The National Yacht Club's Finn Lynch scored two top-ten results in the opening races of the ILCA7 world championships in Adelaide, Australia, today to take an early lead in the Irish Olympic selection trial for Paris 2024 against rival Ewan McMahon of Howth Yacht Club. The Rio Olympian is lying tenth overall in the 153-strong fleet.

McEwan opened his championship account with 24th place before earning a strong ninth place in race two to lie in 40th place.

See results sheet below

"Finn had a decent day, and the goal is to have top tens in the qualifying races, especially as there's just one discard for the whole event," commented coach Vasilij Zbogar. "Ewan had one good race and one average but proved that he can be in front - he just needs a little more consistency in the coming races."

'Green Rebel' campaigner Ewan McMahon of Howth took a well earned ninth in race two of the ILCA 7 World Championships in Adelaide Photo: Jack Fletcher

Maximising points at this early stage of the regatta is essential as the 153 competitors are split across three qualifying fleets to determine the Gold fleet line-up for the finals series that begins on Monday.

"We had beautiful wind for the first day but very challenging and physically demanding long races - hard for the sailors," said Zbogar. "Definitely, everyone is taking as little risk as possible, as the first three days are the most important for qualifying."

Norwegian Hermann Tomasgaard won his two opening races giving himself the perfect start to his 2024 campaign.

"There's just one discard for the whole event"

With the 153-strong entry list split between three qualifying fleets, Tomasgaard drew first blood in the red fleet with two race wins, while Australian hopefuls Matt Wearn and Luke Elliott took a race win each in the yellow fleet, and Philipp Buhl (GER) and Mickey Beckett (GBR) each took a win in blue fleet.

It sets the scene for an exciting battle at the front of the fleet with Tomasgaard a point clear in first, Elliott second on three points, and Buhl third on four points, however it remains far too early to identify any key favourites for the title.

German Philipp Buhl, a world champion from the last time the ILCA 7 Worlds were in Australia, said the first day of the Worlds was always an important one to ensure you got away to a good start.

“The first day today was pretty solid and I’m quite happy with the result even though I didn’t manage to get off the start line too well in the first race,” he said.

“In the beginning of an event, basically it is all about not having a big score, so I managed to do this and came through the day quite cleanly in amazing conditions.

A fleet start on the first day of the ILCA7 World Championships in Adelaide with Ireland's Finn Lynch pictured left Photo: Jack Fletcher

“This World Championships means quite a lot to me personally, because it’s part of my Olympic selection that is not done yet for us in Germany, and it’s a World Championships where you always want to do well.”

The top Aussie sailors are all in good shape as well, which was to be expected on home waters, with the five Australian Sailing Team and Australian Sailing Squad members all inside the top 20 after the first day.

Australian Sailing Squad member Finn Alexander finished the first day with a 9,7 scorecard and said the team was in good shape to perform well over the next week.

“We’ve spent a bit of time here in Adelaide and it’s a beautiful place, the weather absolutely turned it on today, we had a really nice gradient breeze of about 10-20 knots, you can’t really ask for much more on day one of a Worlds,” he said.

“We’ve got a really strong contingent, we’ve got five really good guys (in the squad) and we’ve all been pushing hard, backed up with a really solid futures group, so the future of Australian sailing is looking pretty good.”

Tomorrow’s forecast is looking like it will offer more glamour Adelaide conditions with variable morning weather shifting into a late afternoon sea breeze of up to 15 knots.

If all goes to plan, the race committee is expected to run two races per day, giving them a 10-race series up until the end of 30 January followed by the exciting 10-boat medal race on 31 January to close out the series.

Finn Lynch can add nation qualifying for the Paris Olympics 2024 to his many ILCA 7 achievements to date, including a world silver medal from 2021.

In a nerve-jangling conclusion to the Gold fleet series in the Men's single-handed event at the Allianz Sailing World Championships in The Hague on 19th August 2023, the National Yacht Club ace secured one of the last Paris 2024 Olympics places for Ireland available in The Netherlands. 

Lynch sailed out into the final two races for his event, needing only to deliver two safe results to maintain or improve on 14th place by nation. A total of 16 countries have qualified for the Men single-handed events, including Ireland.

After crossing the finishing line, he sailed ashore under the impression that he had missed qualification when he had actually managed to place 15th by nation and 23rd overall.

Elated with the outcome, he described qualifying Ireland for Paris 2024 as a "monkey off my back" and will now focus fully on preparations for the Olympics and selection for the national squad.

In 33rd position, Finn Lynch (National Yacht Club) has four ILCA 7 races left on Thursday at the Sailing World Championships in The Hague to make the medal race top ten plus a top 16 overall position to qualify Ireland for the Paris 2024 Olympics. 

After a 15th place and a 58th scored in Wednesday's wind against strong tide conditions, the Carlow sailor has it all to do on Thursday with countryman and rival for the single Irish berth, Ewan McMahon (Howth Yacht Club), just nine places behind in 42nd overall in the 69-strong division.

At the front of the fleet, Micky Beckett (GBR) overcame a black flag disqualification in the first race to extend his lead in the ILCA 7, thanks to a second in the day's final race.

However, Olympic champion Matt Wearn (AUS) was the big mover, with a first and a third to move into second overall, albeit still 15 points behind Beckett.

However, a strong start to competition in the gold fleet, Wearn will hope to match his exploits at the Paris Test Event when a strong finish saw him overhaul Beckett for victory.

Results here

There was a great performance by Monkstown Bay Sailing Club's Dan O’Connell at the UK ILCA Masters at Hayling Island Sailing Club in Hampshire at the weekend.

All four ahead of the Cork Harbour ace in the 54-boat fleet were either Olympic campaigners or Olympians in the men's singlehanded class.

In fact, there was great Irish interest throughout the ILCA 7 and ILCA 6 fleets with 1996 Irish Atlanta Olympian Mark Lyttle, (sailing under GBR), leading halfway through the ILCA 7 regatta but then overhauled by Australian Brett Beyer, a  full-time coach and racer.

There was also big ex-pat interest in the top dozen in ILCA 6s too with Roger O’Gorman (MBSC also), Bob Cudmore, Niall Peelo (Malahide) and Marshall King King (Greystones) all competing.

Results below

Olympic campaigner for Paris 2024, Duko Bos claimed victory in the ILCA 7 class but not before a medal-race scare that left the Dutchman scrambling for the finish line.

Bos’ nine-point lead at the top of the standings looked in peril as he rounded the windward mark in last place.

But a late charge saw him surge through the field and into second place, leaving him on 15 points that was comfortably enough to hold off Finland’s Valtteri Uusitalo with 26.

Bos and Uusitalo jousted for a yellow bib that changed hands three times in four races early in the regatta, before the Dutch star pulled away with three successive bullets.

“I was disappointed (in the first part of the race), my goal was to stay in the top three,” said Bos. “From there the wind was strong and I’m happy I made it in the end.”

Just as in the ILCA 6 class, bronze went down to the wire as Italy’s Alessia Spadoni snagged it from Willem Wiersema on countback.

Both struggled in the medal race but Spadoni’s 8th place trumped Wiersema in 9th to reach the podium.

Howth interest

Irish brothers Ewan and Jamie McMahon finished 13th and 21st in the 37-boat fleet

Results here

After biding his time, ILCA 7 sailor Pavlos Kontides, the first Cypriot to ever win an Olympic medal (silver at London 2012) and the winner of a thrilling medal race in Hyères last year, made the perfect start to gold fleet racing at French Olympic Week, winning both races to swoop past the previously dominant British contingent to the top of the leaderboard. But only three points separate the top four.

Britain’s Michael Beckett, the winner in Palma, moved into second despite 11, 3 finishes in the 52-boat gold fleet (because of earlier consistency), and Eliott Hanson (6, 4), second in Hyères last year, slipped from leader to third. Australia’s Olympic champion, Matt Wearn, stayed on all their shoulders after finishing second in the last race after seventh in the first.

Ireland's Finn Lynch Moves up to 36th

The National Yacht Club's Finn Lynch moved up in the Gold fleet to improve from 44th to 36th overall in the ILCA 7 class.

He scored 28th in the day's opening race but took eleventh place this afternoon.

Two more races are scheduled for Friday to conclude fleet racing, but Lynch cannot win a place in Saturday's medal race final.

Results are here

Gear failure for Finn Lynch on the first day of gold fleet racing at the ILCA 7 European Championships in Andora, Italy, has been a setback for the National Yacht Club ace.

Lynch was forced to use his discard when the centreboard stop on his new dinghy failed, causing him to sit out the day's first race and count maximum points in his 62-boat fleet. 

A repair at sea was possible before the second race in which the world-ranked number two scored 20th, dropping him back overall in the gold fleet.

It's a disappointing setback for the Dun Laoghaire sailor as his scoresheet reflected his top form of late, ending the qualification rounds on Tuesday with a race win boost to his eighth overall with a consistent 5, 5, (6.0) and 1.

Winds were between 15 to 22 knots.

On the ILCA 7 course, the Gold fleet had their first start right away, but the Silver and Bronze fleet starts were delayed around an hour for the Race Committee to anchor their boat and pin end boats correctly to set the line.

After five races sailed, reigning Olympic champion Matthew Wearn AUS is leading with nine points. Four times Senior European champion Tonci Stipanovic from Croatia is second overall and leader of the European Championship with 17. Reigning World champion Jean Baptiste Bernaz FRA has 19. Philipp Buhl GER completes the European provisional podium with 25 points. 

Racing continues with the final for the coming two days.

Consistent sailing by Olympic Paris 2024 campaigner Finn Lynch puts him in the top ten of the ILCA 7 European Championships in Andora, Italy.

The National Yacht Club ace, ranked as high as second in the world last season, added another two fifth-place results to his scoresheet on Tuesday before ending the qualification rounds with a race win boost to sit eighth overall with 5, 5, (6.0) and 1.

Reigning World champion Jean Baptiste Bernaz FRA (1-3-1-10) leads the competition with five points among 191 sailors.

Medium air conditions were quite shifty, with the breeze up and down in big seas on the Riviera delle Palme.

Three sailors are just one point behind Bernaz, so the championship promises to be fought to the bitter end; Duko Bos NED (7-4-1-1), Philipp Buhl GER (1-19-1-4), and Matthew Wearn AUS (1-3-2-4) are all counting six points after the first four races. Tonci Stipanovic CRO (7-1-4-3) is also close with eight.

There was a special moment for Ireland at this major championship when Lynch's rival for Paris 2024, Ewan McMahon of Howth Yacht Club, crossed the finish line just behind Lynch, giving Ireland a 1-2 in race four.

Three races are scheduled for Wednesday, with the first warning signal at 09:00. Coaches meeting at 07:00.

ILCA 7 – Full results below

The National Yacht Club's Finn Lynch scored a 16th-39th-32nd dropping him to 32nd place overall in a light wind three race penultimate day of the ILCA/Laser European Championships in Hyeres, France.

Three more races were held today by all the fleets, with shifty and patchy 8-12 knots of breeze. There were many ups and downs that made the sailing conditions very tricky for all the 350 competitors, with significant changes in the standings.

"We just didn't find the right mode to get in front of the fleet at the beginning," commented Vasilij Zbogar, Lynch's Laser coach. "The truth is... I don't know; we were going so well before the event, but now we have different conditions.

"Finn mentally was prepared well and is feeling well. We're struggling a little bit for speed in these conditions for the set-up we have could be a little bit better."

Zbogar, a triple Olympic medallist, pointed to Lynch's improved performance in the upper wind range earlier in the week, calling it a "huge step forward." Normally, the Rio veteran would be expected to perform well in the conditions of the past two days.

"I'm not feeling great - I need to be doing better," Finn Lynch said after racing ended. "There is a lot of luck involved in these conditions, but I need to be better so that I can afford to have bad luck."

For the remaining two races, Lynch will be aiming to finish on a high with individual best results though both the podium and, most likely, the top ten are beyond his reach.

It was not a good day for the overnight leader and reigning 2021 Senior European champion Michael Beckett GBR (22-25-2), losing the top spot for the first time in the event. He’s now in second place but only 2 points behind the new leader Pavlos Kontides CYP (4-3-1), who’s counting 32.

Finland’s Kaarle Tapper FIN (5-23-3) is now third with 50. 7 points after him is Jonatan Vadnai HUN (8-18-17) on fourth.

Lorenzo Chiavarini ITA (6-17-13) and Sam Whaley GBR (24-6-10) are tied in 66 points on places fifth and sixth.

Provisional ILCA 7 European Top 10 after 10 races:

1. Pavlos Kontides CYP 32
2. Michael Beckett GBR 34
3. Kaarle Tapper FIN 50
4. Jonatan Vadnai HUN 57
5. Lorenzo Chiavarini ITA 66
6. Sam Whaley GBR 66
7. Niels Broekhuizen NED 72
8. Tonci Stipanovic CRO 74
9. Hermann Tomasgaard NOR 75
10. Jean Baptiste Bernaz FRA 85

Download results below

Tuesday’s first day of racing saw Eve McMahon take third in the overall ILCA 6 standings — and first among U19s — at the ILCA U21 World Championships in Vilamoura, Portugal this week.

The Howth Yacht Club prospect is part of a youth sailing fleet that enjoyed champagne sailing conditions in the Algarve in the early part of this week — though lack of wind meant day two on Wednesday (24 August) saw no racing.

Eve is no doubt eager to hold her place at the top of the table to challenge for the podium this weekend — and close out a successful summer after her return with a gold medal from the ILCA 6 Youth Worlds besides two other major titles.

And she isn’t the only McMahon in action in Vilamoura, as her brother Jamie placed 11th overall in the ILCA 7 after two races. Fellow Irish competitors Tom Higgins (Royal St George YC) and Jonathan O’Shaughnessy (Royal Cork YC) were in 60th and 73rd respectively.

The ILCA U21 Worlds continue till this Sunday 28 August. The latest standings can be found on the event website HERE or below