#TrofeoSofia_en – In a light air day when risks ran high Annalise Murphy's arch rival Marit Bouwmeester (NED) picked up two race wins and leads the Laser Radial fleet. The Dubliner had to be content with a 32, 46 and 48 to place 88th out of 96 in what has been a disappointing opening day of racing for Ireland at the 2013-2014 ISAF Sailing World Cup regatta in Mallorca, Spain.
Racing in the yellow fleet the Dutch sailor took two close victories over Chloe Martin (GBR) in Race 1 and Tina Mihelic (CRO) in Race 2. Bouwmeester finished second in the third race of the day to solidify her leading position. Martin got the better of Bouwmeester in the final race and sits second.
In the blue fleet, in which Annalise is drawn, race victories went to ISAF Sailing World Cup Qingdao gold medallist Dongshuang Zhang (CHN), China's Min Gu and Sweden's Josefin Olsson. The Swedish sailor sits on three points tied with Martin and Zhang.
But there are still seven races left to sail so the massive regatta that has over 1130 sailors competing in 11 classes is far from over with double races scheduled until Friday. Tomorrow is another qualification day for prized gold fleet places.
It appears conservative racing was order of the day but so far the light winds have not suited any of the seven competing Irish crews.
Best of the Irish was James Espey in the Laser class, the Belfast single–hander lies 30th after scoring a 10, 13 and 8 in his 144 boat fleet.
Espey's London 2012 team mates Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern are 57th from 79 after three races.
Newcomers Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey lie 39 from 50 and Royal Irish clubmate Ross Hamilton lies 82 from 92.
Full results are posted here. The forecast for Tuesday is for slightly more winds up to 11 knots.
