The clearest indication of Irish sailing form for the 2012 Olympics will be known this week when four Sports council carded sailors go into action in a massive regatta of 800 sailors at the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta in Weymouth. Annalise Murphy is in the Laser Radial and in the Star class Max Treacy and Anthony Shanks go head to head with Peter O'Leary who the Irish Times says this morning has had a last mniute crew change. David Burrows is out and Germany's Frithjof Kleen is sailing as a late substitution.

If you took a wander around the fine old English seaside resort of Weymouth, you'd find a mix of motives for being there on this particular Sunday in August – the beach, the sea, the ice cream. Move round the bay a little to the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, where the elite of Olympic sailing are gathered for Skandia Sail for Gold 2010, and you'd think that the replies would be a little more focused – winning, perhaps? But you'd be wrong...

It might be the final event of this year's ISAF Sailing World Cup, not to mention the last but one Olympic class regatta at the 2012 venue before the main event, but not everyone is necessarily here to win. The Dutch 470 sailors, Lisa Westerhof and Lobke Berkhort have racked up five 470 World Championship titles between them, including the most recent, along with Olympic silver in Beijing for Lobke. But when Lisa was asked if they had a choice between going left on the race course to stay with their competition, and going right to learn more about the venue, she replied, "We might choose the right, but we'll have to see," adding with a laugh, "It's nice to have a good result, we're sportsmen, we like to win."

Lisa and Lobke are out of contention for the ISAF Sailing World Cup, but Emmanuelle Rol and Hélène Defrance are just one point behind their French compatriots overall, Ingrid Petitjean and Nadège Douroux. But Rol reckons they have a weakness in breezier conditions after a poor performance at the World Championships, and is hoping to establish that they have improved after training in the Mistral in Marseille, "For us, the result is important, but also to try to have good races in strong conditions, and of course, learn about the Olympic venue. And so far, we have learned that the weather is not as good as in Marseille." The last said, we're sure, purely in jest...

US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics meteorologist (and former holder of the same position for the Luna Rossa America's Cup team), Doug Charko reckoned that Rol and Defrance will have plenty of opportunity to check their heavy weather progress, "There's a low heading into the area, which will probably arrive for Tuesday. So ten to 15 knots for Monday, building during the day, and then Tuesday with the low passing over Scotland there's quite a wide range in the global models, so although I'm hedging my bets a little, I'd say 15 to 20 and gusting to 25 knots from the south-west, raining and unsettled." Things look a little better for the rest of the week, with moderate south-westerly sea breezes forecast – classic Weymouth conditions.

Another Women's 470 contender who theoretically doesn't need to learn much about the venue is double Olympic Yngling Gold medallist and Weymouth resident Sarah Ayton. After recently returning to sailing following the birth of her first child, Ayton and her crew Saskia Clark is not in contention for the overall ISAF Sailing World Cup. But Sarah nevertheless finds herself with a similar balancing act; "You've got to use the opportunity to learn, you don't get many opportunities with a world class fleet in this venue, so it is important to learn. But obviously, it is important to perform in the Olympic venue, so it is a real balancing act of trying things when you can, but bearing in mind the end results." When asked the left or right-side of the course question, she replied with a smile, "It would be hard not to stay with the competition."

Sarah was up on the stage for a very bling opening ceremony, the new Olympic venue dripping with medals two years early. Many of those present are sailing in the Star class, which has some serious star-wattage. Double Olympic-medallist and current Star World Champions, Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson had come straight from Team origin's win over current America's Cup holders, BMW Oracle, in the 1851 Cup.

For Iain Percy, it was a chance to learn about the venue, reckoning that they had to look at each Olympic venue afresh, in a much more analytical, professional way. But there were other reasons for coming to Weymouth, "Myself and Andrew do a lot of other sailing, and whenever we get back in the Star we always have a really good time, relax and enjoy it, old mates going out for a sail. So whenever we get a bit of a window in the calendar we jump at trying to get out in the Star for a bit of fun, and that's the main reason we're here."

Further Quotes
Lisa Westerhof (Holland, Women's 470, current World Champions), on their priorities for Skandia Sail for Gold; "We do set priorities during the year and our main goal this year was the World Championships. We use the World Cup to work with our processes and to develop equipment. We'll use this week to get to know the conditions in Weymouth and to get a feel for the water and the sailing conditions. But the weather and the systems - the low pressure and high pressure weather systems - the variety in the weather is comparable to Holland, so we feel at home."

Emmanuelle Rol (France, Women's 470, currently second in ISAF Sailing World Cup), on their priorities for Skandia Sail for Gold; "We are using the same equipment here as at the Worlds - developing gear will be the winter's task, we will try some new stuff then. We are quite a new crew together, so we had to work out our team work, and our next job will be to work on the equipment."

Iain Percy (Britain, Star, current World Champion), on the topic of keeping current with Olympic sailing, while balancing it with other sailing commitments; "I tried a little experiment after 2000 with the Finn, when I used to go back and have a race against the guys - and after nine months I felt pretty good, but then when I went back and tried it a couple of years later I was absolutely hopeless. So somewhere between your brain and your hands there's a memory that runs out after a certain amount of time."

More than five hours of frustrating drifting on the Clyde off  Largs today proved to be in vain for the sailors awaiting racing at the Laser Radial World Championships.

The mirror like waters were only occasionally ruffled by light airs from conflicting directions, and only – as the race officers' version of Murphy's Law would have it – as the appropriate signals were made, was there anything close to a breeze.

Sari Multala, Finland's defending world champion goes into the final day of scheduled racing with a lead of seven points over Marit Bouwmeester (NED).

It will be an interesting finale. Forecasts conflict as to how much or how little breeze there will be and the opinions seem to be towards either extreme.
Even if there are three races for the Women's gold fleet there can only be one discarded result and Bouwmeester has not finished outside the top ten so far, whilst Multala has a weighty 49th from Race 4 as her throwout.

In the Men's fleet it is champion Marcin Rudawski (POL), also the defending 2009 who enters the last day at Largs with a six points lead and only a seventh place as his discard, whilst fellow Pole Wojciech Zemke lies second and the USA's impressive 16 year old Mitchell Kiss lies third.

Standings: Laser Radial Womens World Championships
Gold Flight Overall After race 6 Inc. 1 discard
1 S Multala (FIN)  4,3,1,(49),2,5, Nett = 15pts,
2 M Bouwmeester (NED) 2,1,5,(7),6,8,= 22pts,
3 P Railey (USA) 3,1,4,16,(17),3 = 27pts,
4  S Steyaert (FRA) 23,4,1,3, 15,4, = 27pts,
5 T Drozdovskaya (BLR) 1,5,14,3,(32),13, = 36pts,
6 T Mihelic (CRO) 15,8,3,8,(35),6, = 40pts,
7 A Tunnicliffe (USA) 1,2,37,(49),5,2, = 47pts,
8  E Van Acker (BEL) 6,11,(21),14,1,15, = 47pts,
9 G Scheidt (LTU) 13,19,2,4,(40),11, = 49pts,
10 M de Kerangat (FRA) 18,7,15,5,(19),10 = 55pts,

Laser Radial Mens World Championship 2010
Overall After Race 6 Inc. 1 Discard
1 M Rudawski (POL) 1,2,1,1,1,(7), Nett = 6pts,
2 W Zemke (POL) 1,1,2,1,7,(OCS[48]), = 12pts,
3 M Kiss (USA) 4,10,3,(29),2,2, = 21pts ,
4 B Koppelaar (NED)  9,4,1,(37),4,4, = 35pts,
5 I Kim (KOR) ,5,8,4,2,(32),16, = 35pts,

Sari Multala (FIN): "It was pretty strange. I found the decision to cancel when they did a little strange but of course it is always frustrating to sit around for the whole day. It is nice to be going into the last day with a seven points lead, but I still have to sail well because it looks we will only get one discard so every race is going to count. But almost everyone is in the same position. Marit who is behind me is in a good position as she has no bad races. It would be nice to get some more races for sure. But for me it will be about managing the risks and a top 5 result could be enough."

Marit Bouwmeester (NED) "It is a shame because it is always better to get racing. I think it will be all down to tomorrow I think it is better for everyone to get more races in. I am pretty happy with the way it has gone and I don't think I could have gone any better. I'm not too worried about what the weather does tomorrow but I do like to sail in strong winds."

Tatiana Drozdovskava (BLR): "It is very strange weather out there, no wind at all, just a mirror for five hours. For me I am fairly happy with my position, but more races tomorrow would be good."

Ali Young (GBR): "It was frustrating, but there was nothing that the race management could do. It was just when we started to get towed in that there was some wind.
It has gone alright for me. I have managed to stay fairly consistent, so hopefully we will get three races in tomorrow and that would finish it off nicely. I am happy with how things have gone so far. We have had some very tricky conditions and so I am pleased to have been able to keep consistent with my starts and build my races from there.
There are pretty conflicting forecasts but it would be just good to get some more races in. It will be shifty here no matter where the wind comes from, that is what we have seen all week. You know it will be shifty because there is so much land around.
We did not see any easterlies when we trained here and have now raced in that, but the training we did was valuable even just to get your head into what it is like."

Racing Schedule

Laser Radial Women's and Men's World Championships

Qualification Series                      Friday 9th to Sunday 11th July
Final Series                                  Monday 12th to Wednesday 14th July
Prize Giving                                 Wednesday 14th July

In the finals of the Laser Radial Worlds in Scotland yesterday two of Ireland's three reps in the Women's division are racing in the gold fleet. Finland's defending champion stepped further clear of the chasing pack today when she sailed to a well earned fifth place from another difficult race on the Clyde off Largs. Both Women's and Men's current title holders lead their championships. Ireland's AnnaLise Murphy of the National YC is 26th and Tiffany Brien of Belfast Lough is 35th. Debbie Hannah, also of Belfast, is eighth in the silver division. 

As the women's fleet entered the Finals phase today there was little in the way of extra cooperation from the fickle and shifty breezes which finally thwarted all attempts to complete the scheduled two races when the easterly expired to nothing.

Try as might we can't pick out an Irish sail but there are three here somewhere. Photo: Marc Turner/RYA

Multala's fifth gives her a seven points advantage over the young Dutch sailor Marit Bouwmeester who sailed to an eighth today.

In the Men's fleet, racing on the adjacent race area, conditions were just as tricky as evidenced when Poland's Marcin Rudawski broke his erstwhile perfect string of wins with a seventh place, but the 2009 title holder goes forward to the Men's Finals with a margin of six points.

When the fleets set off in the morning in a promising NW'ly breeze which was not showing on most of the forecasts, then perhaps that was a foresight of what was likely to happen. Early sunshine was the bonus, but after an initial rain shower the Men got away best in the westerly breeze which perhaps mustered all of six knots. The women took longer to get their start away as the breeze swung around.

But the dark clouds over Largs town soon took effect, shifting the breeze around in direction, developing holes and areas of light pressure.
On the first downwind for the Women's gold fleet, the breeze died nearly completely and on the second upwind the extra pressure had started to push in, finally true to the forecast from east, but when it did come in, the course ended slightly skewed.
Indeed on the final beat the wind had finally clocked through the best part of 100 degrees since the start direction.

With three races now planned for Tuesday, the penultimate day, Multala's sights are set firmly on just repeating the same kind of consistent assured strategies that have served her well so far.
"I think I have become more steady as a sailor, better able to sail in whatever comes along, and I can perform well no matter what the conditions are." Remarked the Finnish sailor, 32, who won the world title across a breezy regatta in Japan last year in the late afternoon sunshine.

China's Dongshuang Zhang read the big advantage to the left on the first beat, where there was more wind pressure, and won the women's race with a lead of about 200 metres over Anna Tunnicliffe (USA), the Olympic gold medallist and Paige Railey (USA) in third.  Railey holds third overall with France's Sarah Steyaert in fourth.

Laser Radial Womens World Championship
Gold Flight Overall After race 6 Inc. 1 discard
1 S Multala (FIN)  4,3,1,(49),2,5, Nett = 15pts,
2 M Bouwmeester (NED) 2,1,5,(7),6,8,= 22pts,
3 P Railey (USA) 3,1,4,16,(17),3 = 27pts,
4  S Steyaert (FRA) 23,4,1,3(DSQ [58),4, = 35pts,
5 T Drozdovskaya (BLR) 1,5,14,3,(32),13, = 36pts,
6 T Mihelic (CRO) 15,8,3,8,(35),6, = 40pts,
7 A Tunnicliffe (USA) 1,2,37,(49),5,2, = 47pts,
8  E Van Acker (BEL) 6,11,(21),14,1,15, = 47pts,
9 G Scheidt (LTU) 13,19,2,4,(40),11, = 49pts,
10 M de Kerangat (FRA) 18,7,15,5,(19),10 = 55pts,

Silver Flight, Overall After Race 6 inc. 1discard.
1 R Yuan  (CHN) 9,(18),3,8,5,1, Nett = 26pts,
2 C Gjerpen (NOR) 13,1,2,15,(21),2 = 33pts,
3 C Martin (GBR) 4,5,1,(10),8,16,44 = 34pts,
4 J Maksymiuk (POL) 10,15,7,(DSQ[32]),1,3 = 36pts,
5 N Szymczyk (POL) 3,4,(24),3,19,9 = 38pts,

Laser Radial Mens World Championship 2010
Overall After Race 6 Inc. 1 Discard
1 M Rudawski (POL) 1,2,1,1,1,(7), Nett = 6pts,
2 W Zemke (POL) 1,1,2,1,7,(OCS[48]), = 12pts,
3 M Kiss (USA) 4,10,3,(29),2,2, = 21pts ,
4 B Koppelaar (NED)  9,4,1,(37),4,4, = 35pts,
5 I Kim (KOR) ,5,8,4,2,(32),16, = 35pts,

In Quotes:

Sari Multala (FIN): "It was variable, a bit challenging really. The first upwind was OK, it was still quite steady but then the wind started to die first, then shift to the right slowly. And then in the end it had gone around about 180 degrees. But it was always quite obvious something was happening to the right because there was some really dark clouds but it juts took a while until the wind reached us, we were close to the second top mark by then and so the top sailors were pretty much OK by that stage.  I was in the top ten and then I came up a few places on the second upwind because I saw the line of breeze coming across on the right and got there before some other girls ."
" Overall for me it is still about getting steady, good result for me in the top flight.
Today was a bit strange for sure, but many places get a bit strange on some days. But certainly it is a bit different to how it was when we were training here. Then it was a lot steadier."
"For me if they do more than two races tomorrow it is really just about focussing on staying solid."
" I think I have become more steady, more regular and can perform well no matter what the conditions are. I hope that comes with the training, and maybe some of it is age and experience."

Tina Mihelic (CRO): "It was really hard to sail. The wind was changing a lot. The first upwind was still OK, but the first downwind the wind dropped and I thought they would abandon it, but then in the upwind the wind changed 30 or 40 degrees to the right and then we started to hike and I thought it was going to be OK, but then the last downwind it was reaching and on the reaching it was upwind.
But overall I did OK, I lost a couple of places because of a wind shift. Sixth for me is OK just now."

Sarah Steyaert (FRA): " It was shifty. The wind was NW and then it turned to the east but because I was good on the first upwind and downwind then I was OK. I just really had to be aware. Once you were in the top group there you could be OK. I have a disqualification from the jury which I am looking to get reopened but that is not good for me. I had a protest against me which I did not know. So I did not go to the hearing and so hopefully it can be reopened tonight."

Racing Schedule

Laser Radial Women's and Men's World Championships

Qualification Series                      Friday 9th to Sunday 11th July
Final Series                                  Monday 12th to Wednesday 14th July
Prize Giving                                 Wednesday 14th July

Largs, Scotland Sunday 11th July: With a second place from today’s only race on the Clyde off Largs, Finland’s reigning champion Sari Multala emerges at the top of the leaderboard of the Laser Radial World Championships as the fleet move into the Finals phase. Ireland's Annalise Murphy lies 20th and Tiffany Brien 37th.

Holland’s Marit Bouwmeester was a woman in a hurry despite the fading breeze. 

She staged a great comeback after lying very deep in the fleet after struggling on the very difficult opening beat, but making great gains on the downwind legs she rallied to sixth place which keeps the world ranked two sailor just four points behind Multala. 

Not only was Bouwmeester quick and smart enough in the testing, shifty and increasingly fluky conditions, with the breeze dying from 12 to 5 knots, to rescue a solid finish but the Dutch sailor was ashore and tidied away sufficiently rapidly to be just ready on cue to watch the start of her nation’s football world cup final challenge. 

Patience was required over the duration of what proved to be a very long day ashore, with successive postponements required from morning until the strong westerly breeze subsided to allow racing. It was only at 1700hrs that both Men’s and Women’s fleets had their warning signal finally scheduled. 

The breeze died progressively leaving big differences in strength across the race tracks on both race areas and, once again, shifts in wind direction offered opportunities for big gains and losses. 

Photo: Mark Turner

Evie Van Acker (BEL) started off the pin end of the start line and was able to get into the best of the early wind pressure, leading the yellow flight race from start to finish with Multala second and Poland’s Joanna Maksymiuk taking third. 

While the yellow fleet got away with perhaps the better breeze, the blue fleet suffered a big left wind shift immediately after the start and then a big shift to the right at the top end of their beat.  But the most important challenge was to knit together the strands of best wind pressure.  

Singapore’s Elizabeth Yin won the blue flight race ahead of Spain’s Fatima Reyes, while fifth place for Mexico’s Tania Elias Calles Wolf ensures her consistent string of scores remains intact and she now lies third. 

Largs has proven a testing challenge in brisker winds, but with the breezes now expected to drop to the lower end of the scale for the second half of the regatta, perhaps it is only likely to get more difficult. In a very high standard of fleet the stakes get higher and higher. 

The host country’s Skandia Team GBR sailors had a mixed day. Ali Young finished in 28th but holds 12th overall, whilst Scotland’s Charlotte Dobson’s 20th leaves her lying 23rd overall. 

In the Men’s championship Poland’s Marcin Rudawski scored his fourth win from five starts to sit one point clear of his compatriot Wojciech Zemke, while Holland’s Ben Kopelaar lies third. 

Women's Overall after Day 3, including one discard.

1  S Multala (FIN) 4,3,1,(49),2 = 10pts

2  M Bouwmeester (NED) 2,1,5,(7), 6 = 14pts

3  T Elias Calles Wolf (MEX) 4,(10),7,5,5 = 21pts

4  S Steyaert (FRA) (23), 4, 1, 3, 15 = 23pts

5  T Drozdovskaya (BLR) 1,5,14,3,(32) = 23pts

6  P Railey (USA) 3,1,4,16,(18) = 24pts

7  V Fenclova (CZE) 17,5,3,(22),3 = 28pts 

8  S Lihan (USA) 8,3,10,10,(25) = 31pts

9  E Van Acker (BEL) 6,11,(21),14,1 = 32pts

10 T Mhelic (CRO) 15,8,3,8,(35) = 34pts

Men Overall after Day 3, including one discard.

1 M Rudawski (POL) 1,(2),1,1,1  Nett = 4pts

2 W Zemke (POL) 1,1,2,1,(7.0) = 5pts

3 B Koppelaar (NED) 9,4,1,(37),4 = 18pts

4 Y Hummel (NED) 9,1,(24),2,7 = 19pts

5 M Kiss (USA) 4,10,3,(29),2 = 19pts

Quotes: 

Marit Bouwmeester (NED): “It was  big funny, and very difficult at times. I made a good recovery, mostly on the downwinds.”

Laser Radial Women’s and Men’s World Championships 

Qualification Series                      Friday 9th to Sunday 11th July

Final Series                                  Monday 12th to Wednesday 14th July

Prize Giving                                 Wednesday 14th July

A bullet in race six has pushed Dun Laoghaire sailor Annalise Murphy up the rankings at the European Laser Radial Championships in Estonia. Two top rive results have seen Annalise boosted to 17th overall in the 81-boat fleet. The regatta is still in the group stage, but Murphy's position will see her coast into the Gold Fleet.

Compatriots Debbie Hanna and Tiffany Brien lie in 37th and 43rd respectively.

The event was dogged by thick fog on Monday and competitors were confined to shore until 2pm. 

Racing continues until Friday.

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