Optimist European Championships in Ireland - Day 3
by Rachel Solon 16 Jul 2014 21:31 BST
13-19 July 2014
Dublin Bay was at its very best again today (16 July) for the Optimist European Championships. Bright sunshine, puffy clouds and 14-16 knots of wind greeted the 254 sailors.
Two further races were sailed to give six so far. At this point the sailors are split into fleets of roughly fifty each: Gold, Silver and Bronze for the boys and Gold and Silver for the girls. At this point too, the worst race result is discarded which means points reflect the best of five.
The girls' fleet indulged in multiple general recalls and black flags but this did not affect the top of the fleet. Iset Segura from the Catalan club of Arenys de Mar extended her lead with another win and now has a nine point lead over Ebru Bolat of Romania. The next group, separated from each other by a mere ten points, is headed by Brazilian Olivia Belda and early leader Josefine Akesson (Sweden).
Reigning champion Mara Turín of Slovenia is making a valiant effort with two wins today to recover from her disappointing Day 1. She currently lies 10th but it will take some remarkable sailing since there is no second discard in this series.
In the overall boys' standings French sailor Enzo Balanger from Guadeloupe holds a remarkable lead with results of 1, 1, 3, 3, 1 totalling 9 points. Fourteen points adrift at this early stage is Pablo Lujan of C.N. Javea, Spain while Swedish lake sailor Kasper Nordenram of Rörviks Sailing Club lies third. Two Croatians Leon Kljus and Sven Stevanovic are in the next two places.
The big story for the Irish is that James McCann (Royal Cork Yacht Club) bounced back magnificently after yesterday's disappointment. With 11th and 5th in today's races together with discarding his 28th place he sits with a total of 41 points and placed 13th.
James was the only Irish boy to qualify for the boys gold fleet but four of his teammates qualified for the silver fleet: Jamie McMahon (Howth Yacht Club), Loghlen Rickard (National Yacht Club), Peter Fagan from Skerries and Harry Bell of the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club.
The Irish girls fared much better with three of them making the cut for the gold fleet (top 51). Clare Gorman NYC gained eight places today to rank 24th. Also qualifying are Alix Buckley of Skerries and Gemma McDowell of Malahide.
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