Northern Ireland Sailing Team update: Ballyholme Yacht Club Topper Traveller and ILCA Ulster Championships at East Antrim Boat Club

It was a busy weekend for Northern Ireland Sailing Team members, with two events occurring.

At Ballyholme Yacht Club, the first Topper Traveller of the 2025 season took place. These one-day competitions are a great opportunity for young sailors to gain experience in a safe but competitive environment.

Meanwhile, at East Antrim Boat Club, the ILCA Ulster Championships took place. Members of the Northern Ireland Sailing Team were competing in the ILCA 4, ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 classes.

Topper Traveller

At the Topper Traveller, sailors were blessed with beautiful conditions. Perfect sunshine and strong breeze was a fantastic way to start this year’s Traveller Series.

Lough Erne Yacht Club’s Adam Green continued his form from the recent Winter Championships at Malahide Yacht Club, finishing second overall.

There was a strong showing from the rest of the Northern Ireland Sailing Team. Ben McCaldin finished 4^th, James Eadie finished 8th, Alex Eadie finished 9^th, Emma West-Hurst finished 12^th, Hugh Hutchinson finished 13^th, Leo West-Hurst finished 14^th, Polly Robinson finished 17^th and Charlie Haslett finished 18^th.

You can check out the full results here.

ILCA Ulster Championships

Conditions at the Ulster Championships were challenging, with sailors having to deal with light and shifty winds on Saturday and stronger winds on Sunday.

In the ILCA 4 Class, Ballyholme Yacht Club’s Emily Macafee finished 5^th overall with George Doig from East Antrim Boat Club finishing in 7^th. George was one of no five Doigs racing during the weekend- undoubtedly an East Antrim dynasty!

In the ILCA 6 class, Daniel Palmer finished first overall, winning 4 out of the 5 races sailed. He was followed by Bobby Driscoll in 2^nd and fellow NI Sailing Team members Cormac Byrne, Autumn Halliday and Freddie Doig finishing in 7^th,12^th and 20^th respectively.

In the ILCA 7 class, local sailor Tom Coulter finished 2^nd overall and was followed by Chair of the RYA Northern Ireland Performance Committee, Colin Leonard, in 3^rd. Colin has had a successful year of sailing and in January won the ILCA 7 EurILCA Master Series.

To read the full results from the ILCA Ulster Championships, click here.