Although there is little likelihood that any of the five Irish boats sailing in the Olympic classes regatta at the Trofeo Princesa Sofia ISAF World Cup in the Bay of Palma, Mallorca will feature in the medal races on Saturday at least one Irish sailor moved closer to securing his Olympic dream.
The absence of both London qualiffied boats (Laser radial and 49er) from tomorrow's medal race will be a disappointing outcome after several days of tricky light conditions.
With only 100 days to go to the Olympic regatta itself three Irish boats are still attemtping to qualify and with respect to this goal there was some good progress made by James Espey in the Laser class who finished top 10 in 4 of the 8 races so far leaving him lying 21st in the 138 strong fleet. This is Espey's last event before the Laser World Championships in Germany in May which is his last chance of qualifying for the Olympics.
Other Irish campaigns hoping to qualify include 470 sailors Ger Owens and Scott Flanigan who made the Gold Fleet lying 43 in the 93 strong fleet in Palma and Finn sailor Ross Hamilton who is lying 49th out of 57.
It was a poor regatta for Laser radial sailor Annalise Murphy who qualified for the Olympics in Perth in December 2011. After a run of successful results over the last 13 month period, and after a long period of training at the Mallorcan site, Annalise did not reach top form in the challenging conditions.
In the 49er class Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern had great starts in the 12 races completed so far with a number of top 10 finishes.
Usually known for their strong wind skills, the Australians are performing well in the light conditions and are leading three classes. While Tom Burton is keeping a narrow lead in the strong Laser fleet from British Paul Goodison and Nick Thompson, the Australians have also claimed top positions in both 470 classes.
Friday will see the last chances for sailors to select for the Medal race and the semi finals in the Women Match-Racing.
Top three by class
470 Men
1. Mathew Belcher / Malcolm Page, AUS, 33
2. Lucas Calabrese / Juan de la Fuente, ARG, 40
3. Sam Kivell / Will Ryan, AUS, 42
470 Women
1. Elise Rechichi / Belinda Stowell, AUS, 53
2. Emmanuelle Rol / Helene Defrance, FRA, 54
3. Ai Kondo / Wakako Tabata, Japan, 61
49er
1. Jonas Warrer / Soren Hansen, DEN, 70
2. John Pink / Rick Peacock, GBR, 80
3. Manu Dyen / Stephane Christidis, FRA, 83
2.4 Metre
1. Thierry Schmitter, NED, 9
2. Helena Lucas, GBR, 23
3. Barend Kol, NED, 32
Laser Radial
1. Alicia Cebrian, ESP, 27
2. Marit Bouwmeester, NED, 33
3. Evo Van Acker, BEL, 37
Laser
1. Tom Burton, AUS, 36
2. Paul Goodison, GBR, 38
3. Nick Thompson, GBR, 38
Finn
1. Ben Ainslie, GBR, 10
2. Zach Railey, USA, 33
3. Daniel Birgmark, SWE, 35
Star
1. Iain Percy / Andrew Simpson, GBR, 40
2. Robert Scheidt / Bruno Prada, BRA, 48
3. Hamish Pepper / Jim Turner, NZL, 49
