Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

More recently, she has been the Irish flag bearer in women's sailing abroad, and narrowly missed becoming the first woman to win the Helmsmans championship in 1992, finishing second. Strictly speaking, 1996 is not her first 470 attempt she was beaten for selection, in acrimonious circumstances, for the 1988 games in Seoul. Lyttle follows in the footsteps of big brother Mark, and though he was her coach when she sailed the Europe dinghy at the Barcelona Olympics to finish 12th, this year they will be making it more of a family affair both will be sailing. Mark is the Laser class representative, and both are understandably proud to be adding this family fact to Irish Olympic history. For Savannah, Lyttle has teamed up with Louise Ann Cole of Raheny. And although Lyttle's sailing CV is far more impressive, Cole's training under Trevor Millar's Irish Sailing Development team has given her a quiet and disciplined rise to the top of women's sailing. She has experience at Olympic level, having sailed 1470s in 1992. She has shown the grit and determination against all odds, and for this received, along with Lyttle, this year's Department of Education outstanding sports persons grant. In March, Cole slipped from the trapeze and broke a rib it was a painful episode and another obstacle on the road to Atlanta. At last year's pre-Olympic regatta their campaign opened with a 14th overall, a result almost equalling her past record in the Europe. They reached the qualification standard last Christmas at Spain's Palamos regatta, finishing fifth overall and brushing aside some of the top teams in the world. They were upsetting the pecking order and, in determined style, they won the last race. It was a statement of things to come. Four months later, at the European Olympic qualification regatta, their heavy weather boat speed saw them win the final two races in breath taking fashion. Earlier this month, the pair, who have been made honorary members of Dun Laoghaire's Royal Irish Yacht Club, had their finest hour when they sailed out to race five in one of the world's toughest events, the Spa regatta in Holland, displaying the leaders' star on their hull and sail. Their coach, Bill O'Hara, recalls. "They had counted a 2, 3, 8 and 8 to lead the 29 boat field, drawn from 22 nations. It was a proud moment to be Irish." O'Hara, a past Olympic sailor, says of all the 1996 racing team he believes Lyttle and Cole have the most potent speed. He never mentioned medals, but there is a slant to his remarks that suggests these young woman are the boost Irish Olympic sailing is looking for. At Spa they did away with the 1996 Olympic gold medalists, Therese Zabella and Begonya Via Dufresne of Spain. They also beat the current world champions, and though they lost their overall lead later and fell to ninth in flukey conditions later in the series, it was still an exceptional result that placed them ahead of some of the world's top sailors. TO FINISH so high this close to the Olympics a significant cost to their campaign. If all this appears to good to be true, you're right, it is even they can't believe it. The real question now is, where will the magic end? By their own admission they realise they still must make another leap in boat speed to gain consistent placing strict goal setting and boat/rig set up is now part of their training that is paying off under O'Hara. They have changed main sails after identifying that a different aerodynamic shape would improve light air speed, and they are now confident that this has substantially improved without affecting their very fast heavy air setup. Despite qualification, cash flop is still a serious problem for the women, who have given up work and college to concentrate on their full time campaign. Yesterday their dinghy left Rotterdam in a container ship bound for Savannah, and those transport costs alone ran to £2,000. Luckily, they have received substantial funding through the Atlanta challenge Olympic fund, and also got a £10,000 OCI grant in December. "At the games, we're aiming for a top 10 result. We're going up the learning curve very quickly now. Anything can happen," remarks Lyttle in an optimistic way. Such a result is within their grasp, as they showed at Spa. Reading between the lines of Lyttle's remark, the fact, that any one of the top 10 boats at the Olympic regatta are in with a shout of a medal is now a tantalising prospect. There are many in the Irish sailing camp hoping that lady luck will keep on shining.