One year after his silver medal at the ILCA 7/Laser Worlds in Barcelona, Finn Lynch continues his top form on day one of the 2022 European Championships in Hyeres, France.
Two top six places for the National Yacht Club sailor puts the Rio 2016 rep in a strong position for the final major event of the season in the build-up to Paris 2024.
The 2022 EurILCA Senior European Championships & Open European Trophy started on Wednesday at Cercle d’Organisation du Yachting de Compétition Hyèrois (COYCH) in Hyeres, France.
More than 350 sailors from 65 countries enjoyed great sailing conditions today for the first two races, with winds varying from 10 to 14 knots in the beginning and 18 to 22 knots at the end. of the second race.
The ILCA 7 is the largest fleet at the Senior Europeans, with 169 sailors racing in three fleets on course A.
Lynch of the National Yacht Club lies in the top ten with two more days of qualifying races remaining to decide the Gold fleet split.
Conditions built steadily during the short day afloat to a brisk offshore wind that brought mixed results for the three other Irish ILCA 7 sailors competing.
Howth's Jamie McMahon scored an eleventh place in the second race of the day, which with his earlier 36th place, moved him to 63rd overall. Older brother Ewan 30th in race one did not finish race two.
Royal St. George's Tom Higgins is lying 133rd.
Dutch sailor Duko Bos leads
After the first two races, it’s the Dutch sailor Duko Bos who is leading the competition with 4 points (1-3), followed by the reigning 2021 Senior European champion Michael Beckett GBR (3-2) and Pavlos Kontides CYP (2-3) with 5. Jonatan Vadnai HUN (2-4) is also close with 6.
Niels Broekhuizen NED (1-8), the reigning 2022 World champion Jean Baptiste Bernaz FRA (1-10), Tonci Stipanovic CRO (9-2), Elliot Hanson GBR (8-3), Finn Lynch IRL (6-5) and Lorenzo Chiavarini ITA (5-6) complete the provisional European Top 10.
George Gautrey NZL, Ryan Lo SIN and Arthit Romanyk THA are ranked 6th, 8th and 11th in the overall European Trophy’s ranking.
Race Day 1 – ILCA 7 Provisional Results are downloadable below