Please select your home edition
Edition

Welsh team display winning ways at Celtic Cup 2025

by RYA Cymru Wales 3 Feb 10:26 PST 1-2 February 2025

What an adventure! The Celtic Cup 2025 saw youth and junior sailors from Wales putting their racing skills to the test against teams from Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The latest edition of this annual event was hosted by RYA Northern Ireland at Killyleagh Outdoor Education Centre in County Down, on the western shore of Strangford Lough (1-2 February), with each Home Nation putting forward a team of 12 comprising their best ILCA6 and Topper sailors.

For the Welsh sailors, the journey began as early as mid-afternoon on the Thursday for those travelling from south and west Wales, with the team convening at Plas Menai that evening to load boats for a three vehicle convoy with six ILCAs, six Toppers and a RIB.

Triple stacker trailers - funded as part of Welsh Sailing's new ILCA fleet thanks to a Sport Wales grant supported by Welsh Government funding - meant that all 12 sailors along with three coaches could get to Northern Ireland using as few vehicles as possible.

The ferry from Holyhead was planned for 10am on Friday morning but a technical glitch saw it cancelled and bumped the team onto the 1:15pm ferry instead. The three-hour ferry crossing was then followed by a two-hour drive north to the venue.

The sailors were great company in the cars and kept the drivers/coaches Will Willett, Alan Williams and Sarah McGovern entertained along the way, with the team arriving to unload in the dark, fingers crossed and hoping the kit was in the right place.

Killyleagh Outdoor Education Centre proved to be a great facility with bunk rooms and a big lounge and dining room allowing plenty of space and time to socialise with the other Home Countries.

Team building

With a breezy but not unsailable forecast, the race team was quickly on the water to set a course on the Saturday morning. However, Strangford Lough is known for its tide and unfortunately this combined with the strong winds to make launching unsafe.

A few hardy ILCA sailors managed to launch two boats and rotate sailors to have a blast but there was no racing. Instead, sailors rotated around three carousels hosted by the coaches for topics covering rules, race flag scenarios and psychology.

The day concluded with an evening of fun team building and competitive games at the centre. Outdoor orienteering with mixed Home Country teams saw the sailors forging and strengthening friendships while running around the grounds locating landmarks.

Home Country v Home Country games then saw the sailors tackling a blindfold assault course and trying to win a 'tallest tower' competition using spaghetti and marshmallows!

Challenging conditions

With a better forecast for Sunday, an early launch saw five races completed for the ILCAs and four for the Toppers. A breezy 18 knots moderated to 7 knots by the last race to provide a mixed bag of conditions which saw the most well-rounded sailors making it to the top.

Although the overall points difference between the Home Nations was small, Northern Ireland claimed the Celtic Cup after impressive team victories in both the Topper and ILCA 6 fleets.

RYA Northern Ireland Performance Manager, Andrew Baker, said: "A clean sweep is fantastic but I don't think the scores reflect just how close the racing really was. The other nations were definitely pushing hard."

Full results Celtic Cup 2025

Wales finished second overall out of the three Home Nations, with notable individual results in the ILCA 6 class for Freddie MacLaverty, third boy overall, and Flo Tovey, who was first girl.

Summing up her weekend, Flo said: "It was 'snakes and ladders' racing out there really, especially with the tide, waves and pressure coming from all over. It was quite hard to pick out your priorities for the upwinds but I think I managed to do that pretty well in some of the races.

"I've been training with the Welsh Squad and GB Youth Squad and was out in Valencia recently with some of the Irish and Scottish ILCA sailors so it's nice to come together for some racing with your friends."

More than racing

Sarah McGovern, Performance Manager Wales, said: "I was enormously proud of all the Welsh sailors. Team camaraderie was at all time high with everyone supporting each other and showing the skills they had been working on all winter.

"The Celtic Cup for me is much more than just the racing. Taking sailors away for three days, with no parents, helps to develop their independence, time keeping and teamwork. The sailors also support the coaches with logistics and problem solving along the way. Combine that with making new friends across the Home Countries and the Celtic Cup is always a huge success no matter what the outcome.

"A big thank you to the coaches Will and Alan and the Welsh parents for their support, and of course to our hosts RYA Northern Ireland and all those from the Home Nations who made it a great event!"

The team made it back to bed at Plas Menai at 3am on Monday morning and with a quick re-shuffle of boats, the sailors were back on the road again to south/west and outer north Wales.

Up next

Youth and junior sailors - get set for a spectacular summer of events in Wales! Make sure you have these 2025 dates planned into your calendar:

  • 12-18 April: RYA Youth Nationals, Pwllheli
  • 21-22 June: Welsh Regional Junior Championships, Dale
  • 30-31 August: Welsh OnBoard Festival, Bala
  • 13-14 Sept: Welsh Youth & Junior Championships, Pwllheli

Enter now for the RYA Youth Nationals 2025

Related Articles

Robert Burke on HRCS's Dyckman Marina facility
Robert Burke discusses the upcoming closure of HRCS's Dyckman Marina facility Community sailing organizations are a fantastic and affordable way of drawing new sailors into the sport. Unfortunately, the Hudson River Community Sailing is being forced to close one of its two locations in January. Posted today at 3:00 pm
Mirror dinghy Tuning Guide with Ben McGrane
A detailed guide to maximising speed with Hyde Mirror Sails Continuing the new series of tuning videos from Hyde Sails, One Design Sales Manager Ben McGrane gives a detailed guide to maximising speed with Hyde Mirror Sails. Posted today at 1:30 pm
Rodkicker 50 - manual rigid vang for larger yachts
Specifically sized for yachts measuring between 50 and 55 feet A rigid vang is designed to enhance sail handling during reefing, preventing the boom from falling into the cockpit or onto the coach roof. Equipped with gas springs, it automatically elevates the boom upon release of the kicking strap. Posted today at 11:00 am
SailGP Racing on the Edge Season 5 Episode 5
Los Gallos revisit their SailGP Season 4 triumph Get a behind the scenes look at the inner workings of the SailGP Season 4 Champions as they return to winning territory – facing personal and professional challenges head on. Posted today at 9:01 am
Third Annual Rhody Regatta concludes
Rewarding perseverance in 30+ knot breezes The third annual Rhody Regatta will go down in the event's short history as one of the toughest due to demanding winds and formidable waves encountered on an 18-mile course around Conanicut Island. Posted on 2 Jun
49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 Europeans starts Tuesday
The fleet is ready for racing in Thessaloniki, Greece A new chapter begins for the fast doublehanded classes. The Champions from Paris 2024 have mostly either retired or are taking breaks for various reasons, leaving the start of the new quadrennial to a new group of sailors. Posted on 2 Jun
Galicia 52 Super Series Royal Cup practice day
Breezy, beautiful Baiona finds favour again with TP52 teams Takashi Okura's Sled team today laid down a marker on the beautiful waters off Baiona, NW Spain as the top performers over the two official practice races sailed today on the eve of the Galicia 52 Super Series Royal Cup. Posted on 2 Jun
RORC centenary Rolex Fastnet Race
All set for another record-breaker Less than two months now remain until the start of the 2025 Rolex Fastnet Race, this year coinciding with the Royal Ocean Racing Club's centenary. Posted on 2 Jun
Team Racing Worlds at Newport, RI, overall
Corinthian Yacht Club puts on top notch performance to win Sustained winds in the low 20-knot range and choppy seas brought on another challenging day in the final stretch of the 2025 Team Racing World Championship. Posted on 2 Jun
The call of the mighty
See the words Admiral's Cup and you immediately think approachable, real, hardcore action See the words Admiral's Cup and you immediately think approachable, real, hardcore action, braving the elements, and glory for the victorious. As an Australian, you have King Louie (the late Lou Abrahams), and the late Sir Jim Hardy as the poster boys. Posted on 1 Jun