apprentice Master.  Ross O’Leary completed the RstGYC dominance of the podium positions with third overall while Patrick Hamilton (EDYC) secured the Grand Master title in the 7s with his fourth overall result.

Conor Clancy 

The ILCA 6s saw some drama with Conor Clancy eventually taking top spot. After scoring a 3, 2, 1 on the first day, Conor’s fourth race came to a sudden end just after the start when his kicker snapped. On the water repairs had him back in action for race five and his first and second places in the final two races saw him secure victory and maintain the dominance of the RStGYC. Conor Barry and Robert Jeffreys, both RCYC, took the lower two podium places and Robert took the virtual award of most spectacular capsize (and recovery) when he rolled the boat in just before the finish line as he battled for third place in race 5. He tacked, found himself swimming but righted the boat and just got back sailing in time to save his place, a result that eventually secured his third overall by just a single point. Each of the top three also had the satisfaction of taking first place in their respective age categories with Conor Clancy taking the title of first Apprentice Master, Conor Barry the Master and Robert Jeffreys becoming the 2026 Irish Great Grand Master. Darrell Reamsbottom of HYC returned to ILCA sailing after taking a long break – the boats were Lasers when he last competed – but quickly got back into the groove to squeeze into fourth place, just one point ahead of Shirley Gilmore (RStGYC), who finished as first female.

Roger Craig 

At the prizegiving the sun-baked deck of Howth YC, ILCA Class representative Shirley Gilmore thanked the Club for its management and delivery of the event and reminded those present of the next ILCA Class event of the season, the Leinsters at Skerries SC on June 27/28^th. It will be followed by the Nationals, which this year will be hosted by the Royal St. George YC in Dun Laoghaire in late July. The number of entries from that Club for the Masters and their dominance of the prize winners’ table bodes well for a fantastic turnout as the ILCA Class maintains its ‘unique selling points’ of top class racing and great camaraderie.

ILCAS on run

Race write up: Neil Murphy

Photos: Neil Murphy, Paddy Judge 

ILCA 6s results here

ILCA 7s results here