All three Irish Laser men survived two tough opening races to be in the top 20% of the massive total 154-boat ILCA 7 fleet after day one of the giant Trofeo Sofia in Mallorca today.
The National Yacht Club's Finn Lynch lies in 17th place and Howth brothers Ewan and Jamie McMahon are lying 26th and 30th respectively in what is effectively their first event on the road to the single Irish Laser place at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
All three Irish helmsmen were inside the top thirty boats in their flights.
Lynch had a consistent day with ninth and fifth places. "It was survival conditions but I'm happy with the day and that I didn't make any mistakes," the Carlow sailor said after coming ashore at the Can Pastilla sailing base.
In every respect other than the air temperature there was a baptism of fire on the Bay of Palma when some of the Olympic classes started racing.
Strong, gusty offshore breezes pumped up to well over 25kts at times to provide a stiff test.
Cyprus's Pavlos Kontides, the 2012 Olympic Laser silver medallist, posted two wins to lead ahead of GBR’s Michael Beckett and Germany’s Philipp Buhl who both sailed to a second and a first in their respective qualifying fleets.
Ireland's Lynch finished in fourth place in the 2019 regatta here but as regular Afloat readers know the Dun Laoghaire ace since took second in the World Championships in Barcelona last November, so is highly regarded as Ireland's top hope for a podium place in Mallorca this week.
Tomorrow (Tuesday 5th April) sees the start of the full competition when all ten classes will be in action.
The 49er skiff event will feature Tokyo Olympians Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove as well rivals Séafra Guilfoyle and Johnny Durcan in their second major competition together.
Results are here.