Royal Cork's Robert O'Leary Makes Finn Dinghy Debut in Holland

21st May 2014

#deltalloydregat – Royal Cork's Robert O'Leary made his international debut in the Finn single hander dinghy at the Delta Lloyd Regatta in Holland yesterday. The Munster man is among a team of three Irish Olympic and Paralympic teams but last year's Gold medal winner Annalise Murphy is not competing this week.O'Leary (younger brother of double Olympian Peter) lies tenth overall in his 14–boat fleet having scored a 13 and 9 in the first two rounds.

Yesterday, 350 sailors from 49 nations enjoyed some close, tactical racing in light to moderate winds and very warm temperatures at the second Eurosaf Cup event.

Recent World Cup Silver medallists Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern lie eighth in the 34–boat 49er class, James Espey is 22 from 43 in the Laser Standard and the Paralympic Sonar team; John Twomey, Ian Costello and Austin O'Carroll are lying nine from ten starters.

Racing started on time at 11.00 in 9-11 knots from the south-west and slightly overcast skies, and later rose to around 15 knots, though there were some significant wind shifts through the day, that mixed up some fleets and delayed others.

In general, the favourites found there way to the front, though there were a few surprise performances through the day. In the Finn Philip Kasueske (GER) posted a perfect day with two bullets, as did Michelle Broekhuizen and Marieke Jongens (NED) in the 470 women.

The Polish sailors dominated the RS:X events with Pawel Tarnowski (POL) winning two races in the RS:X Men with Przemyslaw Miarczynski (POL) winning the third, and Maja Dziarnowska (POL) leading a Polish top three in the women's fleet.

In other fleets there was some very tight racing with the honours split between the sailors. But the message from the returning sailors was always the same: this year is a lot nicer than last year.

The last fleets came ashore just after 16.00, completing the full programme on the first day of the regatta.

Racing continues Wednesday at the slightly earlier time of 10.00. Full results for each class can be found at: results.deltalloydregatta.org

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