Irish sailors at the Trofeo Princesa Sofia IBEROSTAR - Day 2
by Rachel Solon, Irish Sailing Association 29 Mar 2016 12:21 PDT
25 March - 2 April 2016
Lighter winds and sunshine for the second day of racing at the Princess Sofia Regatta for Olympic classes saw drama throughout the Providence Team IRL classes in action today.
Tighter results in the 49er skiff event saw Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern drop their overnight lead from day one to joint second-place after a sixth place in the second race of the day cost them the lead.
Otherwise, a second and a third keep them in the standings for Saturday's medal race final and just one point from first overall.
It was a different story for their counterparts Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey in the 49erFX skiff event in the second day of competition since December when injury caused the pair to miss racing until this event. After a consistent top ten opening day, the pair had a more challenging day and results in the 20's leave them in 15th overall.
Amongst the Laser Standard fleet where the Irish sailors are competing for selection to Rio 2016, despite some strong results none made the cut for the Gold fleet. However, that outcome only tightens the selection trials further as Finn Lynch emerged leading Irish boat overall.
Lynch had a fifth in the opening race of the day followed by a 23rd to leave him 52nd overall in the 152-strong fleet. Just two points stood between him and the cut for the Gold fleet that starts racing tomorrow (Wednesday).
Now in the Silver fleet, he will be watching London 2012 veteran James Espey who had a 20th and a 22nd yesterday and he dropped to 62nd overall and five points behind Lynch. A 13th yesterday for Fionn Lyden was enough to get him into the Silver fleet which begins racing tomorrow as well.
The final event in the Irish selection trials will be the world championships in Mexico in May.
"Ryan and Matt sailed well again in the lighter conditions and it's good to see them maintaining pressure on the leaderboard" commented James O'Callaghan, ISA Performance Manager. "But the Irish Laser trials are proving to be a nail-biting affair and it looks set to go right down to the wire."
Meanwhile, amongst the other Irish boats competing amongst the 800-plus fleet on the Bay of Palma, Darragh O'Sullivan is racing in the Laser Standard class and lies 117th overall.
In the 49er class, Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove completed all three races yesterday in their debut major regatta and are 63rd overall. Mark Hassett and Oisin O Driscoll are close behind in 65th place.
Competing independently of the ISA Performance programme, Oisin McClelland is racing in the Finn single-handed dinghy and lies 39th overall in his 74-boat class.
www.trofeoprincesasofia.org