The National Yacht Club's Finn Lynch has dropped five places to be 42nd overall after four races sailed at the 126-boat fleet of the Men's Laser Radial European Championships on Gdansk Bay in Poland. 

Belfast Lough's Liam Glynn is six places behind the Irish Rio representative and Howth's Ewan McMahon is in 83rd place. 

Saturday is another day of qualifying races before the fleets split for Sunday's final series.

Today was another day of great sailing conditions. A shifty NW breeze varying from 8-15 knots brought much longer waves than yesterday, although conditions were still choppy due to the 'unsteady' wind.

Consistency is paying off for Croatian Filip Jurisic CRO (1--3-3) leading now the Standard championship with 7 points, chased in full by the British quad: Michael Beckett GBR (4--4-1) and Elliot Hanson GBR (3-8-1-) complete the provisional podium with 9 and 12 points respectively.

The overnight leader Lorenzo Chiavarini GBR (1-1-20-11) is now fourth overall and sharing 13 points with Pavlos Kontides CYP and Joel Rodriguez ESP on 5th and 6th. Seventh place for another Spanish sailor, Joaquin Blanco ESP, only one point behind them.

Jean Baptiste Bernaz FRA, Alessio Spadoni ITA and Sergey Komissarov RUS complete the top 10 rank with 17, 19 and 20 points respectively.

Sailing will continue tomorrow with two new scheduled races. The day will start with Coaches/Team Leaders meeting at 09:00. First warning signal for the Radial will be at 11:00 / 11:45 for the Standard.

Royal St. George's Tom Higgins racing in the 30-boat men's Radial class is in fifth place, dropping three places on the second day.

Results here

Annalise Murphy has dropped five places to 15th overall in the 107-boat fleet of  Women's Laser Radial European Championships after the second day of racing on Gdansk Bay in Poland. 

Howth's Eve McMahon is in 24th and clubmate Aoife Hopkins is 30th. 

Tomorrow is another day of qualifying races before the fleets split for Sunday's final series.

Today was another day of great sailing conditions. A shifty NW breeze varying from 8-15 knots brought much longer waves than yesterday, although conditions were still choppy due to the 'unsteady' wind.

Reigning 2019 European champion Anne Marie Rindom DEN (1-4-1-1) scored perfectly today, leading the Radial Women’s championship with 3 points.

Second place for the reigning 2020 World champion Marit Bouwmeester NED (2-3-2-7) with 7. One point behind her is now Polish Agata Barwinska POL (22-1-3-4) on third place with 8 points.

Murphy from the National Yacht Club will be aware of the gap widening with the leaders which she will need to close on Saturday to have a realistic chance of catching her Tokyo 2021 rivals. 

Third of overnight leaders Line Flem Host NOR (2-3-7-17) dropped to 7th overall (6th European) with 12 points.

Fourth and fifth places for Maxime Jonker NED and Maud Jayet SUI with 10.

Mirthe Akkerman NED and Emma Plasschaert BEL – both with 14 points–, Wiktoria Golebiowska POL –15 pt– and Ecem Guzel TUR –17 pt– complete the European top 10 list. 

Results here

Royal St. George Yacht Club sailor Tom Higgins from Dun Laoghaire Harbour has finished the opening day of racing in the Men's Laser Radial fleet of the European Championships second place overall.

The Polish-based championship in Gdansk is led by local sailor Filip Ciszkiewicz POL (6-1) with 7 points, closely followed by Higgins IRL (4-4) and Dutch helmsman Paul Hameeteman NED (7-3).

30 sailors are competing.

In the first day of racing in the 2020 Laser Senior European Men's Championships & Open European Trophy in Poland, Belfast Lough's Liam Glynn is 29th and top Irish sailor in the 126-boat fleet.

After two races sailed in flat water and a shifty medium breeze blowing off the land, Ireland's 2016 Rio Olympic rep Finn Lynch is 37th. Howth's Ewan McMahon is lying (89th).

The reigning 2019 European champion Lorenzo Chiavarini GBR (1-1) has started the championship with a perfect score, leading the fleet with two points. Filip Jurisic CRO (1-4) is second with 5. Italians Marco Gallo ITA (6-2) and Nicolo Villa ITA (6-3) are third and fourth respectively.

The British squad positioned two other sailors among this early top 10, with Elliot Hanson GBR (3-8) on fifth and Michael Beckett GBR (4-15) on sixth (9th overall).

Seventh place (8th overall) for Russian Sergey Komissarov RUS (13-5).

Places 6th, 7th and 10th overall for non-European sailors Clemente Seguel CHI, Juan Maegli GUA and Ryan Lo SGP.

The reigning 2020 World champion Philipp Buhl GER (22-6) is 18th among 126 competitors.

Results here

The first day of competition at the Laser Senior European Championship in Gdansk, Poland sees the National Yacht Club's Annalise Murphy finishing  in ninth place overall.

Fresh from victory at Italian Olympic Week, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist is a former winner of this event, sweeping to victory in a near gale on her home waters of Dublin Bay in 2013. 

Howth's Eve McMahon in 15th and Aoife Hopkins in 25th place in the 107-boat Women's Laser Radial fleet.

While the first races were held in ten knots of breeze off the land, the second races saw the wind increase to 15 knots from the same direction.

There's been a tight start to the Women’s championship, with three sailors sharing the top positions with 5 points: Anne Marie Rindom DEN (1-4), Line Flem Host NOR (2-3) and Marit Bouwmeester NED (2-3).

Mirthe Akkerman NED (6-1) is also close with 7 points and ranked fourth overall. Fifth European place and sixth overall for Emma Plasschaert BEL (7-5).

Denmark's Anne Marie Rindom said "It was one of those days where you have to look after the pressure and sail the shifts but still managed to not take to big risks. I finished 1 and 4 and I’m very happy about how it went. I’m coming back after a long time with an injury and just enjoying racing again "

Silvia Zennaro ITA, Murphy Ecem Guzel TUR and Pia Kuhlmann GER complete the European provisional top 10.

Sarah Douglas CAN is the only non-European sailor among the first competitors, holding the fifth place on rank.

Racing continues tomorrow.

Results here

Ireland's only sailor qualified so far for Tokyo 2021, Annalise Murphy races tomorrow in Poland as part of a six-boat Irish Laser team at the class European Championships.

Murphy is in top form for the Gdańsk Bay regatta having been crowned Italian Olympic Week champion late last month as Afloat reported here.

Poland is the first opportunity since the World Championships in Melbourne last February (where Murphy finished just outside the top ten) for the Laser class to compete in a large scale-format with a total fleet of 300 boats and - given the year that's in it - it's also the last chance this season to compete at European level.

Dun Laoghaire's Olympic Rio silver medalist leads a six-boat Irish team of three males and three females at Górki Zachodnie, nearby Gdańsk. Joining Murphy are Howth's Aoife Hopkins and Eve McMahon who compete against 109 other sailors from 36 countries in the women’s Laser Radial fleet. McMahon at 16 years of age, will be one of the youngest competitors in the fleet.

As Afloat readers know, Murphy was nominated for Tokyo after a cut-short trial in June but Hopkins and McMahon are on the start line again regardless with thoughts of campaigns for Paris 2024 already looming into sight. Not competing this week is Aisling Keller, the County Tipperary sailor who secured Ireland's berth for Tokyo in 2019 but was then left 'devastated' after the nomination decision.

All three of the 2016 Rio Olympic medallists will be competing in the Radial: Murphy (Silver), Marit Bouwmeester of the Netherlands (Gold), and Anne Marie Rindom of Denmark (Bronze).

Of course, in her remarkable career, Murphy is no stranger to the European podium, winning on home waters in 2013, a feat she would dearly love to replicate this week. 

Irish Laser men look for top Euro result to boost Olympic chances

In the men’s Laser Standard, Finn Lynch, Liam Glynn and Ewan McMahon are racing in a field of 133 sailors from 39 countries. Lynch is in good form having finished seventh in Italy in a high calibre fleet even though he missed the last race. Rival McMahon, in his first Olympic campaign, also fared well in Italy to end up in tenth. Gdańsk will be familiar territory for Ballyholme's Glynn, who won the bronze medal here at the U21 Laser World Championships in 2018. 

Finn Lynch on port tack at Italian Olympic Week this month

This week's Euros is an important event for the Irish men as all three continue to look for the form to bring Ireland one of the two remaining Olympic berths early next season. 

Despite being on the Baltic Sea, Gdańsk Bay usually has warm weather at this time of the year, but unusual offshore conditions. The forecast is for medium breezes.

Download the event Notice of Race below

Day Two of the 60-boat Laser Munsters at Kinsale Yacht Club has just been cancelled due to weather conditions with winds forecast to gust to nearly 40 knots today.

With four races sailed yesterday, as Afloat reported earlier, the championship prizewinners were awarded after three races with one discard. 

Tralee Bay Sailing Club's Paddy Cunnane won an 11-strong Standard division. In the 4.7s, youth James Dwyer topped the leaderboard in the 26-boat division.

The host club's Micheal O'Suilleabhain won the 21-boat Radial division.

Results are here

Dave Cullinane's Day One Laser Munsters Photo Slideshow

Tralee Bay Sailing Club's Paddy Cunnane leads an 11-strong Standard division at a 60-boat Munster Laser Championships in Kinsale Yacht Club. 

The Kerry solo sailor leads Royal Cork Yacht Club Master Nick Walsh by dint of his victory in the last race of four sailed yesterday. 

Walsh's clubmate Edward Rice, another Master sailor, lies third.

Significantly, the KYC event, under Race Officer John Stallard, sailed enough races on the first day to constitute a championship in case today's big wind forecast cancels the championships.

The Laser sailors gather for the KYC briefing ahead of the Munster Championships Photo: Bob Bateman

4.7s

In the 4.7 division, youth James Dwyer tops the leaderboard on three points, the former Optimist ace is the first of nine Royal Cork Yacht Club boats that dominate the 26-boat fleet. Second is Harry Twomey on 6 points with Justin Lucas third on ten points.

Radials

The host club's Micheal O'Suilleabhain on three points leads the Radials by four points from RCYC's Michael Crosbie. Jonathan O'Shaughnessy lies third on nine points. 

As Afloat reported earlier, the dinghy class proceeded with its County Cork Championship on a restricted basis and asked Dublin and Donegal sailors, currently under Level 3 Covid partial lockdown, not to attend.

Results are here

Bob Bateman's Laser Munsters Photo Slideshow

Killaloe Sailing Club on the beautiful southern shores of Lough Derg is a community-orientated, not-for-profit, Irish Sailing-accredited amateur, small boat sailing club.

This little club – totally volunteer-run – now has the fully-developed vision of building a stylish new clubhouse, as the current facilities are becoming totally unsuitable for an enthusiastic organisation of Killaloe SC's expanding size.

Planning permission has been secured to build a new Clubhouse, the plans including changing rooms with toilets and showers, a common room and small kitchen, raised walkways, and a covered training area. There'll be facilities for the disabled, and an enlarged boat shed together with a new cark park and an enlarged dinghy park.

In order to raise much-needed funds, the Club is running a Raffle this Autumn, whereby the winner will take a home a brand-new Laser dinghy, worth a spectacular almost €8,000.

Only 100 tickets are being sold, and 50 of them have been sold already. These tickets are not waiting around! As soon as all the tickets are gone, the raffle will take place and will be formally adjudicated.

The prize is a Laser XD ICE Blue, and comes with Carbon Mast, Launching Trolley, Top Cover and Foil Bag. The winner can choose any Rig size - 4.7, Radial or Full Rig.

For newcomers to sailing, the word is that Lasers are suitable for both beginners or more experienced sailors, and from teenagers to adults. Killaloe Sailing Club already has a sizeable fleet of Lasers in the Club, so should the winner wish to sail within the Club, or even race on any Tuesday evening in the Summer, or Sunday morning in the cooler months, then there will be plenty of competition for them to make it exciting.

Killaloe Sailing Club plans for the coming years include continued extension of links with the local community through arrangements with the Scouts, Cubs, local language and state schools. KSC will also be hosting regional and even national events, and expanding the number of Irish Sailing accredited sailing courses on offer, thereby ensuring the continued pipeline of new sailors to the sport in the well-proven Killaloe tradition.

Anyone interested in purchasing a ticket, please email: [email protected] with your contact details and the number of tickets requested.

For any queries, please text/call John at 083 4607433. Alternatively, tickets can be purchased via the 'ClubZap' app https://clubzap.com/download, where you scroll to 'Other' and then to 'Killaloe Sailing

In Royal Cork's September Saturday League for Toppers and Lasers, Cork Harbour youth sailors have enjoyed some great sailing conditions this autumn with eight races sailed so far for Laser Radials and 4.7s and six races for the Topper class.

Radial

After two discards, Michael Crosbie leads the Laser Radial by five points from Dorothy Matthews on 13.0 points. Third is Hugh Lynch on 26.0 points.

Topper

Max Tolan leads by five points after six races sailed from Julie O'Neill on 13 points with Craig O'Neill third on 18.

See results here and Bob Bateman's photo gallery below