Littlewood leads Australian Charge at ILCA Europeans
by Lisa Darmanin / Australian Sailing Team 22 May 14:43 PDT
17-22 May 2026
Zac Littlewood © Beau Outteridge / Australian Sailing Team
The ILCA European Championships concluded today in Kastela, Croatia, wrapping up a long and demanding week of racing that delivered everything from cancelled days due to unstable weather to packed schedules making up for lost time.
West Australian, Zac Littlewood produced a standout performance, delivering an incredibly consistent regatta to finish just three points shy of the podium after a final race showdown with New Zealand's George Gautrey. Despite narrowly missing out on a medal, the result marked a major step forward for the young Australian this season.
"We definitely got the most out of the week racing-wise and I was pretty stoked just to be consistent with the results, all sub-14 scores in the racing," said Littlewood. "Considering the depth of the fleet and how dynamic the conditions were, it was a really positive week."
The two racecourses provided vastly different challenges throughout the regatta. The afternoon sea breezes rewarded strong starts and commitment to one side of the course, while the Adriatic's famous Bora wind delivered up to 60-degree shifts and constantly changing pressure that kept sailors on high alert.
"On the podium front, it wasn't really until the last race that we looked at the points," Littlewood explained. "But because the conditions were so crazy, you really just needed to focus on having a good race first and seeing where it ended up. New Zealand and I both had good top-mark roundings, but it was pretty hard to focus on the tactical battle when you're dealing with 30-degree shifts."
Littlewood leaves Croatia encouraged by the progress made after a difficult start to the European season.
"I'm pretty happy to put a decent score on the board this season after a pretty rocky Palma and Hyères," he said. "I had a lot of issues with my starting there, so this week one of the goals was simply not getting black flagged and putting together solid starts. To consolidate what I learned with Rafa, work out what went wrong earlier in the season, and then show what a consistent week can look like was a really good sign."
Ethan McAullay finished 12th overall after an up-and-down regatta, he showed strong pace throughout the week but struggled at times to convert his starts into strong first-tack positions, making races more difficult than they needed to be. Younger brother Lawson McAullay also impressed in Gold Fleet, finishing 40th overall in another promising performance from the emerging talent.
It was a tougher regatta for the Australian ILCA 6 Squad, with a mixed set of results across the squad struggling with the starts and a challenging Finals Series. Victorian Casey Imeneo finished as the top Australian in 16th overall, narrowly ahead of Tokyo Olympian Mara Stransky in 18th. Young talent Evie Saunders showed improvement from her opening European events to finish 26th overall.
The regatta marks the end of a productive European training and competition block for Australia's ILCA squads, with many now returning home for a short reset before regrouping in Dublin, Ireland, for a training camp focused on local conditions ahead of the ILCA7 World Championships in August and ILCA6 Worlds in September. Before then, the squads will head to Los Angeles in July for valuable training and racing on the LA 2028 Olympic waters.
Australian Sailing Team (AST), Australian Sailing Squad (AS Squad), Australian Sailing Futures (ASF), State Sailing Performance Program (SSPP) and other Australian (AUS) results at the ILCA European Championship:
ILCA 7 (179 entries)
4th - Zac Littlewood (AST)
12th - Ethan McAullay (AST)
40th - Lawson McAullay (AS Squad)
66th - Isaac Schotte (AS Squad)
100th - Alexander Bijkerk (SSPP)
117th - Patrick Scally (AUS)
ILCA 6 (123 entries)
16th - Casey Imeneo (ASF)
18th - Mara Stransky (AST)
26th - Evie Saunders (AS Squad)
31st - Frances Beebe (AUS)
34th - Zoe Thomson (AST)
39th - Elyse Ainsworth (AST)
40th - Sylvie Stannage (AUS)
Full results can be found here