Paralympics London 2012 - Irish Sonar sailors excel on day 4
by ISA on 5 Sep 2012
Sonar racing on day four of the 2012 Paralympic Sailing Competition David Staley - IFDS
Day four of the London 2012 Paralympic Sailing Competition was another changeable day in Weymouth for the Irish Paralympic sailors but resulted in the best performance of the regatta so far for John, Anthony and Ian. The trio came second in the only Sonar class race of the day which sees them move to ninth overall. The Sonar class will sail four more races as Race 8, the scheduled second race of today, was postponed until tomorrow.
Today’s scheduled 11am race was postponed for two hours as Portland Harbour was once again flat calm. Frustratingly for the sailors, shortly after Race 7 did begin it had to be abandoned as the winds dropped off. However at 2.45pm the breeze had reached nine knots and Race 7 was restarted. Team Ireland got off to a superb start at the front of the fleet and tantalisingly close to the German leaders, Kroker and teammates. John and his crew continued to keep the pressure on the German team remaining in second place for the vast majority of the race, sometimes as close as six seconds behind the first place boat. Although having challenged for the top spot on numerous occasions the Irish boat just missed out on the first place finish but had their best result so far; a second.
John Twomey commented 'It was a fantastic result for the whole team. There was a good, consistent sea breeze and after a good start we managed to remain in the top three. Our hope is to improve on our overall ninth place with four races remaining'.
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