The 2024 ILCA 6 Youth European Championships & Open European Trophy are officially underway in Bangor, Northern Ireland, following a vibrant opening ceremony today.
Between 29 July and 3 August, Ballyholme Yacht Club is playing host to the event which sees 358 of the world’s best youth sailors battling it out over six days.
Sunday’s opening ceremony saw competitors from 38 nations come together for a parade beginning at Luke’s Point in Bangor and finishing at the BYC. The parade was led by a bagpiper, which served to add to the fantastic atmosphere and colour created by the variety of flags and team apparel from each country.
This is the largest and most internationally diverse sailing competition in Northern Ireland’s history, which is something the eleven sailors competing from Northern Ireland are looking forward to with great anticipation.
Local sailor Bobby Driscoll said: “I’m really looking forward to this competition. My last Europeans was more for experience and to learn how a Europeans works. This Europeans it’s about trying to use all that practice throughout the year and to try and get a good score.
“I’m a member here at Ballyholme which in some ways will be difficult for my mind, as some people might think it will give me an advantage. In reality, I’m just like anyone else.
“I’ve made a ton of friends throughout these events. Sailing is not only about being serious and ‘up tight’, but it’s a great opportunity to socialise.”
The parade was also attended by Lord Mayor of Ards and North Down, Councillor Alistair Cathcart. Speaking after the parade, Councillor Cathcart said: “It’s absolutely wonderful to see over 300 competitors from 38 nations come to a very sunny Bangor. They’ll enjoy great racing out in Ballyholme Bay which is terrific sailing waters.
“We’d struggle to get a bigger sporting event here in Bangor and North Down, and our waters are ideally suited for bringing these events to our borough. We want to do that in the future and we’re looking at an investment to this club to boost our sailing offering that we have here in North Down. This will be an example of a really well organised event and Ballyholme Yacht Club is a terrific club.
“I’ve been speaking to people who run B&B’s, restaurants and hotels. Our hospitality sector will really welcome this boost to have so many visitors come to this borough.
As the sailing eyes of the world look to Ballyholme Yacht Club, they are keen to keep up their proud tradition of environmental sustainability. For their sustainability efforts in the past, they have won the Final Straw Foundation Silver Award and the Platinum Award from Sailors for the Sea Clean Regatta Award. This regatta will also be held in conjunction with the Clean Regattas Programme as they aim to win the Platinum Award for another year.
The club has gone to immense lengths to ensure the sustainability of the event, with initiatives such as the elimination of the use of single-use plastics and ‘Wildlife Wednesday’ which will feature a beach clean-up competition and Ulster Wildlife talks.
Councillor Cathcart stressed the importance of this as he stated: “We as a borough are trying to be more sustainable and we’ve got net zero targets. We want all our events to meet with those standards and it’s welcomed that Ballyholme Yacht Club are doing their part to meet those standards. We hope that this event will be a model for future events in terms of sustainability.”
Racing will start tomorrow with the first two scheduled races per day. First warning signal at 11:00. Coaches meeting at 09:00.
The 2024 ILCA 6 Youth European Championships & Open European Trophy are organized by Ballyholme Yacht Club and EurILCA. The event is supported by Ards and North Down Borough Council, and sponsored by Farrans Construction, Taggarts, Navigator Financial Planning, Lunn’s Jewellers, Fraser Millar NI, Rooster, Ridgeway, WPA Health Insurance, Bangor Marina, Lancashire Marine Services, Print Library, Walcon, BJ Marine, Charter Boat and Sail Coach.
Let’s go sailing!
The EurILCA Team
How to follow the 2024 ILCA 6 Youth Europeans in Bangor
Live contents
We’ll be streaming some of the action and races live, along with daily video highlights and interviews, on our Instagram and Facebook accounts:
We suggest following us to receive instant notifications when we go live!
News and reports
A daily report with news and results, photos and videos will be published at eurilca.org and the event website.
Instant notifications
We have created a Telegram channel that you can join to receive instant communications about the event: https://t.me/ilca6youtheu24
Newsletter
You can opt to receive our daily report with news, results and photos in your email, subscribing to our newsletter here: https://eurilca.org/newsletter/
Photo galleries
We are pleased to inform you that we will be consistently sharing photos on our Smugmug account.
All photos can be downloaded for free and are intended for editorial use specifically related to this event. For any other purposes, including commercial use, please contact the photographer directly at thomtouw@me.com.
Video highlights
We will be also sharing video highlights on our YouTube channel:
We recommend subscribing to our channel to receive instant notifications whenever we upload new content.
Results
Daily results will be published as soon as possible at https://2024-ilca6youth.eurilca-europeans.org/results/
Event website
All the information and links to the different contents mentioned before you can also find them at the official event website.
Event hashtag: #ilca6youtheuropeans2024
Report by Agustín Argüelles – EurILCA | Source: Peter Gilmore – RYA Northern Ireland | Photos by Thom Touw.
