October 28, 2023
2 minutes reading time
Tangier hosts ILCA U21 World Championship 2023, the first world-level ILCA event in Africa
Tangier, Morocco, is where Europe and Africa meet, and between 15-22 October 2023 it hosted 181 sailors from 38 different countries across six continents as part of the ILCA 7 Men’s & ILCA 6 Women’s U21 World Championship 2023 – the first world-level ILCA event to be held in Africa.
Andrus Poksi, Field Operations Officer at the International Laser Class Association, said, “I am incredibly proud that this event has been held in Africa and has been such a huge success. It is the biggest ILCA event so far held in Africa and probably one of the biggest sailing events held in the continent, meaning it is a historical moment.
“I hope that this is the first event of many, and we are all truly impressed by the location, the organisation and how the whole event was managed. I was amazed that this beautiful sailing venue has been hiding from us, but now we know the way here and we will definitely come back in the future.”
World Sailing President Quanhai Li also attended the event and said, “I was very impressed by the organisation of the event and the unique location of the venue. We were given a very warm welcome by the Royal Yacht Club Tangier, and I look forward to attending future events here. The success of this competition is significant for the future development of the region.”
With a magnificent backdrop, and the combination of strong wind conditions, common to the Mediterranean, and the large swell, more common of the Atlantic, meant that each race was different, and sailors had to test their skills in a variety of conditions.
Eve McMahon from Ireland won the ILCA 6 event finishing ahead of Anja Von Allmen of Switzerland in second, with Carlotta Rizzardi of Italy in third.
After receiving her medal, McMahon commented, “Consistency was the key this week. The conditions were complicated in the light wind day as well as the tough heavy wind days and her strategy and focus was to keep as consistent as possible. In the end the consistency is what paid off.”
The win in the ILCA 7 fleet went to Finley Dickinson from Great Britain, taking the honours ahead of Oskar Madonich of Ukraine in second and Caleb Armit of New Zealand in third.
Dickinson said, “The standard of racing was very high, and it was very competitive racing in the gold fleet. The conditions throughout the event made racing very fair for all sailors to test their skills and consistency. Hats off to Oskar, as well, he’s had excellent consistency especially on the light wind day.”
The ILCA 7 U19 title went to Germany’s Ole Schweckendiek who finished 10th overall, just ahead of Sebastian Kempe of Bermuda in 11th overall and Viktor Kateliev of Spain in 13th overall.
