Newcastle Yacht Club member Erin McIlwaine recently secured a bronze medal at the U-23 Sailing World Championships after a fantastic week in Copenhagen.
The 21-year-old was competing between 30 July and 3 August, alongside her crew Ellen Barbour, who hails from County Antrim Yacht Club. The pair sail in the 49er FX class, which is one of the fastest, most technically challenging dinghies in sailing and requires a huge amount of training to control.
Together, the girls battled through a week of challenging conditions, which included thunderstorms and high winds, bringing home medals to show they can mix it with the world’s best.
Speaking after the competition, Erin said: “We couldn’t believe it. We were waiting around for over an hour, packing up our boats before the results were posted because that day was so windy. It was pretty chaotic out on the race area, so we weren’t too sure where other boats had finished up and it was quite a nervous wait.
“We didn’t want to get our hopes up that we had secured a medal, but when our coach Sean called from the van that we came third, it was such an overwhelming feeling, and we were proud that the hard work we put in over the previous months had paid off!”
In the full article Erin explains what this result means for her hopes of reaching the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
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