Baltimore Sailing Club's Fionn Lyden is in the top five of the Finn dinghy under 23 worlds, the Finn Silver Cup, which started yesterday in Balaton in Hungary.
The move by the 2012 West Cork Laser triallist to the Tokyo 2020 mens heavyweight dinghy shows the depth of his Olympic sailing ambitions.
The talented University College Cork Engineering student counts 11, 4, and 7 to be fourthe from 45 with racing abandoned yesterday due to lack of wind.
Lyden, twice an Afloat.ie Sailor of the Month in 2012 and 2015, made history in 2015 by becoming the first helm to win all races (9) in the Irish Youth Helmsmans Championship, which then entitled him to race in the Seniors, in which he duly won the Silver Medal.
Although clearly one of the most remarkable talents to emerge in Irish sailing in recent years, he has chosen a Corinthian path. Thus most of his efforts and energy over the past few years have been dedicated to study in University College Cork but the move to the Finn is certainly an exciting development that is off to a great start in Hungary.
Despite spending four hours on the water, no more racing was possible at the U23 Finn World Championship at Balatonfüred. The sailors were twice sent out on the water, but both times came back empty handed.
Everyone expected to lose a day or more of racing, but no one expected to lose the second day, which had the second best forecast of the week.
The day began with an AP ashore, which then continued afloat for an hour before the sailors were sent back to shore to wait under a further AP. Finally they were sent back out again as a relativity stable 6-8 knots had settled over the course area. This started to drop and shift as soon as the fleet arrived and despite two attempts to get the race away, at 17.00 the fleet was sent shore again.
Results are here