The Irish 49erFX pairing still searching for Olympic qualification for this Summer's Olympics have withdrawn from this week's World Championships due to an ankle injury. Helmswoman Andrea Brewster sustained the knock in the lead up to last month's Miam World Cup event. Now, Brewster & crew Saskia Tidey will instead focus on getting ready for a qualification battle in Palma in March.

The Royal Irish Yacht Club pairing narrowly missed out on qualification in November last at the World Championships in Argentina. Now one European place remains available, which they can still compete for at the Princess Sofia regatta in late March in Palma, Mallorca but there is still cause for optimism in the Irish camp because on the basis of Brewster and Tidey's finishing position in Buenos aires they could well pick up the remaining African slot at the Palma World Cup in March as there does not appear to be an African nation with a 49erFx campaign.

Ryan Seaton & Matt McGovern are 15th from 56 after the first race of the 49er World Championships in Clearwater, Florida until Sunday. Having already qualified for the Olympic games, they will be using the regatta as preparation for the this summer's Olympics. Former World Cup silver medallists and Olympians at the London 2012 games, the Irish 49er skiff pairing are up against the world’s best sailors, including Australian Olympic champions Nathan Outteridge & Iain Jensen and the unbeaten New Zealand pairing of Peter Burling & Blair Tuke, who have not lost a competitive race in over 3 years on the global circuit.

In an ISA press release issued yesterday, Seaton commented on this year’s championships: "We feel the last few months of training and competition have been productive and this gives us another chance to prepare for the Olympics against the best sailors in the world. This is the last major championships before the World Cup series and we are looking to continue the work we have done on process, particularly around the start time. With two black flag disqualifications last week, we still have tweaking to do."

Providence Team IRL Performance Director, James O'Callaghan commented on the 49er's chances at the 2016 Worlds: “Only every four years does the Worlds get overshadowed. Even at this stage of the season the focus is on the Olympics this summer, so while a result would be a good marker to put down, it’s more important to improve skill sets in readiness for August. A World championships offers that opportunity in a high calibre fleet.”

A mixed Irish sailing team of youth and experience compete in Miami this morning at the start of Olympic year that includes, as previously reported on Afloat.ie, the second round of the women's Irish Laser Radial trial between Annalise Murphy and Aoife Hopkins. 

Already qualified for Rio, Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern are racing in the 49er as is the three-man Paralympic Sonar sailing team of John Twomey, Ian Costello and Austin O’Carroll. Still seeking an Olympic nomination are hopefuls Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey in the 49erFX class.

In less than 200 days, many of the nearly 800 sailors gathered in Coconut Grove this week will walk in the Opening Ceremonies of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games. For the sailors with a confirmed spot in the Olympic Regatta, this event is about sharpening their tactical game, refining their equipment and improving their conditioning. Others have a more immediate focus as they are in the midst of a selection series for their respective countries or working to qualify their country for the Olympic regatta.

Team Seaton-McGovern will be looking to take last season’s ups and downs into what is a tough regatta, and with stiff competition from the world’s best skiff crews, the pressure is on. In the 49erFX boat, Team Brewster-Tidey will be looking to build on last year’s  performances in preparation for a final qualification bid.

“There’s a lot at stake this year at Sailing World Cup Miami,” said Josh Adams, Managing Director of U.S. Olympic Sailing. “For the first time in the event’s 27-year history, it’s being used as part of the U.S. selection process and part of country qualification process for the 2016 Olympic Games.”

For American sailors in eight of the Olympic classes and the 2.4mR, this event is the first of two events that will determine the U.S. Olympic Sailing Team for this summer’s Games.

Sailing World Cup Miami is the second of six regattas in the 2016 series. From 25-30 January 2016, Coconut Grove, Miami, USA is hosting more than 780 sailors who are competing across the ten Olympic and two Paralympic classes on the beautiful waters of Biscayne Bay.

Sailing World Cup Miami is the second of six regattas in the 2016 series. From January 25-30, 2016, Coconut Grove, Fla., is hosting more than 780 sailors from around the world who are competing across the ten Olympic and two Paralympic classes on the beautiful waters of Biscayne Bay.

Competition in US Sailing’s premiere racing event gets underway this Monday in all 10 Olympic classes and two of three Paralympic classes. Saturday’s Medal Races will be carried live on ESPN3.

The Olympic classes competing this week will be: Laser Radial (women), Laser (men), Finn (men), Men’s RS:X, Women’s RS:X, 49er (men), Men’s 470, Women’s 470, Nacra 17 (mixed) and 49erFX (women). Paralympic classes included are the 2.4mR (open, Para World Sailing) and Sonar (open, Para World Sailing).

While the Irish 49er Fx women's team must be feeling bitterly disappointed at the failure to qualify for Rio on Saturday, there is plenty of cause for optimism as the fat lady doesn't sing for a while yet. Of the 20 places allocated by the IOC to the class, six remain. These are allocated as one to each continent, Africa, Asia, Oceania, Europe, North America and South America. While, at first glance, it may seem that the only opportunity left to Ireland is at the European qualifier at Palma in March, if there are no qualifiers at the continental events, then the place reverts to the 2015 World Championship.

Selection update here

As New Zealand and Australia are already qualified and no other country from Oceania has yet entered the continental qualifier at the Melbourne World Cup, it appears likely that the Oceania slot will go to Norway, as the first country to miss out on qualification. Ireland could well pick up the African slot at the Palma World Cup as there does not appear to be an African nation with a 49erFx campaign.

If Ireland has to rely on the European Qualifier, also at Palma, then the battle will be with Finland, Croatia, Austria and Estonia of whom only Croatia made gold fleet at the worlds (assuming Norway gets the Oceania slot)

The US must also be relieved that Canada got in ahead of Ireland as this will leave them with only the US Virgin Island to beat to take the North American slot at Miami in January.

Afloat's prediction for the remaining qualifiers - Norway to get the Oceania slot, Ireland the African one. USA for North America, Croatia to see off Austria Finland and Estonia in the European battle while India and Chile should round out the places.

There was agony for Dun Laoghaire's Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey in Buenos Aires this afternoon when, having apparently secured their berth at next year's Rio Olympics after a sensational comeback, lost qualification after a protest at the 49erfx World Championships was lodged by rivals Canada.

The result of the protest handed the final Olympic place to Canada. 

The cruel twist means the Irish pair must now look to secure qualification in Europe next Spring where one last Olympic place is available at the Pricesca Sofia Trophy. At least five other nations will be seeking the spot, including two strong Norwegian teams who also missed out today.

The final day of the 49erfx World Championships in Argentina could not have been more dramatic. The Royal Irish YC skiff pair recovered from 23rd overnight to finish 16th overall, moving them up from sixth to third nation seeking Olympic qualification. In so doing it looked like the Dun Laoghaire duo had taken the last of three Rio berths available but the result of the Canadian protest relegated the pair to 19th, crucially dropping them out of contention for the third and final Olympic place.

Brewster and Tidey took to social media to express their feelings: 'Difficult to put into words how broken hearted we are about yesterday's outcome after an unexpected protest. We sailed out of our skin and fought back to take the last Olympic spot from this round. We may not have done it on paper but we have proved we can do it and it should have been team Ireland taking that spot. We have made massive improvements this year and are looking forward to working hard between now and Palma World Cup in March to qualify Ireland for the final European slot! Onwards and Upwards...This will only make us stronger...'

Updated results are here 

Also read: Cause for Optimism As Irish 49erfx Crew Can Still Qualify For Rio Olympics

A difficult penultimate day yesterday leaves Royal Irish Yacht Club pair Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey with a mountain to climb if they are to win a prized Rio berth in the final day of competition at the 49erfx World Championships in Argentina today.

With four races left to sail the Irish debutantes are lying 23rd overall and crucially seventh nation in the hunt for only three Olympic spots. Countries ahead of them also looking to qualify sit just outside of the top ten. Singapore (11), Argentina (13), Norway (15), USA (17) and Canada (19) all sit just inside the top twenty. Results are here

Despite earning a superb fifth place in the final gold fleet race yesterday, the Dun Laoghaire duo are 27 points adrift of the last Rio berth on offer after also scoring a 23, 25 and (UFD) for a start line infringement in race 11.

The FX fleet saw some challenges across the board today with shifty conditions toying with a lot of the sailors mental games. Leading for most of the regatta, Danish team Neilson/Olsen had been knocked out of 1st and into 2nd by the start of the final race in today’s sequence. Marie Olsen noted that today was definitely a tricky one for the two Danes, finishing well into the teens for two out of the four races today. The past world champions Brazil’s own Grael/Kunze, who had a slow start early on in the regatta but have found their groove as the first three races of the day they’ve finished in either 1st or 4th. The pair was knocked back into 2nd by Neilson/Olsen as they finished one point ahead in the last race for the day. Four points separate the two boats, but the two boats have been biting at each other’s heels.

Rounding out the top five are Italy’s Conti/Clapcich in 3rd; Great Britain’s Dobson/Ainsworth in 4t; and finally Hansen/Salskov-Iversen in 5th sitting just one point apart from the 6th place Spanish team of Echegoyen/Betanzos.

The British ladies, Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth, were sitting in tenth going into the day, but decided early on they wouldn’t be sitting there for long. Sophie Ainsworth commented, “We said today when we got out there that it was going to be a really tricky day and that we hoped we were wearing our ‘Jagger’ pants. It’s pretty much how we summed up the day, because you know you can try and make your own luck, but sometimes you get dealt a better hand.” Better hand indeed for these two, apart from their final race of the day in which they took a bit of a digger into 21st, the pair sailed their own races and finished 5th, 1st, and 3rd. These two were definitely wearing their Jagger pants, Mick would be proud!

The Danish pair, Jena Mai Hansen and Katja Salskov-Iversen, who were sitting in 4th going into today, only dropping one place felt the mental pangs early on starting off with a 16th. The shifty conditions and uneven pressure were getting ahold of Hansen’s mental confidence and affecting her style. She notes, “It was tough mentally like, trying to see the right things, trying to make the right decisions, that was really tough because maybe sometimes when you look at other boats it seems like ‘ok left is going really good, oh no, now right is going really good,’ it was difficult to choose.”

The ladies both decided to stop trying to reinvent their style and stick to what they know works – clean starts and getting ahead of the pack early to be able to control what they wanted to do instead of being controlled. When asked about what why she felt she couldn’t start the day on the right track Hansen also mentions, “We were a bit too reserved today in the starts, and normally thats not like us.” The last race Hansen was able to let her aggressive side out and get off the line enabling the pair to win the start and finish 2nd overall.

Racing was cancelled in the first day of the finals at the 49erfx and 49er World Championships finals in Buenos Aires yesterday.

The regatta is a vital Rio qualifier for Ireland's Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey who have boosted hopes of an Irish women's skiff debut at next year's Olympics by making the Gold Fleet cut on Wednesday. More from the Irish Times here.

Already qualified for Rio, Belfast's Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern are also through to the gold fleet in the mens 49er division.

Royal Irish Yacht Club pairing Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey added a sold ninth to their scoresheet yesterday in the only race of the day to keep them in sight of Rio Qualification at this week's 49erfx World Championships in Buenos Aires.

This puts the Providence Team IRL pair in 12th overall and crucially within the top three nations seeking to qualify for 2106.

Races were attempted on a patchy ENE course, but the first race was abandoned on the second leg due to absolutely no pressure to be had course wide. FX sailors all felt the angst and pangs of boredom as they waited roughly an hour and a half for a steadier, yet still very light, southerly to build and only produce one race for the day.

The Irish 49er duo Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern, from Belfast Lough took a 13th and 16th place in the only two races of the day. This leaves them in 31st overall, about half way down the overall fleet. The men’s 49er fleet was postponed from midday on until about 3:30pm. The breeze at this stage was less variable than the morning and stayed ESE ranging from 8-12 knots.

Three top ten results on day one of the 49erfx world championships in Buenos Aires has boosted Irish chancees of a place at the Rio Olympics next year. Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey are tenth overall in a fleet of over forty after four light air races yesterday. The Royal Irish pair seek one of three Rio qualification places available at this Argentinian Championships.  Two of the countries yet to qualify for the women’s Olympic fleet, from Norway and Ireland, both sit in the top ten. See full results here

Yesterday afternoon posed a bit steadier direction in same ENE vein, but the pressure variance was between 4-14 knots. They might've had more breeze to start but as the races were sailed, the breeze pressure slowly dropped making the final race a pretty light one! Apart from the top ten finishers, some higher point finishes were common amongst mid fleet in this final race.

Currently standing in the top three slots are: 1st- Denmarks' Nielsen/Olsen, 2nd-France's Steyaert/Compan, And 3rd- Italy's Conti/Clapcich. Denmark's Nielsen and Olsen had a slam dunk of a day winning the first three races and throwing out only a 5th place finish. Countries yet to qualify for the women's fleet from Norway and Ireland sit both in the top ten.

The FX fleet will start tomorrow leaving the 49er fleet to hopefully see more breeze come in during their afternoon session. Wind forecast is looking similar to today's and possible chance of thunderstorms early AM.

Meanwhile, Belfast mens 49er pairing Ryan Seaton & Matt McGovern are in 17th overall, following a 17, 13 & third.

Ireland’s 49erFX team of Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey will compete for a qualifying place at the next Olympics at the class world championships in Argentina this morning. As Afloat.ie previously reported, the Irish pair are seeking one of only three qualifying places remaining.

The World Championships are a qualifier event for the Olympics in Rio next year, and sailors  Brewster & Tidey  of the Royal Irish Yacht Club are vying for a place in the games next summer. There are a number of teams looking to qualify and grab one of the three places available. Team Brewster Tidey are amongst those in the running and could qualify the Nation for the Games with a strong showing at the tricky venue.

Competing in the mens World championships running at the same time in Argentina are Providence Team IRL 49er pairing Matt McGovern and Ryan Seaton. Having already qualified for the games they will be looking to beat their previous 8th placing at Worlds. Former World Cup runners up and Olympians at the London 2012 games, the only Irish 49er pairing are up against some stiff competition, including Olympic Champions Nathan Outteridge & Iain Jensen, and recently crowned ISAF World Sailors of the Year, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke.

Competing at a notoriously difficult, and shallow venue, Buenos Aires is sure to test all competitors to the maximum of their abilities. The venue is often compared to Lake Balaton in Hungary, and is expected to lead to an interesting chop for the 49er to move through, and the wind is expected to be light. Both teams have been practicing and competing at the venue since the beginning of November and already have a good feel for the place.

Speaking in advance of the championships, Andrea and Saskia said: "We feel the last few months of training have been very productive and we are happy with our preparations for the Worlds. It now just comes down to us putting it all into practise on the day! We are now just looking forward to going racing."

Providence Team IRL Performance Director, James O'Callaghan commented on the 49er's chances of qualifying: "Andrea and Saskia have been preparing for this event all year. There are a number of nations also looking to take one of the three qualification places on offer and the Irish girls are defintely in the mix. It's a really big ask and I'm pretty optimistic that they will do it."

An important 49erfx warm–up event proved 'challenging' for Irish Olympic campaigners Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey in Argentina last week. The lack of performance at the South American Championships is a concern because the pair are aiming to snatch one of only three Rio Olympic places left at next week's world championships at the same venue.  'It's been pretty challenging so far', admitted helmswoman Andrea Brewster.

The Irish 49erfx is among a group of nations still seeking one of three Rio places. Yet to qualify – from those with any form – are: NOR, FIN, CAN, USA, IRL, AUT, CHI, ARG, SIN, ISV. 

The Royal Irish Yacht Club pair are trying to take the 'positives' from last week's 30th place scored in a fleet of 43. Based at San Isidro, they are preparing this week for one of the most important battles of their campaign. 'Everyday counts between now and the World Championships', Brewster said on social media. The championship starts next Monday, November 16th.

If the RIYC duo don’t qualify next week and NOR and FIN and AUT do then there is still the possibility of a single Euro spot open to them next year.