Light conditions on Day One of the Skandia Sail for Gold regatta at Weymouth

Light conditions on Day One of the Skandia Sail for Gold regatta at Weymouth. Good start for the Providence Resources Irish Olympic Sailors.

By early afternoon at the first day of the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta in Weymouth all fleets had returned to shore as the wind had disappeared

Most of the Irish sailors had a long lunch break waiting for conditions to improve and eventually at around 4pm the fleets all launched again in very light conditions.

The day belonged to Ryan Seaton & Matt McGovern, the Belfast Lough duo in the super fast skiff 49er who won the third race very late in the evening having finished 8th and 11th in the previous two races.

Peter O'Leary and David Burrows in the Star class finished 5th in their only race of the day just behind event favourites Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (Brazil) and ahead of Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson (Great Britain).

In the 70 strong Laser radial fleet Annalise Murphy from the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire scored 16th & 8th in her two races of the day in 5 knots of wind.

Ireland's most recent Olympic qualifier James Espey in the Laser class had a great start to the regatta scoring 8th in his only race of the day.

Fresh from winning the Delta Lloyd regatta last weekend Ger Owens who will be sailing in his third Olympics in July with Scott Flanigan scored a 19th and 15th in the 470 class.

In the Paralympic Sonar class John Twomey with Ian Costello and Anthony Hegarty finished 10th in their only race of the day.

Commenting on the sailor's performance James O'Callaghan stated 'We had a lot of waiting today and when we did get out racing it was really light and tricky. However, it's great to have scores on the board. Overall it has been a positive start to the regatta'