More than 560 crews from 54 countries have already pre-registered for the 52 Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca. In the history of Mallorca's classic Olympic class regatta, this is already an unprecedented level of interest in the showcase regatta, which runs from 29th March to 8th April.

So far, two Irish Olympic campaigners for Paris 2024 are listed on the entry list; Howth's Ewan McMahon in the ILCA 7 and Tokyo reps Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove in the 49er skiff.

See the latest registrations here

The first counting regatta for the Sailing World Cup 2023 looks set to break all participation records. With exactly two months to go until the start of the 52 Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca, the number of pre-registrations is already more than 500, an unprecedented level across the long and storied history of the world's leading Olympic class regatta.

Since the publication of the Notice of Race officially opened registration of entries back on December 15th, the steady stream of pre-registrations has never stopped. And so in the offices of the Organising Committee there is a growing belief that the previous high point will be exceeded.

"We have never had such a big number of pre-registrations just a month and a half after publishing the Notice of Race and still with two months to go until the start of the event," says Ferran Muniesa, Technical Director of the Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca. "This is excellent news for the event and encourages us to continue working for and with the sailors.”

At the time of publishing this information, 568 teams of 54 nationalities have formalised their pre-registration. This figure is considerably higher than the 382 teams pre-registered at two months before the start of the 2022 edition.

Among the ten classes that will compete in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, ILCA 7 (130 pre-registered) and ILCA 6 (89) are the ones with the highest number of teams as of 31 January, followed by Formula Kite Men (75), 49er (45), Nacra 17 (44), iQFOiL Women (42), iQFOiL Men (40), 49er FX (39), Formula Kite Women and 470 Mixed (both with 32).

In Muniesa's opinion, there are several factors contributing to the high level of participation expected for this edition: "On the one hand, the exceptional nature of this unusually short Olympic cycle due to the pandemic puts extra pressure on the sailors and the federations of the countries in the allocation of places, we are in a pre-Olympic year and the Sofia is the first multi-class event qualifying for the Sailing World Cup 2023. And remember that the Asian countries that could not come in 2022 because their borders remained closed and they are coming back. Last year we had almost 800 boats and more than a thousand sailors from 64 nationalities, and although it is too early to really talk about records, the indications are that 2023's regatta will be an exceptional edition."

Paris 2024 Olympic ILCA 7 campaigner Ewan McMahon has won the Irish Moth National Championships 2022, for the second year running.

This year, the Irish Moth Class partnered with the Irish Waszp Class to hold a joint national championships kindly hosted by the Royal St George Yacht Club in Dun Laoighaire.

The initial forecast for the weekend looked borderline, however, the two fleets enjoyed close-to-perfect foiling conditions and warm sunshine for the whole weekend, with Sunday being described as one of the best days foiling of the summer! The standard of sailing was certainly impressive in the Moth fleet this year with Ronan Wallace and Fionn Conway, each having just returned from the Moth Europeans in Brittany, France the week before, keeping the pressure on Ewan throughout the weekend. Similarly, Jim Devlin was flying fast throughout the event and showed the rest of us how to not only balance through a foil tack but also how to balance raising a young family and having the time to compete at the nationals!

Irish National Moth Champion Ewan McMahon pictured centre Photo: Sean Hannon

Race one took place after 11 am on Saturday, roughly between the harbour and Sandymount strand in a WNW 7-12 breeze, getting lighter and patchier closer to the windward mark and slightly more consistent towards the leeward and the finish. The Moths sailed three laps of a windward leeward course. Competitors had to ensure they sailed around the spreader mark, laid about 50 metres past the windward mark and then had to round the leeward mark to port and ensure to sail through the finish line before going back upwind again. This was to ensure the race committee could keep track of the fleet and results given the different speeds of the boats and the two fleets racing on the same course.

Fionn Conway in a Mach 2.6 Photo: Sean Hannon

As per Windguru's forecast, the wind promptly dropped after race one and filled in from the south with a lively 15 knots plus to get the second race off. The first windward mark saw the fleet get around fine however Ed Butler misjudged the rounding which led to a collision between the windward mark and his leeward shroud causing a massive pitch pole which bent his spreaders on impact. There was just one more race completed after race two with the fourth race being abandoned due to the dying sea breeze which couldn’t seem to fight of the westerly gradient. The sailors were greeted with a pasta dish to replenish the many burned calories followed by something to wash it down and a delicious meal altogether with the Waszp sailors and volunteers in the club.

Jim Devlin in a Mach 2 Photo: Sean Hannon

Sunday morning dawned earlier than usual with the target first gun being 10 am sharp. It was agreed by all that the best of the wind would be in the early morning so, without delay, the two fleets made their way out (half asleep!) to the start line which this time was about 800 metres directly out from the harbour mouth. The racing kicked off in a fantastic 12-16 knots from the west and the starts were even more competitive than the day before with all sailors hitting the line together at full speed. Fionn Conway, in his Mach 2, took a well-deserved race win in race six and the one Voodoo competing in the fleet, sailed by Ronan Wallace, was going exceptionally quick also. By the end of the seventh race, the decision to race early paid off as the wind began to get patchier and the moth sailors headed home on a high for more pasta and refreshments and craic.

Ed Butler in a Mach 2

Thanks to Moselle Hogan and Tadgh Ó Braonáin who provided rescue on Saturday. Special mention goes to Moselle for her continued encouragement to the fleet generally and who made it out on Sunday in her Mach 2 to enjoy the thrill of foiling around Dublin Bay in the champagne conditions. Thanks also to Scott Flannigan for providing rescue and much-needed support to the Mothies on Sunday.

While the general consensus from both fleets was that the sailing was very physically challenging, everybody was delighted with the seven races meticulously organised, managed and executed by race officer Barry O'Neill and his team. Combining the two fleets certainly contributed to a more social weekend and atmosphere around the club.

All of the staff at the RStGYC were very welcoming on the lead up to and throughout the whole weekend and provided the sailors with a café, a bar and a restaurant, allowing for a real onsite feel to the event. A big mention and particular thanks to Henry Start, class captain of the Irish Waszp Fleet, for ultimately making the weekend happen. 

Finn Lynch will seek to repeat or better his 2021 World Championships silver medal in Monday's first races of the ILCA7/Laser World Championships at Riviera Nayarit, Mexico, in a fleet of 125 sailors from 45 nations.

Lynch (26) and second Irish Paris 2024 campaigner Ewan McMahon (21), along with Irish coach Vasilij Žbogar arrived in Mexico a week ago.

As regular Afloat readers will know, last November's silver medal was a career-high for Lynch and Ireland's best-ever men's Laser result. The result also provided the Carlow man with much-needed funding. On Monday, he embarks on his silver medal defence with Sport Ireland podium funding of €40k per annum in his hip pocket.

The National Yacht Club ace is also boosted by some promising early season results that saw him take fourth in Palma in April (while nursing an arm injury). Admittedly Lynch did not make the medal race in Hyeres later in April but still managed a top 15 finish, both high-quality results setting him up well for this week's successful world championship defence. 

Two Irish ILCA 7 campaigners, one Olympic place

Overall, It's an optimistic scenario at this stage in the Paris 2024 triennial. What's more, Ireland has the added spice of up and coming talent in Howth's McMahon.

McMahon has rapidly become Ireland's second most successful men's Laser sailor after Mark Lyttle, the Dun Laoghaire solo ace who sailed first for Ireland in the Laser in the 1996 Olympics.

Howth Yacht Club campaigner Ewan McMahon

Lynch v McMahon

As with all venues, each race track has its own characteristics. In Riviera Nayarit, the intriguing question – in an Irish context – is, with solid and steady breezes the norm, will these conditions suit Lynch or McMahon best over a 12-race series?

Lynch tends to put together an incredibly consistent series, and recently he has been coming through as the week progresses, ticking off one rival after another as they knock up a big score.

It's a winning formula, and the trickier the conditions, the more the talented Carlow man seems to thrive.

This week's challenge for Ireland's number one might be that steady sea breezes could be a leveller.

Could the regatta be more of a speed test than regattas in European or venues with more unstable conditions?

Indeed, the younger MacMahon is a tall athlete with excellent boat speed (especially downwind). In this regatta, any tactical or experience deficits (expected at his age) might not be such an issue.

From various reports (including comments from his coach), McMahon still has to improve his upwind tactics and position on first beats, convert good speed, and get into top-10 windward mark rounding.

After Palma's April regatta, Zbogar said, "The results don't show it, but it's only some small mistakes keeping him out of the top 20". "He isn't losing any places on the downwind, but we need to work on executing the upwind legs better."

The Hague 2023 and Paris 2024

It sets up an increasingly competitive scenario where the two Irish sailors will attempt to qualify Ireland for the single place in Paris 2024 at the first opportunity in The Hague in August 2023. It's still not popular in some circles to mention that it is a qualification standard Ireland failed to make for Tokyo.

From this tiny Irish squad of just two, what happens if we have two sailors right on top of their game in the World's top 20?

Does the dynamic change? Does Lynch have to start considering his Irish competition in earnest, possibly negatively impacting his own programme?

Early answers to these questions probably lie on the Vallarta race track and the defence of Ireland's best-ever men's Laser result starting this Monday.

Monday and Tuesday will form the qualifying round of the regatta with two races daily scheduled that will decide the Gold fleet finalists before the final result is decided on Saturday.

Update: Sunday, May 22 8 pm:  Ewan McMahon is reported as 'unwell'. The Irish camp says he is under the care of the squad physio but the 21- year-old has already missed two days of training. 

The 53rd Semaine Olympique Francaise de Hyères - Toulon Provence Mediterranee, is back from April 23 to 30, 2022 and Irish Olympic campaigners are among the 50 nations competing on the Mediteranean.

Fresh from his fourth overall at Palma earlier this month, the National Yacht Club's Finn Lynch is entered for the French event in the ILCA 7/Laser as is Howth Yacht Club's Aoife Hopkins who has recovered from COVID and competes in the ILCA 6/Radial.

Competing against Lynch is Hopkins' clubmate Ewan McMahon who, in his third season as a senior (and in 20th place for most of the week in Palma), is already demonstrating why he is arguably Ireland's second most successful full rig sailor since Mark Lyttle, Ireland's inaugural Laser helmsman at Atlanta 1996. 

Howth Yacht Club's Aoife Hopkins

Royal St. George's Tom Higgins is also competing in the ILCA 7. 

Also heading for Hyères are Howth and Skerries duo Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove in the 49er who will be keen to make the medal race after a capsize cost them so dearly in Palma. 

Hoping to close the gap on their rivals for Paris are Royal Cork Yacht Club and Baltimore Sailing Club's new skiff combination Seafra Guilfoyle and Johnny Durcan who raced in the silver fleet in Palma. 

Royal Irish's Saskia Tidey will be sailing with Freya Black for Team GB in the 49erFX.

Once again, the Olympic sailing elite will be in Hyères for one of the most anticipated events of the season. For the first time in France, the SOF will bring together on the Hyères field of play the 10 classes that will be present in Marseille for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Coming from more than 50 countries, the 650 registered competitors, including the world's best Olympic sailors, will make the Hyères event an exceptional edition. After the Trofeo Princess Sofia, at the beginning of April, Hyères will be the second major event on the Olympic calendar.

The 10 Olympic classes: iQFOiL (foil windsurfing, men and women), Kitefoil (foil kiteboarding, men and women), ILCA (solo dinghy, women and men), 49er (double dinghy, men and women), Nacra 17 (double foil catamaran, mixed), 470 (double dinghy, mixed) will compete on the Hyerois field of play, which is as technical as it is tactical and renowned for its often strong easterly winds.

The gold medallists at the Tokyo Olympic Games last summer, who will be competing in Hyères: Australia's Matt Wearn (men's ILCA), Italy's Ruggero Tita & Caterina Banti (Nacra 17, mixed), Brazil's Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze (women's 49er), Britain's Eilidh McIntyre, with new partner Martin Wringley (470 double dinghy, mixed).

For France, the world champions of iQFOiL, Helène Noesmoen and Nicolas Goyard will be competing in women's and men's in Hyères. Goyard will be up against Thomas Goyard, silver medallist in RS:X in Tokyo, and Pierre Le Coq, bronze medallist in RS: X in Rio. In KiteFoil, the field includes the world champion, Theo de Ramecourt; the European champion, Axel Mazella; and Lauriane Nolot (3rd in the World Championship). Gold medallist in Rio and silver medallist in Tokyo, Charline Picon, returns - and for the first time in competition in France in the 49er - partnering with Sarah Steyaert. Bronze medallist in Tokyo in the 470, Aloïse Retornaz will form a new mixed duet with Kevin Peponnet.

More here

Consistent Finn Lynch kept Irish hopes of a top ILCA 7/Laser result at Palma’s Princesa Sofia Regatta on a gusty second day of qualification in the 162-boat fleet. 

Rio 2016 Olympian Lynch (National Yacht Club) sits in 20th overall out of 163 boats so makes the 55-boat Gold fleet cut with races to spare.

Likewise, his main rival for Paris 2024, Howth YC’s Ewan McMahon counts three out of four races with top 14 places so also makes the Gold fleet in 38th place overall.

McMahon's younger brother Jamies lies 56th overall dropping back in the overall scores after a capsize in a choppy Bay of Palma.

Ireland's Finn Lynch (IRL 216890) is captured by drone rounding the weather mark on day two of the ILCA 7 racing at the Trofeo S.A.R. Princesa Sofía in Mallorca. Photo: Sailing Energy

Beckett on top in ILCA 7, gold medallist on the prowl

Britain’s Michael Beckett moved to the top of the 180 boat ILCA 7 leaderboard after scoring 1,2 in the Blue Group of Qualifying.

Reigning Olympic Champion Matt Wearn winner here in 2018, scored the reciprocal results of 2,1 in Blue Group but the Australian has risen only to 32nd overall in the 167 boat fleet after a DNC yesterday.

Beckett was pleased with his day but is expecting a much harder fight from tomorrow Wednesday when the top tier get reorganised into Gold Fleet racing. “None of it’s easy but in those conditions today the top five do start to stretch a bit of a gap after a while,” said Beckett. “Tomorrow it’s going to be much harder, the margins will be much smaller and the quality of the fleet will make it a bigger challenge.”

 Racing continues on Wednesday for all fleets and the prospect of lighter conditions for the second half of the regatta that continues until Saturday when the medal race finals for all classes will be sailed.

All three Irish Laser men survived two tough opening races to be in the top 20% of the massive total 154-boat ILCA 7 fleet after day one of the giant Trofeo Sofia in Mallorca today.

The National Yacht Club's Finn Lynch lies in 17th place and Howth brothers Ewan and Jamie McMahon are lying 26th and 30th respectively in what is effectively their first event on the road to the single Irish Laser place at the Paris 2024 Olympics. 

All three Irish helmsmen were inside the top thirty boats in their flights.

Lynch had a consistent day with ninth and fifth places.  "It was survival conditions but I'm happy with the day and that I didn't make any mistakes," the Carlow sailor said after coming ashore at the Can Pastilla sailing base.

In every respect other than the air temperature there was a baptism of fire on the Bay of Palma when some of the Olympic classes started racing. 

Strong, gusty offshore breezes pumped up to well over 25kts at times to provide a stiff test.

Cyprus's Pavlos Kontides, the 2012 Olympic Laser silver medallist, posted two wins to lead ahead of GBR’s Michael Beckett and Germany’s Philipp Buhl who both sailed to a second and a first in their respective qualifying fleets.

Ireland's Lynch finished in fourth place in the 2019 regatta here but as regular Afloat readers know the Dun Laoghaire ace since took second in the World Championships in Barcelona last November, so is highly regarded as Ireland's top hope for a podium place in Mallorca this week.

Tomorrow (Tuesday 5th April) sees the start of the full competition when all ten classes will be in action.

The 49er skiff event will feature Tokyo Olympians Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove as well rivals Séafra Guilfoyle and Johnny Durcan in their second major competition together. 

Results are here. 

It looks like Ireland's three ILCA 7/Laser competitors at the giant 51 Trofeo Sofia Mallorca are in for a 'baptism of fire' this morning, according to local reports, with strong winds forecast and all three Olympic medalists from Tokyo competing in the first of the World Cup Series regattas.

When racing starts this morning on Mallorca’s famous Bay of Palma the regatta will usher in a whole new era for Olympic classes sailing. Of the ten classes set to race this week, five are new to the roster of classes that will race at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

As Afloat previously reported, competing in the week-long regatta (Monday 4 to Saturday 9 April) is the National Yacht Club's Finn Lynch and Howth brothers Ewan and Jamie McMahon in the ILCA 7 (Laser).

Lynch finished in fourth place in the 2019 regatta but as regular Afloat readers know the Dun Laoghaire ace since took second in the World Championships in Barcelona last November, so is highly regarded as Ireland's top hope for a podium place in Mallorca.

Club Nàutic S’Arenal

It is an appropriately big stage, exciting return as the first major Olympic classes regatta since 2019 welcomes the debut of the high speed, high octane iQFOiL, men’s and women’s foiling windsurfing fleets, the men’s and women’s foiling Formula Kite fleets and, for the first time at the mixed 470 two person dinghy.

The high level of anticipation is shared equally between the 1,000 sailors as well as the local organisers who have worked tirelessly to ensure that this huge undertaking, which requires an unprecedented eight course areas and 250 officials on the water, goes off without a hitch.

And with a stiff 20kts offshore north-easterly wind forecast, Monday’s debutants, the iQFoil fleets and the Mixed 470s will be offered something of a baptism of fire, as will be the two ILCA fleets, the strongest of which is the Men’s ILCA 7 class which sees all three Tokyo medallists resuming rivalries for the first time since the Games.

High quality field

The Men’s iQFOiL has drawn a high quality field which is a mix of past RS:X Olympic campaigners transitioning to the foiling board, and foiling windsurfers from the Professional Windsurfing Tour.

Kiran Badloe (NED) is the twice RS:X world champion and Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion.

Righting moment - weight and power - are among the primary requirements for top straight line speed. Badloe is up from a lithe RS:X 73 kilos to ‘somewhere around 90 kilos’.

The effervescent Dutch windsurfer enthused, “It’s a new start and it’s like a new sport. I’ve put on a lot of weight since racing the RS:X in Tokyo. I’m 1.95m, so staying at 73 kilos for Tokyo was really hard, having to diet. For me it’s good to be somewhere above 90kg is good, I feel healthier. We need the extra weight because when the foil lifts us out of the water we have no water resistance and we hit high speeds. So it’s a little bit faster to have more weight to swing down.”

“The iQFOiL is great because it brings the whole windsurfing community together. We’ve got guys from the PWA, guys from the slalom and the freestyle, and then we’ve got former Olympians like me. And it’s great to see that everybody has their own strengths. The PWA guys are incredibly fast and they know the gear really well, how to tune it and how to tweak it, They’re just very fast sailors. So if they get a bit of runway, they can go quite fast. The guys that come from the Olympic fleet, they're a little more strategic. I think we read the wind shifts a little better and we would like to think we’ve got a bit more fitness and an ability to keep pumping the sail longer. Eventually the guy that's going to win is going to be somewhere in the middle. You’ve got to be fast enough. You’ve got to match the guys that come from the PWA, but you're also going to have to sail smart around the race course,” said Badloe.

470: the best of the men’s and women’s fleets

And the mixed 470 fleet is poised and ready to show the virtues of what here amounts to the amalgamation of the best of the men’s and women’s fleets. GBR’s Women’s 470 Olympic gold medal winning crew Eilidh McIntyre is racing with Martin Wrigley and believes there will be little to choose between the different combinations of male or female helms and crews.

“It is so exciting. What is most exciting is to be merging the top of the men’s fleet and the top of the women’s fleets and that means a lot more boats. I think there will actually be more depth in the class and it will be harder to make the top 12, say, or the top 15 and I think here we will see some high points scoring especially among the newer teams.” Says“But really we are all in the beginning phase. There is so much to learn and improve. The really big thing is getting the team work down and roles and responsibilities.”

With a maximum sized fleet of 180 boats racing, as the new ‘quadrennial’ starts the ILCA 7 men’s fleet has lost absolutely nothing in quality and intensity. Australia’s reigning Olympic champion Matt Wearn sets off this week on his quest to become the first sailor to win consecutive ILCA 6/ Laser Olympic titles. Pressed by an Australian squad which he warns ‘could finish four or five of us in the top ten’ he is only too aware that he will have a battle on his hands to make selection for the 2024 Olympic spot.

Wearn observes, “There are only two years to go until Paris so this feels like a new beginning and I really want to get started on the right foot. There are 20 or 30 guys who can win a regatta in the ILCA 7. I am sure we will see other guys who had results in the Worlds who will be keen to do well.

“We have some new, younger blood in and they are hungry and pushing me hard. One of them, Zac Littlewood, got fifth at the world championships. He his hungry and keen to push me off my perch for Paris and so I have to be on my toes. We are stronger than ever, I would not be surprised if we had four or five of us in the top 10 this week.”

Local hero

Local hero Joan Cardona, Spain’s Bay of Palma bred 2020 Finn bronze medallist, has slimmed down from a Finn max of over 100kgs to ‘somewhere around 80’ as he returns to the Laser at the home regatta that he first sailed as a callow teenager.

“I've been sailing in this regatta since I was 14 years old in the Laser,” grins Cardona who is the Balearics’ first Olympic sailing medallist since Palma’s Jordi Calafat won 470 gold in Barcelona, “The first one I think was 2013 and I was at Optimist age but I was already with the big guys, the likes of Nick Thompson, Robert Scheidt,... I was so young I didn't even know them.”

Cardona concludes, “It's great to be back in Palma after such a long time. It's my first international regatta in ILCA 7, and also at home since the Games so I want to do well. My preparation is going very well, with the feeling that I'm getting better every day. But I think it will be difficult to get a good result, because it's a very competitive class, and I'd be happy with a top 30 finish. I'm not so much focused on the result as on competing at my highest level with the training I've been doing, and we'll see.”

Regatta technical director Ferrán Muniesa, promises a typically varied week of winds, “Mallorca is always known for different conditions and I think we will get a good mix through the week. It looks we will start with a NE’ly breeze offshore of about 20kts and then it will shift to the NW to the Mistral direction in the middle of the week, and then the last two days and for the medal race we are looking at S and SW’ly winds, one or two days of seabreeze. I never like to talk about the weather but we should sail every day.”

The Mallorca Sailing Centre Training Regatta for the Olympic classes ended over the weekend with Howth Yacht Club's Ewan McMahon finishing 10th overall after eight races sailed in an ILCA 7/Laser fleet of 66 entries.

The National Yacht Club's Finn Lynch had an uneven scoresheet, despite scoring a three in race four he did not compete in three other races of the series.

Freya Black and the Royal Irish Yacht Club's Saskia Tidey were 13th in their new Team GB partnership for Paris.

The Mallorca Sailing Center Regatta reaffirmed the status of the Bay of Palma as one of the world’s benchmarks for Olympic class sailing competition. Nearly 280 sailors made the best of three intense days racing at this traditional training regatta to familiarise themselves with the scenario in which they will compete in the 51 Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca.

Greece’s Vasileia Karachaliou (ILCA 6), Britain's Matt Beckett (ILCA 7), Spain's Jordi Xammar and Nora Brugman (470 Mixed), Poland's Domonik Buksak and Szymon Wierzbicki (49er), Brazil's Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze (FX), and Denmark's Natacha Saouma-Pedersen and Mathias Bruun (Nacra) sailed into the top spots in their respective classes at the Mallorca Sailing Center Regatta. The huge training regatta which is the warm up to Princesa Sofía Mallorca mustered 280 crews to race on the bay of Palma last weekend for three days of fine-tuning in full competition mode.

"It was an excellent exercise," explains Ferrán Muniesa, from the Club Nàutic S'Arenal. "We were able to hold many races and the bay offered us two days of typical southerly wind conditions and one, on Saturday, a rougher day, with westerlies and showers. It's true that it was a training regatta but there was a real competitive edge in each division, nobody likes to lose, especially the champions. It was especially interesting to see that several boats were using the new Olympic equipment for the first time, how the teams took advantage of this training session to measure speeds, and the presence of coaches on the course to record and take note of everything".

The focus will now shift to the full-on Trofeo Princesa Sofia from 1 to 9 April, the first scoring event for the 2022 Hempel World Cup Series with an entry of 700 boats expected.

ILCA 6 – Final leaders after 6 races (73 entries)
1st POR 218913 Vasileia KARACHALIOU – – 17 pts
2nd NED 213474 Mirthe AKKERMAN – – 22 pts
3rd NED 211391 Maxime JONKER – – 23 pts

ILCA 7 – Final leaders after 6 races (66 entries)
1st GBR 7 Matt BECKETT – – 36 pts
2nd ITA 21 Lorenzo CHIAVARINI – – 38 pts
3rd BEL 217953 Wannes VAN LAER – – 44 pts

470 Mixed – Final leaders after 6 races (43 entries)
1st ESP 44 Jordi XAMMAR and Nora BRUGMAN – – 19 pts
2nd AUT 1 Lara VADLAU and Lukas MAEHR – – 36 pts
3rd ITA 5 Marco GRADONI and Alessandra DUBBINI – – 47

49er Men – Final leaders after 6 races (53 entries)
1st POL 19 Dominik BUKSAK and Szymon WIERZBICKI – – 23 pts
2nd DEN 3 Frederik RASK and Skovshoved sejlklub – – 24 pts
3rd FRA 16 Erwan FISCHER and Clément PEQUIN – – 30 pts

49erFX Women – Final leaders after 6 races (39 entries)
1st BRA 12 Martine Soffiatti Grael GRAEL and Kahena KUNZE – – 28 pts
2nd ITA 10 Jana GERMANI and Giorgia BERTUZZI – – 44 pts
3rd SWE 77 Vilma BOBECK and Rebecca NETZLER – – 57 pts

Nacra17 Mixed – Final leaders after 6 races (12 entries)
1st DEN 31 Natacha Violet SAOUMA-PEDERSEN and Mathias Bruun BORRESKOV – – 9 pts
2nd FRA 51 Billy BESSON and Noa ANCIAN – – 16 pts
3rd SWE 439 Emil JÄRUDD and Hanna JONSSON – – 17 pts

Full results here

Ireland's 2021 Laser World Championships runner up Finn Lynch is back on Spanish waters this weekend at the  Mallorca Sailing Centre Regatta, a dress rehearsal for April's 51st Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca.

Lynch is joined by Paris 2024 rival Ewan McMahon in Mallorca for the weekend competition.

Also racing on the Bay of Palma is Royal Irish's Saskia Tidey who has embarked on a new GBR Campaign in the 49erFX.

Over 260 boats of 34 nationalities to race in six classes on the Bay of Palma for a regatta event which will be the real dress rehearsal for the 51st Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca.

Ewan McMahon

Club Nàutic S’Arenal

Six of the ten Olympic classes that will compete in the 51 Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca will compete in this eagerly awaited Mallorca Sailing Center Regatta the traditional training regatta prior to the Sofia, from the 10th to the 13th of March.

"It is a warm-up regatta with a real training spirit so the boats are allowed to test material. There are not the usual controls of the Olympic class competitions," says Javier Zaynoun, director of the Trofeo Princesa Sofía and co-organiser of this event. "It is a regatta that the sailors like very much, as they can take advantage of it to test material, fine tune their starts for example and compete on the race course with rivals that they will meet in the Sofia, but without the pressure of the Sofia."

Around 400 sailors

The Mallorca Sailing Center Regatta 2022 brings together six Olympic classes with a fleet of over 260 boats and close to 400 sailors of 34 nationalities. The list of entries shows the participation of 72 boats in ILCA 6, 59 in ILCA 7, 37 in 49er, 35 in 470 Mixed, 30 in FX and 10 in Nacra. "This participation shows the good health of the Sofia," says Zaynoun, "Despite its status as a training regatta, the number and quality of participants could well be considered an international event. For the teams, it is another good reason to extend their visit to Mallorca and take advantage of the excellent biking and to visit other parts of the island,... Discover Mallorca."

It is worth highlighting the participation of several national federations, which take advantage of the exceptional conditions in Mallorca in March to hold concentrations of their Olympic teams and compete in the Mallorca Sailing Center Regatta as part of their preparation. This is the case of the Royal Spanish Sailing Federation and the German Sailing Federation, who have been training in the Bay of Palma for several days. For the Spanish sailors in the ILCA 6, FX, 470 and Nacra classes, this is the first race that counts towards the new Iberdrola Women's Sailing Cup of the RFEV.

The Mallorca Sailing Center Regatta officially begins on the 10th of March with the registration of participants at the Club Nàutic S'Arenal and the Club Marítimo San Antonio de la Playa, the two organising clubs. The competition takes place from Friday, 11th March until Sunday, 13th March, on three regatta courses set up between Can Pastilla and El Arenal.

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Consistent sailing in one of the world's toughest dinghy fleets by the National Yacht Club's Finn Lynch sees the solo ace lying eighth overall at the Laser Standard ILCA7 (Laser Standard) World Championships in Spain with two days of finals racing to go.

It's a top performance for the Rio Olympian on Mediterranean waters that also sees two of his three teammates competing in the gold fleet of the championships.

There are 139 entries from 44 countries competing for the coveted world title.

Lynch delivered a solid day's performance on Monday, counting eighth and tenth places to lie eighth overall as well as a 16th place that he discarded.

Light and tricky winds continued to affect the championship, with two races sailed early on Monday in a dying breeze before the 135-boat fleet was sent ashore.

A sea breeze formed in the afternoon that permitted one more race.

At the end of the qualification round, three out of four Irish sailors have reached the Gold fleet for the event, with up to six races planned to decide the championship by Wednesday afternoon.

Stronger winds are also forecast, so a full wind range for the series will produce a worthy champion. So far the early running is bing made by GBR's Elliot Hanson.

Ewan McMahon & Tom Higgins in Gold fleet

Currently 31st overall, Howth YC's Ewan McMahon secured his Gold fleet place, and a top 20 overall place is still within reach.

Meanwhile, Under 21 sailor Tom Higgins of the Royal St. George YC cut the top 70 boats for the finals phase when he picked up four places to finish the qualification round in 45th place.

Royal St. George's Tom Higgins

Higgins showed great form in two attempted races on Monday, but these had to be abandoned due to the fading wind. However, he did secure a sixth place today (Monday), which resulted in his qualification for the finals.

Jamie McMahon (Howth YC), younger brother of Ewan and Ireland's second Under 21 sailor at the event, is in 83rd place overall.

The series will intensify as the best sailors from both qualification flights come together to decide the title.

Three races are scheduled on Tuesday for both Gold and Silver fleet as the regatta runs a day behind schedule.

Results here