After the first day of competition, Ireland's Eve McMahon has gone straight into the lead of the World Youth Sailing Championships at the Hague in the Netherlands.
McMahon, who is competing in the Girls Single-handers class, arrived in the Hague as the newly crowned European Youth ILCA 6 champion following last week's domination of a 53-boat fleet in Greece and resumed her position at the top of the international fleet counting a second in race one and a win in race two.
The Howth teenager, who is also the World youth champion and Irish Sailor of the Year, now leads the 56-boat fleet by a margin of five points from Australia's Evie Saunders on eight points. Third is Dutch girl Roos Wind also on eight points who finished fifth at last week's Euros.
Irish girls skiff pair, Emily Conan and Lauren O'Callaghan lie 11th in their 29er fleet.
On Saturday night, the competitors from 67 nations came together for the Opening Ceremony on Scheveningen beach.
The weather forecast points to a light to medium north-westerly breeze blowing at around 8 to 10 knots when racing starts at 1100 hours, although it could get a bit softer during the afternoon.
The tide and current are likely to have a strong effect on the race courses, and learning to understand the effects of the current has been a strong focus for sailors in the build-up to the championship.
There are five-course areas:
- Course A - two races each for the Male/Mixed and Female Two Person Dinghy fleets (420 class)
- Course B - two races each for Skiff Male and Skiff Female (29er class)
- Course C - two races each for One Person Dinghy Male and Female fleets (ILCA 6 class), then three races for Multihull Mixed (Nacra 15 class)
- Course D - four races each for Windsurfing Male and Female (Youth iQFOiL)
- Course E - four races each for Kiteboarding Male and Female (FormulaKite)
Every boat and board is carrying a GPS tracking unit supplied by TracTrac, which means you can watch all the racing live on SAP Sailing Analytics here
Racing continues until Thursday.
