#420 - Michael O’Suilleabhain and Michael Carroll of Kinsale Yacht Club were sitting in 44th place (47th in the Open) after five days of racing at the 420 Junior Europeans in Portugal.

After a strong showing earlier in the week among the Blue Group, the West Cork pair and All Ireland junior champions slipped down the rankings in the Yellow Group (with a best 14th in the sixth race) and floundered in the Gold Group.

Races across the fleet were hampered on Monday and Tuesday morning (9 and 10 July) by dense fog at Sesibmra, and while the poor start on both days soon gave way to clear blue skies and sunshine, conditions on the water on the 420 course remained shifty enough that some hotly-tipped pairs were unseated from their usual dominance.

The up-and-down breeze took a while to stabilise and continued to be variable throughout racing on Tuesday, from virtually nothing up to around 8-10 knots.

With two more races to go today (Wednesday 11 July) in the 420 Open and 420 U17 fleets from noon Irish time, the frontrunners are looking safe based on form so far, but anything can still unfold.

Other youth pairs racing for Ireland at Sesimbra include Morgan Lyttle and Patrick Whyte (RStGYC/Mullingar SC; 58th Euros/63rd Open), Gemma McDowell and Emma Gallagher (Malahide YC; 71st/76th), Grace O’Berine and Katherine Kelly (RStGYC/Lough Ree YC; 74th/79th), Nicola and Fiona Ferguson (National YC; 76th/82nd), and Daniel Thompson and Dan Quaid (Wexford Harbour BTC; 88th/94th).