With one day of qualification racing to go on the Bay of Palma, Ireland’s Eve McMahon surrendered her overall leader’s yellow bib and seemed relieved to do so.
The fourth day of competition in the ILCA 6 women’s one-person dinghy in the Trofeo Princesa Sofía in Palma, Mallorca, had the Howth sailor initially drop to second overall, then regain first place before finishing the three-race day in third position
She remains in a strong overall position in advance of Saturday’s twin finals races, in which any of the top 10 boats that qualify could reach the podium under a new scoring system.
“What a day! It was a complete game of inches … it was just a complete, wacky unstable … gusts just appearing on the racecourse,” she said after racing. “Hopefully, we’ll get three solid races in [on Friday].”
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The second race of the day was eventually sailed in steady breeze and McMahon was really pleased with her speed and earned a second place, which bounced her back into the overall lead.
In the last race she started well and suddenly, due to the wind changes, was almost last. But in a further twist, she managed “a miracle” to finish in the top 15 boats.
Those remaining races will be crucial to her hopes for the final day. And avoiding adverse umpire decisions about body kinetics in the lighter winds will be critical as her event record already has one Rule 42 penalty – a second would incur a race disqualification maximum score.
“I’m lit up like a ray of sunshine,” she said, referring to the yellow leader’s bib that she now passes to Belgium’s Emma Plasschaert, a double ILCA 6 world champion. “It’s hard to be like a stealth bomber when you’re glowing yellow and catching everyone’s attention.”
The McMahon family will be hoping for a double appearance in Saturday’s finals when Ewan McMahon in the ILCA 7 men’s one-person dinghy looks to climb back into the top 10 on Friday from his 11th place overnight.
He scored a fourth place, then a 20th, before racing was abandoned in the failing breeze after another long day afloat.
Meanwhile, after missing the Gold and Silver fleets in their 49er men’s skiff event, Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove have withdrawn from the event.
The Tokyo and Paris Olympians have yet to regain their previous winning form and ended 2025 prematurely by missing a place in the Gold fleet at their World Championships in Sardinia last October.
