#optimist –After four races sailed and no discard applied Sophie Browne of Tralee lies top Irish boat in 63rd at the 230 boat Optimist World Championships this week in the Dominican Republic.
Hope of Irish success at the Championships is carried by Sophie, Harry Durcan, Douglas Elmes, Megan Parker and Harry Whitaker who are competing at the Optimist World Championships. Qualifying racing began last Wednesday. Vid report above. The event site (not a great one) is here. Preliminary results up to July 20th are downloadable below.
A beautiful day was expecting the 42 teams qualified for the Team Racing today in Boca Chica. The 2 race courses were very close to the Yacht Club and spectators had the opportunity to see the action on first hand.
In Team Racing each team competes with 4 athletes and they have to get the winning finish combination in order to win. More than 30 matches were sailed today and the task for the Jury was very hard.
Finally Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Italy, Finland, USA, New Zealand, Nederland, Turkey, Argentina, Spain, Croatia and Germany are the 16 teams qualified to the final series, tomorrow.
Local team had a difficult day and after two losses fro Italy and Poland were quickly off the completion. Singapore seemed to be the team in favor of winning since the won easily their qualification matches against Mexico and Greece.
The weather is expected to be breezier tomorrow with sunny skies, a perfect combination for the Team Racing Finals.