There has been a quick turnaround for the Irish Sailing Performance Team. With the ILCA European Championships behind them where Finn Lynch secured a top 10 finish, Eve McMahon scored 14th and sixteen-year-old Rocco Wright won bronze in the ILCA 6 Men’s class, the senior athletes are now in Mallorca for the Trofeo Princesa Sofia, the first event in the 2023 World Cup series.
Competing for Ireland in the week long regatta (Monday 3 to Saturday 8 April) are Olympians Finn Lynch and Ewan McMahon in the ILCA 7 and Eve McMahon in the ILCA 6.
In the 49ers are Olympians Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove, along with teammates Séafra Guilfoyle and Johnny Durcan.
Irish Sailing Performance Director James O’Callaghan commented
“it’s a hugely intense period for the programme with almost no downtime but the sailors are taking the challenge head on and looking to grow as a result of the opportunity presented”.
The Princesa Sofia is the first event in 2023 World Cup Series with organisers planning for a large international presence in Palma Bay, Mallorca, with an expected 950 boats from 63 countries.
The long week of racing starts on Monday 3 April for the ILCAs, followed by the 49ers on Tuesday 4 April. Both classes finish on Saturday 8 April. The ILCAs have a maximum of 10 races in total, or two per day over five days, ending in a medal race on Saturday 8 April. Each race lasts approximately one hour. The 49ers have a maximum of 12 races, 3 on each day (4 days of racing), each lasting about 45 minutes, and ending with a medal race on Saturday.
Weather conditions in Palma at this time of year are in the mid-20 degree Celsius, with typically southerly winds.
Changing Weather Conditions on Bay of Palma Hamper Day 1 of Competition (Monday 3rd April)
While last week’s pre-championship training had ideal conditions grace the Bay of Palma, today’s opening schedule of the Princess Sofia Trophy in the World Cup of Sailing series was largely abandoned due to the weather.
After a delay ashore for the ILCA 6 & 7 women and men’s classes, racing started in sunshine and light winds. However, the breeze direction started changing ahead of several rain showers and most races that started were soon abandoned.
In their ILCA7 Men’s flight, Finn Lynch (National Yacht Club) and Ewan McMahon (Howth Yacht Club) both had started their races well and after two legs were both holding top ten positions when the wind died and the race was abandoned.
Jamie McMahon’s flight was the only race completed where he finished 51st on provisional results and is considering a redress application for a mark rounding incident in which he was infringed.
In the women’s ILCA6 event, Eve McMahon (Howth Yacht Club) saw her race abandoned but not before she picked up a Rule 42 penalty for illegal propulsion just before the race was stopped due to lack of wind that had dropped to 1.2 knots.
Three races are now scheduled for Tuesday for those fleets that didn’t get racing but the forecast again suggests further challenging weather until later in the week.
Meanwhile, the 49er skiff event is scheduled to begin racing on Tuesday with two Irish boats entered.
Tokyo Olympians Robert Dickson (Howth Yacht Club) and Séan Waddilove (Skerries Sailing Club) will be racing against Seáfra Guilfoyle and Johnny Durcan (Royal Cork Yacht Club) in the Blue flight of their class which is expected to have three races – weather permitting.
“Rob and Séan have been going extremely well in training and have made real gains over the winter,” said Matt McGovern, Irish Sailing 49er coach. “Seáfra and Johnny have always been good in the light and shifty stuff and appear to have done great work in their starts and boat-handling so hopefully they’re more rounded.”
The Princess Sofia Trophy is the first event in the World Cup Sailing series and has attracted more than 1,300 athletes across all ten Olympic disciplines to Mallorca for this six-day series. The overall goal for the season is the first Paris 2024 qualification opportunity in The Hague in August.
Follow the competition and results HERE
