2016 Princess Sofia Regatta - Irish sailors in action on Day 3

by Rachel Solon on 31 Mar 2016 2016 Princess Sofia Regatta - Light winds threw a spanner in the works at the halfway stage of the Olympic classes regatta at Palma, Mallorca today with racing still on-going for some events late into the evening.

With the qualification round over, the Irish Laser class selection trials got even closer as challenger Finn Lynch posted a marginally better overall score for the day over London 2012 veteran James Espey as the pair duke it out to decide the Rio 2016 nomination.

With three Irish boats racing in the Silver fleet, Lynch had a consistent sixth and a fifth in the light to medium breeze that eventually filled in after a long wait ashore. Espey had a ninth and a third to finish the day six points behind his rival for the sole place on the Irish squad.

A reminder that the contest could yet be a three-way affair came from Fionn Lyden who won the first race of the day but followed this with a 32nd place and trails the main contenders by almost 20 places.

The morning’s calm conditions delayed the skiff classes racing until even later in the day but the opening race for the women’s 49erFX saw Providence Team IRL's Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey suffer their worst result of the series so far with a back of the fleet 30th place.

However, as the breeze freshened for the second race the pair recovered form to place 14th and they lie 19th overall. Two days of racing remain to make up the 20-point difference for a place in the medal race final on Saturday.

The men’s skiff event had an even longer wait ashore as the wind barely reached the minimum strength for racing conditions. Ireland’s Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern placed eighth in the only race of the day and lie fourth overall in the 49er class.

“At the halfway mark, Ryan and Matt are looking good for the medal race on Saturday while Andrea and Saskia are getting back into the swing of competition after a three-month gap,” commented James O’Callaghan, ISA Performance Director. “The Laser selection trial is turning out to be a really close contest that is far from decided.”

After two days of light winds, tomorrow’s forecast is for fresh to strong gusty winds on the Bay of Palma for the penultimate day of fleet racing at the regatta.