Since the Laser/ILCA 7 dinghy made its Olympic debut 25 years ago, Ireland has sought a top 30 result at the annual World Championships.

There's the prospect of such a result at the Barcelona-hosted championship next week thanks to the current form of Irish Laser ace Finn Lynch, part of a new team bidding for Paris 2024.

Lynch, of the National Yacht Club, will be aiming to build on last month's seventh overall score at the European Championships in Bulgaria.

It's the first Worlds in this Olympic triennial. Hence, while the competition may arguably not be as red hot as the Olympic year itself, a Laser Worlds contest is never lukewarm. There are 139 entries from 44 countries.

The ILCA 7 fleet always boasts a stellar lineup from across the globe. The Brits will be looking to build on their recent European Championships success and translate that on to the world stage coming up against a host of world and Olympic champions like Cypriot Pavlos Kontides and Germany’s Philip Buhl. The class has the strength and depth to put together a very strong start list for this event, and with mandatory chartered boats, the racing will be just as strong.

As the number one Irish contender, Lynch is attempting to rebuild after his disappointment of failing to qualify for Tokyo 2020, so it's important he's on the right tack at the first opportunity.

World Championship results can be highly dependent on the stage of the four-year (or three for Paris) Olympic cycle. The standard builds typically from the Olympic Games and then peaks in the next pre-Olympic year (or maybe in the Olympic year itself if places are still up for grabs).

Howth's Ewan McMahon

Keep improving

Ireland's 1996 Laser representative, Mark Lyttle, a race winner in Atlanta when the Laser made its Olympic debut, says a typical campaign strategy is to 'bang a result early in the cycle and then keep improving your performance to keep results at the same level as the overall standard [of the fleet] improves.  If you start behind the cycle, you have to improve quicker than the fleet during cycle".

So, as Paris hoves into view, successful campaigns are already well up and running.

The Irish competition for the single place on the Marseille start line is already taking shape, and there have been changes since Tokyo in the Irish camp.

Howth's Ewan McMahon continues as Lynch's main rival but absent from the Barcelona starting lineup is long-time running mate, Ballyholme's Liam Glynn.

Royal St. George's Tom Higgins

The former Topper World Champion is replaced by two relative greenhorns, McMahon's younger brother Jamie, who sampled his first senior competition in the silver fleet in Bulgaria a month ago, and Royal St George's Tom Higgins.

Howth's Jamie McMahon, younger brother of Ewan

Mediterranean sailing

Typically, as air temperatures dip and the water stays warm lighter winds tend to prevail in the Mediterranean city at this time of year. Experts predicted winds in the 7 to 12 knots range for Friday, but other weather models are now looking windier.

The lighter stuff would help Higgins, who is proving quick in sub ten knots; for example, the Dun Laoghaire Harbour helmsman won a race at the Radial Europeans in Poland in 2020. 

Two races per day are scheduled from Friday at the Barcelona International Sailing Centre until Monday 8 November, when the fleet splits into Gold and Silver. The final series then continues until Wednesday, 10 November.

Make the cut

Coach Vasilij Žbogar, who was ushered in in 2018 with great fanfare to boost Irish Tokyo medal chances (only for Ireland not to qualify), is coaching again with the hope that Ireland can make the cut, at least, this time.

It might not be too popular to air it in some quarters, but despite 25 years of trying, Ireland has never finished in the top 30 of the World Championships. You have to go right back to the 'eighties to find any higher Irish results. In 1983 Lyttle finished 19th and Bill O'Hara 13th, a record, albeit achieved in pre-Olympic times, that stands to this day.

Lynch's own best Worlds performance is 31, scored in Melbourne in 2020 a position he also got in Aarhus, Denmark in 2018. 31st is also a result also achieved by his predecessor James Espey in Oman in 2013.

Lynch's Euros seventh in Bulgaria last month indicates the Carlow man is on a mission, so could Barcelona 2021 be a breakthrough for Irish Laser interests?

The National Yacht Club's Finn Lynch got his Laser/ILCA 7 campaign for Paris 2024 off to a flying start in Bulgaria this week by taking seventh overall – a personal best – at the European Championships in Varna today.

Lynch's rivals for the single Irish Olympic spot in three years time were also competing. Ewan McMahon of Howth finished in 21st and Liam Glynn of Ballyholme in 44th.

Lynch's result eclipses his owner personal best performance at a Euros. That, as Afloat reported here, is the 13th scored in Poland last year. 

Ewan McMahon

Jamie McMahon competing in his first senior event in the Standard rig raced in the Silver fleet in Varna

Jamie McMahon finished in 17th place in the Men's Silver Fleet.

It was the third Gold medal in a row for the British team at the Senior Europeans, with Michael Beckett GBR becoming the new 2021 champion. It’s the third medal for him at the Senior Europeans after winning Silver in 2018 in La Rochelle and also Silver the last year in Gdansk, where the Brits conquered the podium.

Silver this time was for Croatian Filip Jurisic CRO, winning a Senior European medal for the first time.

Jonatan Vadnai HUN completed the podium, taking the Bronze medal also the first one for him at the Senior Europeans.

Just 1.8 points far from the podium was Russian Maxim Nikolaev RUS on fourth. 2018 Senior European champion Pavlos Kontides CYP was fifth.

Lorenzo Chiavarini GBR, Lynch IRL, Duko Bos, Wannes Van Laer BEL and William De Smet BEL completed the 2021 EurILCA Senior Europeans Top 10.

Results are here 

After missing out on Tokyo 2020, Ireland's three male Laser campaigners from that quadrennial are back on the water for the Paris 2024 Olympics at the Laser (ILCA 7) European Championships & Open European Trophy 2021 at Varna, Bulgaria this week. 

A white-out and another six-hour day on the Black Sea meant race officials were only able to squeeze in one race each for the Laser and Radial classes yesterday.

After six races sailed in the gold fleet and one discard, Lynch, a veteran of Rio 2016, is lying 14th. The National Yacht Club sailor is five points off the top ten (download results sheet below). 

If the Carlow native can maintain current form he's in with a chance of a top ten finish and eclipsing his owner personal best performance at a Euros. That, as Afloat reported here, is the 13th scored in Poland last year. 

The fleet spent hours out on the water in rain-driven shifts, but after that lone race, the race committee were forced to abandon the day after one last strong squall passed through the course.

Howth's Ewan McMahon is 39th and Finn Lynch is 42nd in the 58-boat fleet. The trio are joined this week by Ewan's brother Jamie. This is his first senior event in a Standard rig and he is racing in the Silver fleet.

The contracted coach to the Irish sailors, Vasilji Zbogar said on social media "Finn has had a solid qualifying series. Ewan hasn’t performed as well as expected but has plenty of time to turn this around in the finals and move his ranking up overall, and Liam is improving race by race”.

Two more days of racing remain. As only six races have been completed for the Laser men and seven for the Radial fleet the race committee will be under pressure to fire off the three races scheduled today.

Eve McMahon 15th

In the 66-boat Women's Radial division, Eve McMahon is 15th (moving up from 22nd) and Aoife Hopkins is 27th. Both are from Howth Yacht Club.

Ireland can only look to the future and Paris 2024 - just three years away - for its next chance to compete in the men's singlehanded Laser class following Finn Lynch's failure to qualify Ireland in the Laser event for Tokyo 2020 this week at the Vilamoura International Championships.

Spain and The Netherlands won the two Olympic nation places for Tokyo, with Ireland finishing ninth in the country qualification stakes.

Lynch completed the event in 33rd place overall following a 14th and 42nd places for the day. 

Germany’s Philipp Buhl as reigning world champion delivered a thrilling finish to the series, beating Brazil’s five-times Olympic medallist Robert Scheidt by a single point in the final race.

Ewan McMahon from Howth YC improved to 48th overall with a 23rd and 55th for the day. Liam McGlynn of Ballyholme YC also picked up places to 56th in the 70-boat Gold fleet.

In the Men’s event Silver fleet, newcomers to Senior level racing Tom Higgins and Hugo Kennedy, both of the Royal St. George YC in Dun Laoghaire placed 46th and 62nd respectively.

Full results here

Irish hopes of a Tokyo Olympic place in the men's single-handed class all but disappeared today in light and shifty breeze off Vilamoura, Portugal at the European Olympic qualifier event.

With the 139 competitors now split into gold and silver fleets, Ireland's Finn Lynch (NYC) really needed a good day to make a move up the rankings of those countries not yet Tokyo qualified. Not to be, however, as a 20th and 27th moved him further down those rankings to ninth. (34th overall)

With only four races left to sail, it is hard to see how he could make up the 48 point deficit that separates him from the 2nd ranked dutch boat.

Other Irish results today:

• Ewan McMahon (HYC) 66, 50 to lie 50th overall
• Liam Glynn (Ballyholme YC) 57, 32 - 59th overall

Silver fleet:

• Tom Higgins (RSGYC) 22, 25 - 100th overall
• Hugo Kennedy (RSGYC) BFD, 38 - 128th overall.

Welsh sailor Michael Beckett leads the Vilamoura International Regatta after eight races sailed Photo: Joao Costa Ferreira

Robert Scheidt's (BRA) challenge faded after a black flag in the 2nd race - he now lies in 5th place, some 25 points behind Britain's Michael Beckett who leads the regatta.

ILCA 7 Country Olympic Qualification Table after eight races sailed

Racing continues tomorrow. Full results here

Irish hopes of landing one of the Olympic country spots at the 2021 ILCA Vilamoura European Continental qualifier for the Olympic single-handed dinghy men faded considerably following disappointing results on day three of the competition.

Sailed in 18 to 20 knot south-westerlies the best Irish result of the day's two races was a 14th by leading contender Finn Lynch (NYC) but he followed that up with a 23rd to drop him back to 34th overall and 8th of those countries still seeking Olympic qualification. Next best of the Irish, Ewan McMahon (HYC) is 45th (24,18), while Liam Glynn of Ballyholme is 60th following a 33rd and 43rd. Royal St George teammates Tom Higgins (45, 55) and Hugo Kennedy (59, 60) now lie in 106th and 123rd respectively.

Liam Glynn (third from right) starts a yellow fleet race at the 2021 ILCA Vilamoura European Continental qualifier for the mens Olympic single-handed dinghy in Portugal Photo: Joao Costa Ferreira

With only two country places available, the Irish challenge has a mountain to climb to catch up with second-placed the Netherlands, some 37 points ahead. However, there has been some movement amongst the leading nations with Spain moving up three places to take over the top spot. Six races are scheduled over the next three days. 

See Finn Lynch in action on the event video below, scrub to 2.49 on the timeline

See Afloat's country qualification table below for the latest positions

Laser and Star legend Robert Scheidt (BRA) is still challenging strongly in third place overall, just one point behind Croatia's Filip Jurisic and Michael Beckett (GBR)

ILCA Laser Men Country Qualification Table after Day 3

Racing continues tomorrow. Full results here

Day two of the 2021 ILCA Vilamoura European Continental qualifier for the Olympic single-handed dinghy men was sailed in 12 to 15-knot south-westerlies and proved to be somewhat challenging for the Irish contingent. Leading contender Finn Lynch (NYC) was a premature starter in race 1 but recovered to record a 6th in race 2 to lie 28th overall with the drop race excluded.

Ewan McMahon (HYC) improved slightly to 48th place after race scores of 29 and 12. Liam Glynn of Ballyholme is four places back in 52nd, but it was a tough day for Royal St George teammates Tom Higgins (45, 62) and Hugo Kennedy (47, 65) who now lie in 105th and 124th respectively.

In the all-important battle for country selection for Tokyo 2020 (final two places are available), Ireland remains in 7th place, with a slightly increased deficit on points relative to second place non-qualified country.

If the organisers continue the trend of alternating the start times, the men, who started first today, will likely enjoy stronger breezes later in the afternoon tomorrow.

Wednesday marks the halfway stage of the regatta and Ireland now has little room for error in the remaining eight races to come.

The country qualification position after day two is expressed in the table below where lower points are better.

Full results are here

After a long period without major regattas due to the pandemic situation, many of the top sailors, even from qualified countries, are competing at this event.

Organised by Vilamoura Sailing, this qualifier event is held for European countries to claim their remaining four slots for the Tokyo Olympic Games: two in the women's ILCA 6 fleet and two in the men's ILCA 7 fleet. There are seven countries competing for the two ILCA 6 Olympic tickets, and 17 countries vying for the two ILCA 7 slots.

150 sailors from 34 countries were able to come together for this event, as Vilamoura continues to be one of the few places in the world right now where sailing competitions are open. 

At the age of 48 and with five Olympic medals and nine Laser World Championship titles, Brazil's Robert Scheidt leads the European Olympic Qualifier for the men's single-handed dinghy being competed for in Vilamoura, Portugal. Schiedt scored seconds in both of today's races to lead by a point.

Finn Lynch (NYC) leads the Irish contingent with a 28th and 5th to lie 27th overall, while Ewan McMahon (HYC) is in 50th place after race scores of 28 and 25. Liam Glynn of Ballyholme is a further seven places back (11th, 49th) while Tom Higgins (RSGYC) is 100th (49, 47) and his clubmate Hugo Kennedy is in 124th after two 59s.

ILCA 7 Country Olympic Qualification Position

In the all-important battle for country selection, where the top two of those not yet qualified will book tickets to Tokyo, the situation after day one is best expressed by the table below where lower points are better.

So five countries between Ireland and that all-important second place but it's early days and there are plenty of races left to sail till Saturday.

Full results are here

After a long period without major regattas due to the pandemic situation, many of the top sailors, even from qualified countries, are competing at this event.

Organised by Vilamoura Sailing, this qualifier event is held for European countries to claim their remaining four slots for the Tokyo Olympic Games: two in the women's ILCA 6 fleet and two in the men's ILCA 7 fleet. There are seven countries competing for the two ILCA 6 Olympic tickets, and 17 countries vying for the two ILCA 7 slots.

150 sailors from 34 countries were able to come together for this event, as Vilamoura continues to be one of the few places in the world right now where sailing competitions are open. 

As Ireland embarks on its last chance to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic regatta today, there is a new lexicon when it comes to talking about Lasers - the full rig is now known as the ILCA 7, the Radial as the ILCA 6 and the 4.7 is oddly called the ILCA 4.

See here for a reason why 5 has been left off the list for now and information on why the changes were necessary.

Anyway, when looking for results from the final European selection event for the one-person dinghy men, to give its official Olympic name, then "ILCA 7" is what you're looking for.

Two country tickets to Tokyo are on offer in Villamoura this week and a fierce battle is expected as 16 European nations are in competition for those two places.

While lack of competition over the last year makes it hard to assess form, the winners could well come from the group that includes Belgium, Switzerland, Netherlands, Ireland, Spain and Italy.

Blindfold pin-sticking

That's not to say that Portugal won't benefit from home advantage but without a recent event that included all the contenders, its blindfold pin-sticking.

That said, what to watch for:

Unqualified competing countries (number of boats entered): BEL(2), CZE(2), DEN(4), ESP(13), GRE(5), IRL(5), ISR(3), ITA(8), LTU(3), MNE(2), NED(9), POL(3), POR(8), SUI(5), TUR(1), UKR(5).

Afloat will report and comment on each day's racing.  The competition begins today (Monday 19 April) and concludes on Saturday 24 April 2021.

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More details on the regatta website here

A  Practice Race for the 2021 ILCA Vilamoura European Continental Qualification was held yesterday. See vid below.

Ireland is hoping a five-man team in Portugal can take one of two final nation places in the final men's Laser Olympic qualifier in Vilamoura starting on Monday.

Vilamoura International Regatta is the last chance for the Laser sailors to secure a place for Ireland in Tokyo and will see a fleet of 120 boats all looking for a last-minute speed edge, just 100 days out from the Olympic Regatta itself.

Vilamoura is itself a hastily rescheduled qualifier due to COVID as the earlier venue at Hyeres Regatta in France was cancelled over pandemic fears.

If the Irish can find the pace it will bring the Tokyo Olympic Sailing team up to three boats with the earlier qualification of the Irish Women's Laser Radial in 2019 and the men's 49er skiff a month ago.

Finn Lynch 

Despite some strong individual performances across his four-year campaign, inconsistency has prevented next week's main Irish hope, Finn Lynch, from taking a nation place so far.

Lynch's big chance came in 2018 when 40% of all Tokyo places went up for grabs at the World Championships in Aarhus. Despite the fact, he had three top ten results in his score sheet that week he still failed to qualify.

That miss now looks very expensive for the Rio representative as he enters the last chance saloon with up to 17 other countries also looking for elusive Tokyo tickets.

Countries still seeking nation qualification are: Belarus, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Montenegro, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Switzerland and Ukraine but these can be boiled down to five or six main rivals who are capable of medal race finishes in Vilamoura.

To compound difficulties, nation spots for the Laser Men discipline have been reduced for Tokyo, 11 fewer than at the Rio Games in 2016. 

Irish Laser rivals for Tokyo

Lynch also has some strong domestic rivals to contend with in Portugal because whichever Irish sailor qualifies the country next week will get the Olympic nomination.

Liam Glynn (Ballyholme Yacht Club) and Ewan McMahon (Howth Yacht Club) and Tom Higgins and Hugo Kennedy (both of the Royal St. George Yacht Club) are all racing next week.

County Down's Liam Glynn (21) was the Bronze medallist at U21 World Championships in 2018 and the Topper World Champion in 2013 Photo: Tom Thouw

Team management is saying it's a 'tough task' but of all of them, Lynch has shown he is capable of grinding out the required result. 

Personal best is a boost

Coming off the back of the European Championships in Poland last October, Lynch showed the depth of his Olympic ambition and secured a personal best of 13th from a fleet of 126. It's a highly creditable result that will boost the 24-year-old's confidence next week.

Ewan McMahon (20) from Howth was the Silver medallist at the Laser Radial Youth World Championships in 2016

"There’s a bunch of good people who still haven’t qualified. There are five or six nations with guys who can have regattas in the top ten but I’m not really focusing on that. I’m focussing on trying to improve on the things that held me back on the last two qualification regattas. And If I can do that, there’s no reason that I cannot get a spot", Lynch told the Irish Laser Class AGM last November. See the full interview here.

Royal St. George Yacht Club youth sailors Tom Higgins (pictured above) and Hugo Kennedy are both competing at Vilamoura International Regatta

Lynch and the rest of the team have benefitted from the exclusive services of Slovenian Vasilij Zbogar, a three-time Olympic medallist, so there is much to say that Lynch -  if not one of the five competing - can produce another sensational result, just as the Howth 49er skiff crew did in Lanzarote last month.

The competition begins on Monday 19 April and concludes on Saturday 24 April 2021. More details on the regatta website here