Good individual results for Irish sailors as Palma World Cup series reaches mid-point
by Treasa Cox 5 Apr 11:22 BST
3-8 April 2023
Formula Kite Women on 52 Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca day 2 © Sailing Energy / Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca
Breezy conditions on the Bay of Palma brought fresh challenges to the Irish sailors racing on the second day of the Princess Sofia Trophy for Olympic classes today (Palma, Mallorca - Tuesday 4th April 2023). Rio 2016 veteran Finn Lynch (National Yacht Club) had a top 20 result in his opening race but was disqualified for early-starting in Race 2.
The Carlow sailor went on to place 13th in his third race of a long day afloat in the ILCA7 class and will be relishing the worst race discard that come into force after the fourth race of the series scheduled for Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, Ewan McMahon (Howth Yacht Club) rounded off a solid day when he followed a 14th and a 12th place with second overall in his Red fleet of 63 boats.
His sister Eve McMahon racing in the women's ILCA6 event put the disappointment of an early-starting disqualification on Monday behind her to place seventh in the second race of the day.
In spite of spending seven hours afloat and although the conditions were sunny for much of the day with up to 15 knots, the wind direction oscillated over 20-30 degrees and a steady course couldn't be set by the race committee for more than three hours.
Conditions permitting, three further races are scheduled for both ILCA single-handed fleets in the Men's and Women's events for Wednesday which will conclude the qualification round to decide Gold fleets across all classes in the regatta.
Meanwhile, the unsteady conditions took their toll throughout the mammoth event including the 49er skiff event that only had two races sailed.
Robert Dickson (Howth Yacht Club) and Seán Waddilove (Skerries Sailing Club) served up a fourth and an eleventh for the day. However, their team-mates Séafra Guilfoyle and Johnny Durcan (Royal Cork Yacht Club) had a 19th in the opening race but also fell foul to the Black Flag in their second race.
"We ended up with more wind than expected and more stable than expected which is always nice," said Matt McGovern, Irish Sailing's 49er coach. "Rob and Sean had a solid opener and but a very tough start for Séafra and Johnny - it wasn't the start to the series that they wanted."
To follow the competition and results: www.trofeoprincesasofia.org/en/default/races/race