Dublin Bay turns tricky for Olympic hopefuls

If conditions were challenging yesterday, they were even more so on day two of the Four Star Pizza ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships in Dun Laoghaire. A westerly to southwesterly breeze, blowing off the town was making the wind both shifty and gusty out on the water for the 343 potential future Olympians, who have congregated in the emerald isle from all four corners of the globe. One squall passed over the fleet measuring 25 knots.

Despite the testing conditions on the water, today competitors in the eight classes all completed three races and having completed five races in total have now been able to discard their worst result.

Ireland's Finn Lynch had a challenging day in the Laser Radial Boy's fleet where at the end of day two he lies ninth of 58 boats. "I'm thinking that yesterday was easier, but it was pretty tricky both days so far - shifty and unpredictable," said Lynch, adding of his results: "It was not great, it could have been better, but it was okay." The 16-year-old from Carlow scored a 14-16-22, the final being his discard.

The big squall struck the 420 Men's fleet on the first beat of their second race bringing with it a huge shift in wind direction. "I couldn't do anything about it," said Lynch, who said that thankfully afterwards he had managed to claw back positions. "I think it's pretty good we've got all the races in. Its lots of fun - I'm enjoying it so far."

Despite the Four Star Pizza ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships being the number one event of the year for all sailors of 18 and under, because it is in his home port, Lynch says it feels "a bit odd." Normally when sailing at a major regatta he has to travel abroad. "It doesn't really feel like going to a World Championships, being just 40 minutes from my house."

In theory local Dun Laoghaire sailors competing at this event should be able to benefit from local knowledge, but Lynch says this has yet to benefit him. "There's advantages and disadvantages, but I think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages in this case. Today was so unpredictable but hopefully towards the end of the week it'll start to come good."

In the Laser Radial Girls, Sophie Murphy scored a 25-13-19 today, the first being her discard, leaving her 17th overall in the 42 boat fleet.

"The first race wasn't good at all. The second two races a little bit better, but it was just very tough conditions out there, really shifty, so it was very easy to gain or lose like 20 places just in one leg," said Murphy. "It was a really interesting day, consistency is what it was all about, so if anyone managed that, I'm sure they did very well." Norway's Line Flem Host continues to lead despite scoring an inconsistent 10-2-23 today.

Murphy agreed that conditions were harder today than yesterday, with the wind at times dropping to just 4 knots, but it was the squalls that proved most challenging. "You have to know which way it's going to go, because being on the right side of those shifts is really important." Local knowledge she said didn't help her with the wind but it did with her understanding of the tides on Dublin Bay.

Looking ahead to the rest of the week - racing concludes on Friday - Murphy said: "Every race I'll take as its own race. When you get into the competition you can worry less about the points."

Elsewhere in the SL16s, Alexander Rumball and Rory McStay scored a 10-15-7 and now lie 10th in the 15 boat fleet, a place behind Jordi Booth, son of double Olympic Tornado medallist Mitch.

Sean and Tadgh Donnelly in the 29er skiff, had a consistent 10-12-14 today, in a class where Spain's Carlos Robles and Florian Trittel are dominating, having won today's first two races and now on just five points after their discard.

In the 420 Men's class Patrick Crosbie and Grattan Roberts had a disappointing day with a 20-17-16 score today leaving them 16th overall in the 30 boat fleet. "The first two races weren't good," said Roberts, adding that they had lost out on the first upwind legs. "In the first and second race, we got caught on the wrong side of a shift. The wind was up and down, it was never consistent."

Racing continues at 1200 tomorrow with two races, with conditions forecast to be stronger and even more gusty.