Belfast's Espey Lying 41st at Laser Worlds, Cork's Lyden 12th in Silver Fleet

7th July 2015

#CORKKingston – Belfast's James Espey lies 41st from 53 in the Gold fleet of the Laser Worlds in Canada and Cork's Fionn Lyden is 12th from 53 in the silver fleet. Both fleets have sailed three races of their final series. Results are HERE.

Ireland has already qualified for the Olympics in the Laser class, thanks to Espey's efforts in Santander, the focus for both Irish sailors in Kingston will be on achieving their best results in advance of the forthcoming Irish Olympic Laser trial.

Yesterday began with strong winds of 15 knots from the south. As the day progressed the wind lowered to 8 knots, and kept competitors on their toes with tricky conditions and shifting winds.

Previous regatta leader Philipp Buhl, Germany, had a tough day, finishing 15, 16 and 27, dropping to 3rd overall, with Great Britain's Nick Thompson moving up to 1st. Thompson stayed at the front of the pack, playing the breeze and finishing 7, 2, 4. Thompson has a 20 point lead going into the final day of racing. Australia's Tom Burton moved up to 2nd today with a 15, 27, 2.

Yesterday Stephano Peschiera from Peru, qualified his nation for a spot in the 2016 Olympic Games. This is the first time Peru has earned a sailing berth in the Olympics through the qualification process. Seven other nations earned their Olympic Birth by sailors qualifying for Gold fleet, with one berth still undecided. It will go to the top sailor in silver flight representing an unqualified nation. Joaquin Blanco, Spain and Alexandr Denisiuc, Moldova are the top two competitors in Silver flight who's nation have yet to qualify.

Tomorrow is the last day of Laser Standard World Championship Racing on Kingston Waters. Racing begins at 0900, with three races scheduled.

Top ten 1. Nick Thompson, GBR, 27 points
2. Tom Burton, AUS, 47
3. Philipp Buhl, GER, 52
4. Tonci Stipanovic, CRO, 53
5. Pavlos Kontides, CYP, 55
6. Christopher Barnard, USA, 64
7. Bruno Fontes, BRA, 68
8. Matthew Wearn, AUS, 73
9. Charlie Buckingham, USA, 73
10. Sam Meech, NZL, 74

Published in Laser

@ CH Marine website

@ CH Marine Facebook

@ CH Marine NI Facebook

@ CH Marine Twitter

Published in Laser

Tagged under

About The Author

Afloat.ie Team

Email The Author

Afloat.ie is Ireland's dedicated marine journalism team.

Have you got a story for our reporters? Email us here.

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven't put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full-time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.

You might also want to read...

About the ILCA/Laser Dinghy

The ILCA, formerly known as the Laser, is the most produced boat in the world, with 220,000 units built since 1971.

It's easy to see why the single-handed dinghy has won the title of the most widely distributed boat of all time.

The Laser is a one-design dinghy, the hulls being identical but three rigs that can be used according to the size and weight of the sailor.

The class is international, with sailors from 120 countries. The boat has also been an Olympic class since 1996, being both the men's and women's singlehanded dinghy.

Three rigs are recognised by the International Laser Class Association (ILCA):