CRUISERS 1 - 1. Powder Monkey (C Moore), 2. D-Tox (P McSwiney et al)

FIREBALL Race 2- 1. No Name (S Oram), 2. Goodness Gracious (Louise McKenna), 3. Clandog Millionaire (C Clancy)

IDRA 14 FOOT Race 2- 1. Doody (J.Fitzgerald/J.Byrne), 2. Dunmoanin (Frank Hamilton), 3. Spray (C & O Corrigan)

Laser Race 2- 1. Paul Keane, 2. Sean Craig, 3. John Marmelsten

PY CLASS Race 1 - 1. Ophelia, 2. H Murphy (Vago)

Laser Race 1- 1. Sean Craig, 2. Theo Lyttle, 3. Paul Keane

IDRA 14 FOOT Race - 1. Slipstream (Julie Ascoop), 2. Dunmoanin (Frank Hamilton), 3. Doody (J.Fitzgerald/J.Byrne)

FIREBALL Race 2- 1. No Name (S Oram), 2. Clandog Millionaire (C Clancy) 3. Goodness Gracious (Louise McKenna).

#Rio2016 - The mother of Irish Laser Olympian Finn Lynch nearly missed seeing him in Rio after failing to secure tickets through the official Irish supplier that's become embroiled in controversy in recent days.

The Irish Times reports on Grainne Adams' interview with Newstalk Breakfast, in which she explained how after great difficulty in contacting Pro10 Sports Management in the run-up to the event, she resorted to a Norwegian ticket resale website in order to attend the opening ceremony earlier this month.

Adams also said that despite the special ticket scheme for friends and family of Olympic athletes, Pro10 told her they did not have tickets for any events in the Olympic sailing regatta, in which Lynch finished a respectable 32nd as he preps for a stronger challenge in Tokyo in four years' time.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, an allocation of unused official tickets for athletes' families and friends was seized from the Olympic Council of Ireland's (OCI) offices at the Olympic Village in the ongoing Brazilian police investigation into alleged ticket touting.

OCI president Pat Hickey was arrested in his hotel last week on a number of charges related to the illicit resale of Olympic tickets, while other OCI members have have their passports, phones and computers seized pending questioning.

Hickey is reportedly sharing a cell in Rio's Bangu Prison with THG Sports director Kevin Mallon, who was arrested on Friday 5 August in possession of hundreds of tickets for high-profile Olympic events.

Following on from their success at the Laser Radial Worlds in Dublin this July, where they finished seventh in their respective fleets, Royal Cork Yacht Club's Johnny Durcan and Nicole Hemeryck of the National Yacht Club will now represent Ireland at the 2016 World Sailing Youth Worlds in New Zealand in December.

This highly contested honour came down to the last race, with everything to play for, at the Laser Nationals at Galway Bay Sailing Club this weekend.

With only four races being sailed over four days all the competitors were very close on points leading to some very tense racing.

Minister Simon Coveney TD was one of a large Cork contingent in the 110-strong fleet taking part in the Laser Nats 2016 at Galway. He is seen here in the midst of the shore-bound crowd on the Friday, supported by a clear message for Class President Annalise Murphy.

Only one race was completed in light winds on the first day, and then the second and third of four days were cancelled due to high winds and poor race conditions.

Day four brought all the action with everything to play for in the last race, with conditions on the last day ranging from 12 to 18 knots.

Johnny Durcan took the overall National Championship title, winning two of the event’s four races, and Nicole Hemeryck is First Lady, in the Laser Radial fleet.

With only one light breeze raced sailed on the Thursday, everything in the Laser Nats 2016 at GBSC hinged on getting three races sailed on the Sunday, as Friday and Saturday were comprehensively blown out

This year’s National Championship was the home qualifier in the selection process for the ISAF Youth Worlds, with both sailor’s 7th overall result in the Laser Worlds easily securing their international qualification requirement. Since the Worlds, both sailors have continued with their training and competition, with Durcan taking second overall place at the recent UK Laser Nationals, while Hemeryck came 13th at the Under 21 Worlds in Kiel earlier this week.

In the 4.7 fleet the winner was Jamie Mc Mahon (HYC), upcoming younger brother of Ewan MacMahon (silver medallist at this year’s Laser Youth Worlds), who sailed a consistent series. First Lady and second overall was NYC’s Clare Gorman, a former national champion in the Optimist fleet.

Simon Coveney and Pierce Purcell, ISA Board member and former GBSC Commodore, at the Laser Nats discussing how Annalise Murphy’s Olympic Silver Medal will benefit the future of Irish sailing

Afloat.ie's idea to purchase Annalise Murphy's silver medal winning Laser dinghy supplied by the Olympic race organisers is gathering pace.

Writing in his Sailing on Saturday blog, W M Nixon said how about bringing Annalise’s Rio Laser home for permanent display in the National Maritime Museum? It could usefully show visitors one of the greatest sailing dinghy designs of all time, and it would commemorate a great Irish sailing success.

Then too, it would be very useful to have that little boat around the place when the National Yacht Club (founded 1870) celebrates its Sesquicentennial in 2020, when we can only hope that Irish sailing will be having as good a time at the Tokyo Olympics, seeking fair play for a minority sport from a small country, as they did in Rio.

Writing in the Irish Independent this morning, Jim Cusack takes up the idea as he unveils National Yacht Club plans to welcome home Annalise with an NYC flotilla.

The Laser Youth Sailing World Championships (U-21) in Kiel ended with a day of calm air in the Laser Standard (men) as well as the Laser Radial (women). An Irish team competing at the event are now on their way to tomorrow's Laser nationals in Galway Bay. Full results here.

There was not enough wind on the Kiel fjord to be able to sail more races that would be suitable for a world championship. So the results remained the same after ten sailed races in both groups: New World Champion (U-21) in the Laser Radial is Monika Mikkola from Finland (Helsinki, 20 years), in the Laser Standard it is Jonatan Vadnai from Hungary (Balatonfuered, 18). 201 participants (144 men and 57 women) from 39 nations and all continents were guests at the Kiel Yacht Club.

"We had a great variety of conditions", summed up Randolph Bertin, General Manager of the International Class Association ILCA. "It was a challenge for the sailors. So we have true champions." Bence Borocz, Head of the International Jury, was also satisfied with the event: "We had only a few protests. That is a good sign. The sailors know the rules", stated Borocz.

U-21 World Championship in the Laser Standard (men)

Final top five after 10 races (2 discards)
1. Jonatan Vadnei (Hungary), 16 points
2. Joel Rodriguez (Spain), 19
3. Nik Aaron Willim (NRV, Germany), 44
4. Santiago Sampaio (Portugal), 52
5. Nicolo' Villa (Italy), 53

U-21 World Championship in the Laser Radial (women)

Final top five after 10 races (2 discards)
1. Monika Mikkola (Finland), 16
2. Vasileia Karachaliou (Greece), 32
3. Maite Carlier (Belgium), 42
4. Valentina Balbi (Italy), 43
5. Maud Jayet (Switzerland), 43

Second, third and fourth place finishers were all Irish at last week's UK Laser Nationals in Weymouth. Royal Cork's Johnny Durcan is now UK Open Champion to follow on from his seventh placing at the Youth Radial Worlds in Dun Laoghaire last month. Fionn Conway and Ronan Walsh took third and fourth respectively. There were 65 entries, 12 races sailed and two discards.

In a busy period for Laser Youth sailing, Irish sailors have also been competing at the Radial Youth Euros in Tallinn, the U21 Worlds in Kiel. All of this before Thursday's Irish national championships at Galway Bay Sailing Club. The Irish Nationals, which run til Sunday, are a decider for World Sailing's Youth World Championships in New Zealand this Christmas.

Laser UK report: Hannah Snellgrove won the Laser Radial National Championships with a day to spare after an exciting fifth day of competition on the waters of Portland Harbour, and is now discarding only a second and a first from ten races. With a 15 to18–knot gradient wind from the WNW being slightly to the right of the breeze seen on previous days, the conditions were the most gusty and shifty but with plenty of opportunities for gains and losses to be made. In the first race of the day, Snellgrove started at the pin and played the shifts up the middle left of the first beat to lead at the top mark and plane away on the downwind from Ireland’s Johnny Durcan and Fionn Conway. Snellgrove kept a loose cover on Durcan up the second beat to take the win. The second race saw a large left-hand shift just prior to the start which Snellgrove capitalized on, tacking straight onto port at the pin end at the starting gun and crossing the fleet. Piecing together the pressure and shifts proved to be tricky, at times feeling like there were two conflicting winds coming down in pressure bands from both sides of the course. Snellgrove managed to play the shifts well and defend both sides of the course to lead at the windward mark by an unassailable margin. Australia’s Jeff Loosemore played the shifts to great effect up the second beat to get up amongst the front runners, but Conway pulled away on the final run to take second from Loosemore in third. Standings after day five: 1st Hannah Snellgrove, 8pts 2nd Johnny Durcan, 22pts 3rd Fionn Conway, 41pts

Overall results are here.

Ballyholme Yacht Club's Liam Glynn, the one time leader of the Laser Radial Youth European Championships in Estonia, finished fourth overall in the 69–boat gold fleet yesterday. The championships, sailed in the Bay of Tallinn, was raced over eight races with one discard and a variety of sailing conditions. No racing was possible yesterday due to lack of wind. 

In the gold fleet, Ireland's Conor Quinn was 65th and Peter Gilmore 69th, according to the official results HERE.

Earlier in the series, overall results for Ireland’s World Youth silver medallist Ewan McMahon indicated the Howth Yacht Club sailor was still competing in Tallinn when in fact he had been forced to withdraw due to illness. Ewan was hospitalised in Estonia last Thursday before returning home to Ireland on Saturday.

In the girls fleet, McMahon's club–mate Aoife Hopkins finished fourth on equal points with the bronze medallist, Carolina Albano. Official results HERE.

At the same time, another Irish Laser youth team is competing at the Laser U21 World Championships in Kiel, Germany. 

The U19 Boys Top 10 at the Laser Radial Youth European Championship 2016, Tallinn, Estonia. Ballyholme's Liam Glynn is pictured extreme right. Photo Berit Hainoja/KJK

Final Race report by organisers: 

Today was the last day of the 2016 Laser Radial Youth European Championships in Kalev Yacht Club for U17 and U19 age groups. Weather was tricky also on the last day. If, until so far, we had struggled with too much wind, then the situation today was the opposite and after a long wait no races were held, despite many attempts. European champions in youth U17 and U19 groups were based on the results announced yesterday evening. Both girls’ European champions are from Germany: Hannah Anderssohn in U19 and Laura Schewe in U17. Daniil Krutskikh from Russia is the new European champion both in boys’ U19 and U17 groups.

Laura Schewe from Germany, who was leading the U17 group from the very first day, was very pleased with her performance and the whole regatta. „I had to concentrate very hard not to let competitors pass me. I was sixth overall and my peers were also racing very well. Especially Valeriya Lomatchenko from Russia who finished eighth in overall. The race committee did a very good job and we could enjoy some fair and honest sailing. Tallinn is a beautiful city and we loved our time here,” commented Laura after the prize-giving ceremony. Girls’ silver in U17 belongs to Valeriya Lomatcenko and bronze went to Wiktoria Go Biowska from Poland.

U19 European champion Hannah Anderssohn, who finished first four times, third three times and sixth once, was also overjoyed: „Conditions were very complicated but all races were very fair as the race committee did a great job. I was in the lead yesterday and felt very optimistic about today as I had been sailing a stable series and I did not care about the second discard. I would like to thank my competitors for a great regatta – it was really nice here and I’m very pleased about winning.” Girls’ U19 silver went to Louise Cervera from France who was six points behind the winner. Carolina Albano from Italy, who had been leading the regatta for most of the time, lost her position on the last day of races due to an abandoned race because of a broken mast. She finished third, ten points behind the winner.

The only Estonian girl Maris Seersant from Tallinn Yacht Club finished 23rd being very content with her sailing: „I have not been sailing Laser Radial very long yet and therefore I’m quite happy about my even series and position in the middle of the fleet. As we had really strong winds most of the time, everyone dreamed of quieter days which never came. However, I’m very glad I could race such among such strong competition at a home regatta.”

The first three among U19 boys all finished within three points, whereas the second and third have an equal score. Daniil Krutskikh from Russia, who became Laser Radial U17 world champion a couple of weeks ago in Ireland, was quite unreachable for his competitors in Tallinn also. He finished first four times out of eight races, which meant that the rest, 9th, 22nd and 29th result, did not stop him from winning the title both in U19 and U17 groups. „The entire week we had to race in strong winds and big waves where is hard to handle the boat, but I have practiced these conditions a lot in Italy under my dad who is my coach – this gave me good chances here too. The competition in Ireland at the Worlds was stronger, unfortunately my main competitors from Spain and the Netherlands did not come to Tallinn – this is why I had more chances to take the title in U19 too. I really enjoyed the regatta here and I’m overjoyed about the results” commented the new European champion happily. Daniel Whiteley from England was three points behind him and finished second in U19.

Bronze went to Paolo Giargia from Italy who had the same amount of points. The only Estonian in the gold fleet was Tavo Annus who finished 41st overall.

The silver on U17 went to Milo Gill-Taylor from England and Wojciech Klimaszewski from Poland earned bronze.

The closing and prize-giving ceremony was held in Kalev Yacht Club marina. The best were greeted and awarded by PRO Viljar Sepp, a former Olympic medalist in 470 class Tõnu Tõniste, Kalev Yacht Club representatives and the Vice President of the Estonian Olympic Committee. Macrino Macri, Vice President of EurILCA, expressed his sincere gratitude to the organisers for an amazing regatta and superb teamwork. „The passion and soul you put into organising this event is enviable. Despite tricky weather we managed eight wonderful races and, in the name of EurILCA, I would like to thank Kalev Yacht Club for this great regatta!“

Regatta director Indrek Ilves commented after the regatta that successful major event is the best advertisement for both the Kalev Yacht Club and Estonia in general. “In addition to the nearly 200 thousand euros that the 350 guests of the regatta leave here, it is also an amazing opportunity for the young sailors to experience sailing in such a big and strong fleet. Every successful regatta makes it easier to get more major events to Estonia.” 

The Laser Under–21 World Championships is being held in Kiel, Germany this week. The event is a follow–on regatta to the KBC Laser Youth Worlds recently held at the Royal St. George Yacht Club, at which Irish sailors performed so well, including a Silver medal for Ewan McMahon of Howth Yacht Club.

The National Yacht Club’s Nicole Hemeryck, one of the top performers in the Worlds – seventh overall and first Irish girl – is presently lying 13th, while Lough Derg Yacht Club's Aishling Keller who represented Ireland successfully in the 2015 ISAF Worlds (10th overall) is presently 20th. Other promising upcoming Irish sailors Jenny Fekkes and Sally Bell are lying 30th and 32nd respectively in the fleet of 57 of the top sailors from 28–nations.

Some of the Irish Laser youth sailors in Kiel Germany this week. Photo: Facebook

The increased age range of the Under–21 Worlds presents a new challenge to Irish youth sailors but they are punching above their weight in Kiel.

In the standard class, former ISAF silver medalist Seafra Guilfoyle returns to form after a back injury saw him drop out of the Olympic Laser trial earlier this year.

The sailors return to Dublin on Wednesday, with an overnight stop before they commence competition in the Irish Laser Nationals at Galway Bay Sailing Club this Thursday. 

Meanwhile, the Laser Radial Youth Europeans have conclude in Estonia. Details are here. 

An extremely well–sailed qualifying series by Annalise Murphy will conclude this evening ahead of Monday's Medal Race climax.

The Laser Radials are scheduled for one race on the Pão de Açucar (Sugarloaf Mountain) course and one on Niterói, so it will take all–round skills to make the best of this critical day.

Today's courses will again have strong tides and high mountains disrupting the winds so it is a very strategic and tactical venue. Annalise has spent over 100 days on site learning the different courses that she can possibly race on. Her focus there has been on the strategically best way to sail the race track and the fastest technique to sail the boat given the sea states on the different race courses, so she is well prepared for the notoriously difficult venue.

Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) hasn't revealed any weaknesses yet, the Dane putting in a very consistent series to hold a ten-point lead. But she is currently discarding a disqualification from race three so she can't afford any slip-ups. Marit Bouwmeester (NED) sits four points in front of Annalise with Tuula Tenkanen (FIN) not far behind.

Meanwhile, Finn Lynch concludes his first Olympics today in the mens Laser class and Ireland's two skiff teams Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern and Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey in the 49erfx have their second day, both currently in fifth place overall.

Ballyholme Yacht Club's Liam Glynn leads the Laser Radial Youth European Championship 2016 in Tallinn, Estonia this morning. The former Topper World Champion has a five point margin from Germany's Nico Steenbuck on 23 points. The event concludes tomorrow with four races left to sail but already this morning organisers have made the decision to postpone the start ashore for three hours. 

In the girls division after six races sailed, Howth Yacht Club's Aoife Hopkins is third and just just one point off the leader, Italian Carolina Albano.

Full results are here

Organisers report from Tallin:

We have managed to wrap up the fourth day of 2016 Laser Radial Youth European Championships in Kalev Yacht Club. Every day the competition gets tougher. Emotions were so heated in the boys’ gold fleet that after several false starts black flag had to be used and as many as eleven sailors got a starting penalty in the first race. However, by the end of the day we have a new leader for boys – Liam Glynn from Ireland. Carolina Albano from Italy still leads the girls but has an equal number of points with Hannah Anderssohn from Germany.

Also today we could not do without delays. The gold fleet start was delayed by general false starts. The third attempt with a black flag worked but the race had to be cancelled anyway due to wind changes. A long wait followed – for the wind to settle so that the course could be adjusted. The new start was given at 13:00. The first attempt failed due to a false start again but from then on all fleets concluded their two races.

Boys’ races brought along many changes in the overall results. Liam Glynn (4-9 today) is now leading with 18 points. Nico Steenbuck, who is three points behind him, is the most impressive riser with his second and third places today. Daniil Krutskikh, who had been leading the competition until now, nailed it in the first race but finished 22nd in the second race. Now he is third with three points behind Nico. Daniel Whiteley lost his position due to the black flag punishment (70-1), although he won the second race. At the moment he is fourth, losing to Daniil by one point. Paolo Giargia from Italy (15-8) is fifth and Milo Gill-Taylor from England (18-4) is sixth. Estonian guy in the gold fleet, Tavo Annus, was 39th and 54th today and is holding on to the 48th position.

In the boys’ U-17 group Daniil Krutskikh is still in the lead, Milo Gill-Taylor is second and Orestis Germano from Cypros is third (22 overall).

The girls’ leader is still Carolina Albano from Italy (2-3 today) but she has an equal number of points with Hannah Anderssohn from Germany (3-1). Aoife Hopkins from Ireland is third (1-2). Louise Cervera from France (4-4) is fourth, losing to Aoife by three points. Maris Seersant from Tallinna Yacht Club was 32nd and 28th today and is now 24th overall.

Aoife Hopkins from Howth Yacht Club is lying third at the  Laser Radial Youth European Championships Photo: Alberto Sanchez

In the U-17 group Laura Schewe from Germany is first (6. overall), Valeriya Lomatchenko from Russia second (9. overall) and Wiktoria Go Biowska third (10. overall).