Annalise Murphy and Aoife Hopkins are the two Irish entries in a 72–boat fleet drawn from 32 countries for the 2016 Laser Radial Women's World Championships this Thursday. As well as an important build–up to the Olympics in Rio the championship is the last of three Irish Olympic selection trials for the Irish place.
Of the 72 sailors competing, ten finished in the top 20 at the 2012 Olympics in London, including Ireland's Annalise who finished fourth.
The National Yacht Club's Annalise (25) leads the 2016 trials with some comfort from 17–year–old Aoife of Howth Yacht Club after an expensive series of regattas, first in December at the 2015 Copa Brasil de Vela and then January's 2016 ISAF Sailing World Cup in Miami, USA.
I've had three days training here in Mexico so far and it has been absolutely amazing!!! I reckon this is the definition of champagne sailing ;) I'm loving the conditions and can't wait to start racing on Thursday. I may have gotten a little bit of sunburn bare arm sailing though...You can follow the event at http://www.laserworlds2016.org/ Howth Yacht Club CH Marine ISA Performance 2016 Laser World Championships
Posted by Aoife Hopkins Sailing on Monday, 11 April 2016
The championship is taking place on the Pacific Coast of Mexico on the waters of Banderas Bay which Hopkins believes is the definition of 'champagne sailing' after three days of training on the race area.
Thanks to the shape of the bay and surrounding land area, Banderas Bay is fortunate to have a very predictable daily thermal wind. Locals say they enjoy about 5 hours of good winds per day, from 13:00 to 18:00. The direction of the thermal is generally 220-240 degrees, and speed varies between 4kts at the beginning and end of the thermal period, up to approximately 18 knots at during peak periods.