#49er – Ireland's 49er duo Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern continue to hold second overall as the ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères reached a critical stage on the French south coast.

Scoring 18,15 and 8 today they stay second overall narrowly ahead of Kiwi pair Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski.

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (NZL) showed a fine display of racing on the 49er course to stay out of trouble, avoiding a double point score like many of their competitors succumbed to. A ninth in the opening bout was followed up with a fourth and a ninth and they have a healthy 22 point lead with two days remaining.

Seaton and McGovern held on to second overall but they found the going tough discarding an 18th and count a 15th and an eighth to trail the Kiwis on 72 points. They are just a single point ahead of Hansen and Porebski 

Germany's Erik Heil and Thomas Ploessel started the day emphatically in the gold fleet and in Race 10 narrowly missed out on the bullet to Manu Dyen and Stephane Christidis (FRA) as they came through in second. In Race 11 they hit back hard and were truly dominant. Leading from the outset they never truly looked threatened and eased through to a 15 second victory overall Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen (AUS).

Unfortunately it did not go to plan in the final race of the day for the Germans as a 25th puts them in ninth overall.

The final bullet of the day went to David Evans and Ed Powys who are 11th overall.

Over 1,100 sailors are competing at the fifth and final stage of the 2013-2014 ISAF Sailing World Cup series and it was long day out on the water with the last race concluding at 20:01 local time.

Following a delayed start to the day a shifty 10-12 knot westerly breeze tested the sailors' and the race committees. 

#isafrankings – Irish sailing star Annalise Murphy who won this year's Laser European Championships is placed 13th in the latest ISAF World Sailing Rankings. London 2012 Laser rep James Espey in the men's Laser class is 49th in the just released rankings and his Northern Ireland club mates from Belfast Lough, Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern are 40th in the 49er Skiff class. 

The Top ranked sailors in each class are:

Laser: Tom Burton, AUS
Nacra 17: Moana Vaireaux / Manon Audinet, FRA
Laser Radial: Mathilde De Kerangat, FRA
Men's 470: Mathew Belcher / William Ryan, AUS
Women's 470: Lara Vadlau / Anneloes Van Veen / Jolanta Ogar, AUT
Finn: Caleb Paine, USA
Women's RS:X: Bryony Shaw, GBR
Men's RS:X: Ivan Pastor Lafuente, ESP
49erFX: Martine Soffiatti Grael / Kahena Kunze, BRA
49er: Stephen Morrison / Ben Rhodes / Chris Grube, GBR

The full ISAF World Sailing Ranking lists, results from all ISAF Graded events, lists of Graded events throughout the year, Ranking release dates and the method of calculation for the Rankings can be found on the ISAF website at www.sailing.org/rankings

#annalise – Ireland's Laser ace Annalise Murphy and 49er star Ryan Seaton are interviewed at the Moth Worlds in Hawaii as the farthest travelled competitors. The interview comes at 43 seconds on the above timeline.

#49er – Irish 49er skiff duo Ryan Seaton & Matt McGovern from Belfast have finished outside their target of top 10 in their first world championships on the road to Rio 2016 but have nevertheless posted a credible 14th overall in a 90–boat fleet.  And in the women's 49erfx class Ireland's Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey who have only been sailing together for two months had a good regatta for their first event finishing 36th. The highlight of the event for the new team was a race win in the silver fleet on the penultimate day in the 53–boat fleet.

In both the men's 49er and women's 49erFX the day started with a petit final which was made up of the sailors who were in 10th – 20th position in the Gold Fleet and the winner competed in the three final races with the top 10 afterwards.

Seaton and McGovern finished in 16th in the petit final which left them in 14th position overall in the regatta.

It was a good event for Team NZL who won the event with Burking & Tuke and their teammates Hansen & Porebski finished in 2nd place. Australia's Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen, London 2012 Gold medalists finished in 5th place.

#irish49er – Ryan Seaton & Matt McGovern are 12th overall after Day 2 of the 49er World Championships. The Belfast lough pairing were placed 9th, 14th and 5th in the 97 boat fleet. 
For full results and live tracking see http://49er.org/2013-world-championships/

#49er – Skiff duo Ryan Seaton & Matt McGovern will compete in the 49er World Championships in France next week along with new Irish women's combination Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey in the new 49erFx skiff class.

The six day and potential 25 race regatta held in Marseille  will be the biggest test of the year for the London 2012 partnership, especially as team bosses are already talking up the prospect of a 'replication of the recent successes of Olympic teammate Annalise Murphy', the new Laser European champion. The pair are targeting a solid top 10 finish to keep Rio plans on track.

Included in the 96–boat fleet will be three-time World Champions and London 2012 Gold medallists Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen from Australia who have most recently been competing in the America's Cup. Kiwis Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, London 2012 Silver medallists and 2013 49er European Champions will also be in attendance. With the Worlds being late in the season it has given everyone a chance to get back up to speed post Olympics. Without doubt this will be the toughest event of 2013. 

This championship will conclude what has been a busy summer for the Northern Ireland pair who had their best performance of the year at the Sail for Gold regatta in Weymouth in June when they won Gold. 

Also competing at the regatta are female 49erFX campaigners Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey.

#olympicsailing – Irish Olympic duo Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern finished 26th overall yesterday at the 49er European championships in Denmark.

Thusgaard Olsen are Denmark's latest sailing sensations after they became the SAP 49er FX European champions on Sunday on the bay where they learned to sail as seven year olds, 13–years ago. Results here.

Both women's Irish 29er pairings Tiffany Brien and Saskia Tidey and Claudine Murphy and Andrea Brewster found the going tough in Aarhaus, finishing at the back of the silver fleet. Results here. 

It was a momentous day for the 49ers and Olympic sailing generally too with a fantastic example of the 'theatre style' racing close to the shore. Aarhus's weather gods delivered on cue with a sea breeze allowing the short course, 500 metres long by 200 metres wide, to be laid perpendicular to the long promenade where the crowd basked in glorious sunshine. For the spectators and for television it made what can seem a remote sport exciting and understandable. Sport Event Denmark, Sailing Aarhus and Sport Aarhus Events have yet to confirm whether are bidding for the 2018 ISAF world championships, but if they do, this will provide a powerful case study.

There was a dramatic backdrop too as the Aarhus has been simultaneously hosting the start of The Tall Ships Race. The compact city has happily handled the hundreds of thousands of people flooding into the harbour over the weekend.

The men's races went down to the wire. But after their capsize, New Zealand's Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, the Olympic silver medalists, showed champion calm and skill. They won the next race and with the points level with Britain's Dylan Fletcher and Alain Sign going into the last race, they got a good start and were able to get ahead of the British and manage them for the whole race. The French pair of Julien d'Ortoli and Noe Delpech took bronze. It was the second New Zealand medal of the day after Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech won a hard-fought bronze in the women's FX.

Results:

SAP men's 49er European Championships

1. Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, 89 points
2. Dylan Fletcher and Alain Sign, 93
3. Julien d'Ortoli and Noe Delpech, 112

SAP women's 49er FX European Championships

1. Ida Marie Baad Nielsen and Marie Thusgaard Olsen, 87
2. Martine Soffiatti Grael and Kattena Larsen Kunze, 104
3. Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech, 108

Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern have kick-started their Rio 2016 campaign in the most convincing fashion with a Gold medal at the Sail for Gold Regatta in Weymouth this afternoon.

The breakthrough performance is the first international medal for the Belfast lough duo who beat numerous World and European medallists in the process.

This is London 2012 pairing's first major event since competing at the venue a year ago, when Weymouth played host to the Olympic regatta.

Going into today's medal races, the pairing had a six point lead but could have been overtaken by any of the top 10 as three double point races were scheduled. In the end, they sealed victory in style extending their lead as Afloat.ie reported earlier posting a third and a second respectively in the two medal races.

#sailforgold – As Ireland's Annalise Murphy collects Bronze in the Laser Radial medal race this afternoon the Irish 49er pairing of Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern have increased their lead to 10 points over GBR's John Pink and Simon Wheeler with one more race to go in Sail for Gold Regatta in Weymouth.

Murphy adds this third successive medal in the Eurosaf circuit to two Gold medals earned in Holland and Italy in the past month.

The Chinese had already created enough of a points lead to guarantee gold and silver and the odds were in Ireland's favour as four of the five sailors vying for that final podium spot were Irish. Having been given the opportunity to sail in the Women's Radial event at this regatta, some of the world's top youth sailors including Irish U18s Finn Lynch, Fionn Lyden and Seafra Guilfoyle competed. The young Irish trio and Annalise battled it out against the UK's Chloe Martin for the coveted medal in the final race with Annalise ultimately winning and claiming the bronze followed closely by Finn Lynch in second (4th overall) and Fionn Lyden in third (5th overall).

Six Irish sailing teams were racing for medals at Sail for Gold regatta today. 

More 49er details as we have it from Weymouth.

Now ranked 17th in the world Belfast pair Ryan Seaton (23) and Matthew McGovern (25) shot to prominence at the ISAF World Championships in Perth last December sailing to a level some never expected in this high speed dinghy class.

For the latest news campaign news click here

Sailing together since 2009 Carrickgfergus based Seaton, a former top Laser youth helm, teamed up with Bangor man McGovern with the aim of 2012 selection but got off to a slow start in the worlds in the Bahamas finishing in the 40s.

Their steady rise into the higher echelons of the international class culminated with an eighth in the Perth medal race last December to give them a 10th overall at the ISAF World championships, a personal best result for the Ballyholme Sailing Club pair and a London Olympic ticket to boot.

They are Ireland's first Olympic representatives in the 49er class since Tom Fitzpatrick and Fraser Browne finished 16th at the Athens games in 2004.