Dun Laoghaire welcomes the 2026 ILCA 6 Women's Worlds
by Agustín Argüelles / ILCA 6 Sep 19:42 BST
5-12 September 2026
2026 ILCA 6 Women's Worlds in Dun Laoghaire © Jordan Roberts / Down Under Sail
The 2026 ILCA 6 Women's World Championship was officially opened today in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland.
After two days of registration and equipment inspection, 108 sailors representing 44 countries will start racing tomorrow, continuing through to Saturday 12 September for the World title and medals.
The event format will be the same used last week for the ILCA 7 Men's Worlds, with 5 days of Qualifying Series for all fleets, before the final day sees two Final Series races for the Top 10, and one last Qualifying Series race for the rest of sailors. This format is a class decision and differs from World Sailing format. For further information about the event format read the Sailing Instructions.
Sailors of Asia, Central & South America, Europe, North America, Oceania and the Rest of the World will be represented, a reflection of the ILCA 6's status as one of the most universal classes in the sport.
Among the competitors will be the reigning World Champion Louise Cervera FRA, joined by fellow 2025 medalists Agata Barwinska POL, Silver medalist in Qingdao (and also Silver back in 2021), and Eve McMahon IRL, whose Bronze was Ireland's first-ever senior World Championship medal in the class.
Two Olympic medalists are also part of the fleet: Norway's Line Flem Høst NOR (Bronze medalist in Paris 2024 — her country's first-ever Olympic medal in the class), and in one of the biggest storylines of the fortnight, Rio 2016 Silver medalist Annalise Murphy IRL returns to top-level competition on the waters where she learned to sail, eight months after becoming a mother. (Read more on her comeback: The Class Nobody Can Quit). 2026 Grand Slam winners, Continental champions and previous World medalists will be also at the start line. Read Dublin Bay's Next Act: Who to Watch at the 2026 ILCA 6 Women's Worlds for more on the competitors to follow.
Annalise Murphy IRL reflected on her return, both on and off the water:
“I just went out and did the practice race, so the first upwind of that race was actually my first time taking the boat out and trying to get it all organised. Minding my nine-month-old has been a bit of a challenge too — she wasn’t that interested in me doing all my ropes yesterday. The first few minutes she was like, ‘This is fun,’ and then she was like, ‘Okay, I’m over this.’ But yeah, I’m just really looking forward to getting racing.”
“The Tokyo Olympics were my last Olympics, and the last time I was in an ILCA it went really badly for me — I finished 18th. I kind of knew it was going to be my final Olympics, and I thought I’d try to finish on a high, and instead I finished on a massive low. I was probably just so disappointed that I didn’t really want to go sailing for a while. This summer I was out watching some of the lads training in the ILCA 7, and I thought, ‘That looks really nice — maybe I should hop back in my boat,’ not really thinking the Worlds would be a possibility. Two months later, here I am about to start.”
“I’m very aware of the standard of the fleet — everyone’s full-time, at such a high level. All these girls are aiming for the LA Olympics, and that’s not on my horizon. I know I’m probably not quite going to be on the pace, but I’m hoping I get some good starts, and if it’s shifty, I know the bay really well. My goal is to try and have a few good races — if I can make it into the Gold Fleet, I’d be delighted. But I won’t really know until I actually line up at the start and see how I’m going against the best in the world.”
The 2026 ILCA 6 Women’s Worlds runs 5–12 September off the National Yacht Club and Royal St George Yacht Club, closing out an historic month of Olympic-class sailing on Dublin Bay.
The event is organised by National Yacht Club and Royal St George Yacht Club, in conjunction with ILCA. It is supported by premium sponsors Sport Ireland and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, and associate sponsors Rooster, The Royal Marine Hotel, XOCEAN, and KPMG.
Find out more at 2026ilca6women.ilca-worlds.org