Team GB's Charlotte Dobson sailing with Royal Irish Yacht Club crew Saskia Tidey of Dun Laoghaire has a share of the top place along with Australia’s Natasha Bryant and Annie Wilmot after the first day of competition at the Trofeo Princesa Sofia in Palma yesterday.
With the 2020 Olympic regatta just over 15 months away this event figures highly in selections for the Olympic test event. After medalling in Miami, Dobson and Tidey will have this front of mind through the event, just as the closely matched British 49er pairs will be among the many, many teams looking to make a firm statement on the Bay of Palma.
Tidey said, “There's a huge fleet of FXs here and it's going to be a big week. We're really happy with the solid day that we had. We couldn't have asked for any more. It sets us off on the right foot and it's a good position to build on.”
As regular Afloat.ie readers will recall, Dublin Bay based Tidey opted to sail for Team GB in 2017 due to the lack of opportunities for her to further her FX career after Rio.
Since then, of course, Rio Silver medalist in the Laser Radial, Annalise Murphy announced a 49erFX campaign last year and in an exciting prospect this month, the Irish sailing superstar is to make her international debut with Katie Tingle in the class at the World Cup in Genoa, Italy in 12 days time.
Results are here Read more about Irish hopes for Tokyo 2020 here.