In a dramatic opening day of Gold fleet racing (Wednesday 24th March 2021) at the 49er Spring Championship in Lanzarote, Ireland’s Olympic hopefuls Robert Dickson (Howth Yacht Club) and Sean Waddilove (Skerries Sailing Club) held on to their third overall place in their quest to qualify Ireland for Tokyo 2020.
The Dublin crew opened with a third place followed by an impressive race win. In a repeat of Tuesday’s form, the pair were heading for a third top three result but were again disqualified for being fractionally over the line at the start.
Ireland’s other crew also ended their Gold fleet opener by holding their tenth place overall as Ryan Seaton (Ballyholme YC) with crew Séafra Guilfoyle (Royal Cork YC) had a 13-11-14 for the day.
In the critical Tokyo 2020 qualification race where a single nation place remains to be decided at this event, Ireland’s two boats in the top ten remain under threat from Italian boats in 12th, 15th and 16th places while Belgium hold 14th place.
Thursdays’ Gold fleet series again features three races each day before a single fleet race on Friday to decide the top ten boats for the medal race final.
“Gold fleet racing is full of swings and roundabouts and nothing can be taken as assured until the final race ends,” commented James O’Callaghan, Irish Sailing’s Performance Director. “As predicted at the start of the week, this series is going to go down to the wire on Friday.”
