Five of the Northern Irish Sailing Team were in action at Kiel Week 2025- one of the world’s most competitive ‘Grand Slam’ sailing events where some of the world’s best sailors go toe-to-toe with each other in a week of racing.
Erin McIlwaine (49er FX), Ellen Barbour (49er FX), Cormac Byrne (ILCA 6), Tom Coulter (ILCA 7) and Dan McGaughey (ILCA 7), all took part in the event between 19 and 25 June, where they gained some valuable learning experiences in varied conditions.
Despite a tough start to the event, beginning with a ‘U Flag’, Tom Coulter finished strongly with a 3rd and a 1st in the final series of racing. Overall, Tom finished 109th.
Likewise, Erin McIlwaine and Ellen Barbour scored a ‘U-Flag’ during the event but can be proud of 3 top 20 results throughout the week. They finished 40th overall in a highly competitive fleet.
Cormac Byrne narrowly missed out on gold fleet qualification but produced some promising results throughout the competition. He is now preparing for the the Warnemunder Woche Europa Cup which will be a key event for a number of NI Sailing Team athletes, as a credible performance at this event is a pre-requisite for Youth Worlds competition.
Full results can be seen here.
Following the event, RYA Northern Ireland Performance Manager, Andrew Baker, said: “We have NI Sailors representing and competing on the international stage which is a fair reflection of our pathway system. Results are slowly trickling up but more importantly this is our biggest NI Sailor representation at Kiel Week for quite some time and that is even without a few other names who are targeting events next week.
“‘U Flags’ and a few big scores do drag the overall scores down, however there are positive scores form all sailors that show their potential. Some results can be explained by a lack of bigger quality fleet experience and high-level training groups, but there is then and increased cost of time and money.
“We want our champions to continue racing domestically in Ireland which breeds depth to the next generation. Competitive club environments are more linked to international success than many would realise.”
There will be a number of key national and international events in the coming months for NI Sailing Team athletes, so stay tuned across RYA Northern Ireland social media channels to keep up to date about the latest developments.
