After two days of racing at the opening regatta of the Los Angeles Olympic cycle, the senior team have secured Gold fleet qualification in all classes at the Princess Sofia Trophy on the Bay of Palma. Olympian Finn Lynch (National Yacht Club) recorded two second places leaving him in an impressive third place overall.
Lynch showed great consistency in his sailing despite the challenging light winds. Those results move him into third place and crucially the Gold fleet division for his ILCA 7 men’s one-person dinghy event.
“I had a great day on the water and a felt like I had good control of what was happening,” Lynch said after finishing racing for the day. “Looking forward, it’s great to finish qualifying with all top ten results; the real racing starts tomorrow with Gold fleet and all the top guys in the same fleet so I’m looking forward to that.”
“It’s a one discard regatta so it’s very important to stay consistent which I’ve been doing so far so that’s what I’ll keep trying for.”
Nor was the Carlow sailor alone in securing a top place in the event. Dublin’s Ewan McMahon (Howth Yacht Club) also had a consistent day with two top ten results that put him 12th overall in the huge 174-boat class.
“After day two I feel great – I’ve had two solid races in lovely sea breeze and great to wrap up qualifying,” said McMahon. “The conditions, while they’re really nice they’re also really challenging so I need to be really clinical for the next three days.”
McMahon’s sister Eve also made good on her promise of improving on her opening day form when she won Race 3 before placing 17th in the next race to qualify for Gold fleet in 25th place for the ILCA 6 women’s one-person dinghy event.
“It was definitely a better day today, I had to pull up my socks after yesterday – I really wasn’t happy with my performance and I knew I could do a lot better,” said McMahon. “So, to go out and get a race win and a solid second race was very positive: I know I can race at the front of this fleet.”
“I took a little bit more risk and executed my starts well which I wasn’t doing yesterday (Monday) so that really paid off.”
And there was good news for the McMahon’s clubmate Sienna Wright, a youth pathway sailor trying out senior level racing at Palma when she took one of the last Gold fleet places in the ILCA 6 event.
Meanwhile, across the bay on the Eastern shore, the men’s 49er skiff event continued for Olympians Robert Dickson (Howth YC) with Sean Waddilove (Skerries Sailing Club). The pair had a mixed day, counting a fifth and an eighth to lie 13th overall.
