#lasersailing – The three Irish Laser fleets woke up on a beautiful sunny day at Ballyholme Yacht Club knowing that the wind was to fill in over the afternoon but no-one was sure by how much writes Mark Mackey. There is a little tension among the 126 competitors for the first time in a few years but if anyone was ignoring the pressure, it was the incumbent Olympian sailors from London 2012 James Espey (Ballyhome YC) and Annalise Murphy (National YC, Dun Laoghaire) who have won five Nationals between them.

This summer has new blood on the horizon - Finn Lynch winning the Laser Under 19 Youth World Championship last week in France, while Seafra Guilfoyle won the silver medal at the ISAF Radial Youth Games earlier in the summer.

Race 1 started with a southerly breeze and relatively flat seas with 16 knots. In the standard fleet James Espey got off to a slow start rounding the first mark 7th but a left shift on the second beat took him up to first from where he distanced himself from the chasing pack. ISA Squad member Fionn Lyden was second with Finn Lynch in 3rd. In the Radials Ballyholme's Liam Glynn led around the course till the second round until he sailed the wrong course and was passed by the top 4. Annalise also got off to a poor first beat in 20th place but she managed to catch up and pass Cork's Cian Byrne at the final mark.

The conditions worsened considerably for Race 2 gusting up to 25 knots at the finish. Annalise has always excelled in heavier airs and showed the rest of the Radial class the way home from the first mark. Finn Lynch led the Standards for 90% of his race but James Espey passed him up the final beat as the breeze grew.

The Youth 4.7 fleet managed the conditions commendably with Johnny Durcan from Royal Cork YC winning Race 2 and was second to Lough Derg's Scott Levie in Race 1. Asked for a comment afterwards Johnny offered that it was "very windy" and was a day to "keep your eyes out of the boat"

Race Officer Robin Gray decided to postpone the final race until tomorrow with the wind settling over 24 knots. Unfortunately, the morning looks like similar conditions with the breeze expected to start to die in the afternoon.

Overall after Day 1:

Standards
James Espey, Ballyholme YC/RUYC 1,1
Finn Lynch National YC 3,2
Colin Leonard BYC 4,3
Fionn Lyden Schull SC 2, 6

Radials
Annalise Murphy, NYC 1,1
Seafra Guilfoyle Royal Cork YC 3,2
Cian Byrne RCYC 2,6
Tim Brow BYC 5,3

4.7
1. Johnny Durcan RCYC 2,1
2. Niamh Doran Courtown SC 3,3
3. Scott Levie Lough Derg YC
4. Rory Fekkes BYC

 

#laser – Tomorrow sees the start of the 2014 Zhik sponsored Irish Laser National Championships at Ballyholme Yacht Club (BYC) on Belfast Lough writes BYC's Mark Mackey.

The top Northern Ireland dinghy club is now expecting 130 boats with competition across all three fleets, especially at the top of the Laser Standard and Laser Radial fleets.

In the Standards, Olympian and multiple Irish National Laser Champion James Espey will fend off Finn Lynch who was crowned Under 19 World Champion last week with fellow squad sailors Fionn Lyden and Darragh O'Sullivan hot on their heels.

In the Radials, Olympian Annalise Murphy will have ISAF World Youth Silver medallist Seafra Guilfoyle to contend with as well as a host of Ballyholme YC's best Radials including Ryan Glynn (4th in UK Nationals), his brother Liam who was last year's Topper World Champion and Tim Brow, son of Event Organiser Paddy Brow and 7th in the UK Nationals.

Also look out for Ballyholme's Sarah Eames who has spent the summer competing across Europe at the ISAF Worlds, European Youth and World Under 19 Championships.

A mixture of conditions is forecast over the next 4 days with plenty of wind tomorrow afternoon and Friday. Expect to see Annalise excel in the breeze as always against the best of the boys, and catch most of those in the Standard fleet who start five minutes before her.

#ISAF – Annalise Murphy is down two places to 18th in the latest ISAF World Sailing Rankings published on July 28th. The Dubliner is in Rio for the first sailing test event of the Rio Olympics this weekend. This month she notched up another international win, this time in the Moth class when she became Womens world champion at the Hayling Island based event. London 2012 team–mates Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern have dropped outside the top ten in the 49er world ranking and now lie 11th. Fellow Belfast sailor James Espey has moved up from 62 to 58 in the Laser class. 

49erFX
1. Martine Soffiatti Grael / Kahena Kunze, BRA
2. Ida Marie Baad Nielsenn / Marie Thusgaard Olsen, DEN
3. Sarah Steyaert / Julie Bossard, FRA

49er
1. Jonas Warner / Peter Lang, DEN
2. John Pink / Simon Wheeler / Stuart Bithell, GBR
3. Julien D'ortoli / Noe Delpech, FRA

Men's 470
1. Mathew Belcher / William Ryann, AUS
2. Pangiotis Mantis / Pavlos Kagialis, GRE
3. Sime Fantela / Igor Marenic, CRO

Women's 470
1. Camille Lecointre / Mathide Geron / Helene Defrance, FRA
2. Jo Aleh / Polly Powrie, NZL
3. TIna Mrak / Veronika Macarol, SLO

Men's RS:X
1. Ricardo Santos, BRA
2. Mattia Camboni, ITA
3. Marcantonio Baglione, ITA

Women's RS:X
1. Flavia Tartaglini, ITA
2. Bryony Shaw, GBR
3. Laura Linares, ITA

Laser
1. Tonci Stipanovic, CRO
2. Nick Thompson, GBR
3. Pavlos Kontides, CYP

Laser Radial
1. Marie Bouwmeester, NED
2. Evi Van Acker, BEL
3. Tatiana Drozdovskaya, BLR

Finn
1. Michele Polette, ITA
2. Bjorn Allansson, SWE
3. Thomas Le Breton, FRA

Nacra 17
1. Vittorio Bissaro / SIlvia Sicouri, ITA
2. Ben Saxton / Hannah Diamond, GBR
3. Thomas Zajac / Tanja Chiara Frank, AUT

Full rankings here

#olympicsailing – There appears to be little chance of a successful Irish defence of the women's Laser European radial title in Croatia this week. Annalise Murphy's scoresheet after five races places her in 60th overall from 92 competitors, relegating her to silver fleet competition for the rest of the event. 

Winds have been light and shifty, not the conditions favoured by Ireland's breeze queen who shot to European success on home waters in near gale conditions last September. 

A better breeze arrived for the third day of the Laser Europeans in Split yesterday. Still shifty, but the strength was better, 10 to 14 knots. Two races for all fleets, without waiting, a really great day, last day of the qualifiers. A summer storm forced the race committee to call it a day after two races, they had to send the fleet home.

Annalise ends the qualifiers with 35,32,19, 26 and 20 and can only look on at the consistency of  top performers Germany's Svenga Weger (1,4,2,1,4) and Holland's Marit Boumeester (2,2,2,3,2) first and second respectively.

Ireland's Erica Ruigrok lies near Murphy in 63rd. 

In the men's class Robert Scheidt (BRA) sits on the top of the leaderboard. Only one point seperates Scheidt and Tonci Stipanović (CRO) in the second place, who is the leader for the European title. Ireland's James Espey, the London 2012 representative, is 80th in a fleet of 132.

#Best of Irish squad James Espey took a further dip in the gold fleet rankings today at the ISAF World Cup in Palma after a black flag penalty ruled him out of race nine of the Laser class. The Belfast man bounced back in race ten with a ninth, his fourth top ten result of the regatta, but scored a 55 in the last race today to end up 41st overall, a drop from his 24th overall on Wednesday but crucially still in the top 20 nations in the massive 144–boat fleet.

"Gold fleet racing didn't go the way I had hoped, I had some big points added to my over results. The good news is I did finish 20th Nation, (41th over all) even with a lot of added on points" Espey said on Facebook.

In order to qualify Ireland at the ISAF Santander worlds this September, Espey must finish in the  23 nations, so Palma is a step in the right direction.

A string of silver fleet wins (five in total) and a 14th for Annalise Murphy in the Laser Radial gave her 46th overall from 96 starters. Her London 2012 team mates Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern in the 49er skiff were 35th overall from 79 ending with a 2, 2 and 3 in their silver fleet.

49erfx debutantes Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey counted two 'U flag penalties' (start line infringements) in the closing stages but bounced back to end the regatta with two fifths in the silver fleet to be 37th out of 50.

The overall performance was described by team management as 'rusty' in the Irish Times Sailing Column on Friday.

Ross Hamilton in the Finn dinghy did not compete in the final race and ended 73  from 92. 

Full results here.

The Cup got down to the business end of proceedings as the final series concludes with tomorrow's Medal Races to decide the honours. Helena Lucas (GBR) took the 2.4mR gold as the Paralympic event concluded racing whilst Nacra 17, Laser Radial and Women's RS:X gold medals were sealed with a day to spare.

Robert Scheidt (BRA) dropped dramatically from first to ninth in the Laser as he felt the full effect of a starting penalty. Whilst he discards the BFD from Race 9 he counts a 24th in Race 8 and a 39th from Race 10.

With Scheidt taking a sudden fall Tonci Stipanovic (CRO) has taken the lead as he bids to record his third ISAF Sailing World Cup medal of the 2013-2014 series.

Stipanovic won gold at ISAF Sailing World Cup Qingdao and Miami and has a one point lead over Jean Baptiste Bernaz (FRA). Tom Burton (AUS) is third on 73 points.

Cyprus' Pavlos Kontides pulled to within medal contention after winning all of the day's races. The Cypriot comfortably won the first race of the day but was pushed in the following two. He finished two seconds ahead of Bruno Fontes (BRA) in the second of the day and in the final race of the day he pipped Stipanovic by a second.

Kontides moves up to fifth on 84 points and gives himself a fighting chance of a podium finish. Nicholas Heiner (NED) is fourth on 77 points.

2.4mR

Helena Lucas (GBR) took gold in the 2.4mR despite losing out to compatriot Megan Pascoe (GBR) in all three races on the final day of Paralympic event sailing as Pascoe was made to settle for silver.

Lucas took an 11th and two thirds as she won by three points, "The first race was a complete nightmare. We were really close to the shore and the wind died – there were some crazy shifts going on and I was just relieved when that race was over," confessed the 38-year-old.

"It was one of those painful races where whatever I did was wrong.

"It's been one of those days where it felt like everything was stacked against you a little bit, but it was a solid third in the other two races.

"I knew I just needed to kind of keep in solid and finish inside the top three in both of those races and it would all be fine, but it was definitely a tricky day."

Norway's Bjornar Erikstad took the day and won all three of the 2.4mR races finishing ahead of Pascoe who picked up three second places. Erikstad's final day performance ensured a bronze for the Norwegian.

Nacra 17

2013 World Champions Billy Besson and Marie Riou (FRA) won gold in the Nacra 17 with a day to spare.

Besson and Riou finished out of the top eight spots for the first time on the penultimate day of racing with a 31st in Race 10. They discarded the result and came back stronger in Race 11 to take the bullet. A seventh in the 12th race of the series sealed the deal ahead of the Medal Race.

ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami gold medallists Vittorio Bissaro and Silvia Sicouri (ITA) came out flying to post a 2-2-3 and move into second overall. Thomas Zajac and Tanja Frank (AUT) moved up into third as overnight podium holders Darren Bundock and Nina Curtis (AUS) and Franck Cammas and Sophie de Turckheim (FRA) slipped out of the medal spots.

Laser Radial

Marit Bouwmeester's (NED) consistent week of racing paid off as she sealed the deal in the Laser Radial. Bouwmeester only finished out of the top three twice all week and only two seventh place finishes, one of which she discards, scores an excellent score card.

The Dutch sailor tops the leader board on 22 points followed by Finland's Tuula Tenkanen on 48 points and Evi Van Acker (BEL) on 62 points.

Three races took place on the fifth day of racing with the race victories going to Van Acker, Maria Erdi (HUN) and Marie Barrue (FRA).

Women's RS:X

Charline Picon (FRA) showed that consistency pays dividends within the Women's RS:X fleet and holds an unassailable 42 point lead to take gold with a day to spare.

The French racer finished in the top nine in all of the 12 Women's RS:X races building up to the Medal Race and will take to the race course on the final day without any pressure.

It's a different case behind the French girl with seven points splitting second to fifth. Lilian De Geus (NED), Blanca Manchon (ESP), Bryony Shaw (GBR) and Flavia Tartaglini (ITA) all have a fighting chance of taking a podium spot which will make for an intriguing Medal Race.

49er

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (NZL) extended their lead over Denmark's Jonas Warrer and Peter Lang to 21 points after three 49er races on the penultimate day. Dylan Fletcher and Alain Sign (GBR) leap frogged Niko Delle-Karth and Nikolaus Resch (AUT) into third.

"It was a complete range of conditions and we're happy to come away with two firsts and a tenth," said Tuke. "It was a tricky day; there was a lot of left over waves from the storm yesterday. The wind started off quite strong but it was offset of the waves and then it dropped and went left. We had to keep our head out of the boat and try to understand what was going on with the clouds and why it was shifting left.

"We did that quite nicely in the first race and the last race but mucked up in the middle race."

With 30 points on the table on the final day Tuke knows that despite their handsome lead the job is not done, "Three more races tomorrow so there's a lot left to play for. I think the Danish boys and another couple will still be in the hunt. It will be a good day tomorrow. The Medal Races are great fun and we're happy to be a part of it."

Warrer and Lang came into Mallorca with good form and are 14 points clear of third. On the final day they will push the Kiwis for top honours. Warrer said, "We won in Miami and won the North Americans so we came here to be in the top and we feel like we can beat the best. We're happy with where we are and we're pushing as hard as we can to catch the New Zealand guys."

Ahead of racing Austria's Delle Karth recognised the importance of the fifth day of racing. Before racing commenced Delle-Karth said, "I think today is going to be a crucial day and challenging conditions. We want to attack the front, be safe and make the same as the last few days."

Unfortunately for the Austrians they were 18th, eighth and 18th and fell to fourth overall as Fletcher and Sign took the initiative.

Unsurprisingly the Brits were happy to move into the podium positions, "All week we've been going in with the thought of being able to get close to medalling on the last day and now we can actually achieve that," said Sign, "Everything we've done this week has been leading into that and I think tomorrow will be when the real game starts to happen, it should be fun."

Three 49er single point races will bring the skiff action to a close on 5 April 2014.

49erFX

Despite holding onto their lead Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze (BRA) admitted to finding the going tough in three 49erFX races, "Everybody has had bad days, we had ours today," said Kunze. "Today was a little bit more difficult. The direction of the wind was changing all the time but I'm happy because we've had a really nice week of racing. We've done what we wanted to do and reach our goals."

The Brazilians recorded a seventh, a discarded 20th and a final race bullet to go into three final 49erFX races with a four point lead over Ida Marie Baad Nielsen and Marie Thusgaard Olsen (DEN). On the final day Kunze added, "We'll sail our best and see what happens."

Nielsen and Olsen put themselves to within touching distance of the Brazilians after three bullets the day prior but were unable to capitalise and take the initiative. They discard a 19th in the opening race of the day and count a 12th and a third. Olsen said, "The racing so far has been really good, we are second overall at the moment and we are happy with that."

Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth (GBR) are third overall on 77 points.

Men's 470

Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic (CRO) took hold of the Men's 470 after displaying superb consistency on the penultimate day.

The Croatians started the day brightly and in the first race they trailed behind in eighth at the first mark. They fought hard to work their way up the pack and on the final run took the lead out of Giulio Desiderato and Andrea Trani's (ITA) hands to take the bullet by five seconds.

A fourth and an eighth followed as they won the day to head into the Medal Race with a seven point lead over Lucas Calabrese and Juan de la Fuente (ARG). After racing Fantela said, "We will race our own race, try to read the conditions and tune the boat as best as possible to have the best possible speed.

"We have confidence in the Medal Race and we have done a lot of Medal Races since we started. We will see the point's difference between the rest of the fleet and then we will work out our tactics."

Calabrese and Juan de la Fuente have some work to do in the Men's 470 and will venture into the Medal Race fully charged, "We will make a plan and hopefully we can get a medal and do as good as we can," said Calabrese.

"We have to look at them [Croatians] but try to do our own race because they are a little far away from us. We'll basically try to have the best race we can and look at what they are doing so we can put some boats in between."

Women's 470

France's Camille Lecointre and Hélène Defrance have a bit of daylight in between themselves and New Zealand's Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie ahead of the Medal Race.

Both crews are guaranteed medals on the final day but the advantage going into the deciding race belongs to the French pair who are seven points clear.

The French and Kiwi teams had strong days on the water whilst the chasing fleet were unable to match their consistency. Lecointre and Defrance recorded an 8-2-1 scoreline whilst Aleh and Powrie had a slightly better day picking up a 3-1-6.

After racing Powrie said, "We had three races today to catch up from yesterday so we had a pretty good day, single figures so we're happy with that. Medal Races are always a bit of fun so we'll see how we get on."

Aleh added, "It was a pretty tricky day, we had wind, no wind, lots of wind, nothing, big waves and it got at bit crazy at times but it was good fun. We had two good races but the last one we stuffed up a little bit but not too bad, three decent races."

Both crews will battle for gold on the final day of racing.

Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark (GBR) slipped into third after an up and down day. They brought themselves into contention for gold by taking the first bullet of the day but a 16th and a 19th in the ensuing races meant they fell off the tail of the leaders. Nonetheless they are on track for bronze and are four points clear of Fernanda Oliveira and Ana Luiza Barbachan (BRA).

Men's RS:X

There's very little separating the top five in the Men's RS:X following two races on the fifth day of racing.

France's Pierre le Coq took the lead back from Byron Kokkalanis (GRE) as the Greek racers day didn't go entirely to plan. The ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami victor finished out of the top five for the first time in the 11 race series. Kokkalanis remained consistent in the opening race and posted a fourth but a 26th and a 24th followed resulting in him dropping to fifth overall.

Le Coq on the other hand battled hard for a fifth, a third and a discarded 29th. He leads on 43 points. Toni Wilhelm (GER) is second on 46 points and Julien Bontemps (FRA) is in third on 47 points.

Le Coq, Bontemps and Louis Giard (FRA), in fourth on 50 points, are fighting it out for one of two spots for the Aquece Rio - International Sailing Regatta 2014, a Rio 2016 test event and it's all to play for on the final day.

Finn racers faced a frustrating day on the water and were left waiting around for consistent breeze. Unfortunately they were unable to get racing away.

Racing concludes on Saturday 5 April with eight double point Medal Races whilst the 49er and 49erFX will sail three single points' races.

Course A

11:20 – 49er

12:20 – 49erFX

Course B

11:10 – 470 Women

11:50 – 470 Men

12:30 – Finn

13:10 – Nacra 17

Course C

11:00 – Laser Radial

11:40 – Laser

12:20 – RS:X Women

13:00 – RS:X Men

#TrofeoSofia – The harsh reality of the mid week split hit home this morning as the Trofeo Princesa Sophia fleet was separated into gold and silver fleets for the next stage of the regatta, the finals series. Only Ireland's James Espey still has a chance of medal race participation come Saturday, for everyone else on the Irish Olympic Sailing Team it is time to salvage some honour in Palma's silver fleets.

But for both of Ireland's Laser sailors today's third day of racing never happened with the 2.4mR, Laser, Laser Radial and RS:X's unable to race due to light winds on their course. This left Ireland's Espey and Annalise Murphy ashore contemplating a truncated series tomorrow.

But London 2012 team–mates Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern did get to race  – and in breeze – the Belfast duo taking a second in the only race of the day for the 49er silver fleet to lie 44th from 79. At the top of this highly competitive skiff fleet, 2013 49er World Champions Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (NZL) have moved into the lead.

In the 49erfx class, Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey, also sailing in silver, lie 44th. 

Dublin Bay sailor Ross Hamilton is 65th overall in the Finn class. 

Full results here

 

#TrofeoSofia – James Espey is the only member of the Irish Olympic Sailing Team to qualify for this morning's gold fleet racing at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Trofeo Princesa Sofía in Palma. The Belfast dinghy sailor scored seventh in yesterday afternoon's race five to give him three top ten results to bring him up to 24th overall in his massive 144–boat fleet.

The results scored 10, 13, 8, 27 and 7 are all the more satisfying for the Royal Ulster sailor given they were produced in difficult light winds, conditions that have frustrated his Irish London 2012 team–mates and have consigned them to silver fleet participation for the rest of the regatta.

The shifty winds kept the sailors busy all day with bands of wind up to 14–knots then down to 6–knots coming down the course areas of the fourth ISAF World Cup event.

Fleets are now split into gold and silver for the final three days before the medal race on Saturday.

After four races Annalise Murphy counts 32, 46, 48 and a 31 to be placed 86 from 96. It's a big disappointment for the Irish Laser European champion especially given her light wind preparations at the Rio Olympic venue itself last season plus there are forecasted strong winds expected later this week, sailing conditions which the Dublin 'Breeze Queen' relishes.

One race in the split 96-boat Laser Radial fleet sees Murphy's long time rivals Marit Bouwmeester (NED) head into gold fleet racing two points clear of Great Britain's Chloe Martin.

Bouwmeester finished second in the yellow fleet whilst Martin took a third in the blue fleet as the top two spots remain unchanged.

"It was a nice day even though it was quite a long day on the water because we got a good race in and now we can do gold fleet racing," said Bouwmeester. "There are so many girls here and the racing is really good. It should be a fun three days in the gold fleet which will be nice."

Despite setting the early pace Bouwmeester isn't getting carried away, "I'm just trying to sail as best as I can, learn as much as I can and then if I win I would like that but if not then there has to be more work done."

The days race wins went to Daphne van der Vaart (NED) in the blue fleet and Anne Marie Rindom (DEN) in the yellow fleet.

Racing got off to a late start in the afternoon with a light morning breeze ensuring Palma Bay resembled a shiny pane of glass. When the first race got underway after 14:00 local time a moderate 5 knot breeze that picked up to 10 knots saw the light wind specialists continue their strong early form. 

On a separate course, with scores of 19, 31, 23, 22, 25, and 19, Belfast lough 49er duo Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern lie 51st from 79. 

Last night 49erfx Irish newcomers, Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey, who are making their Rio campaign debut in Palma reflected on their overall position of 44th from 50 on twitter: 

"Tough day for us at the office. A wee bit soul destroying when the things you can't control attack and you're left to fight back... Today was not our day. We have come away from it with the positives which were good speed and starts again. We will be competing in silver fleet for the rest of the regatta which will be an excellent opportunity to practice what we need to and take the most we can from the rest of the week. We got this ... Just need to give it time and have patience!

Unfortunately our result on the score board doesn't show how much our sailing has improved and how far we have come this winter but we are happy and feel like we are making gains and couldn't be prouder!"

The girl's Royal Irish club–mate Ross Hamilton is 72 from 92 in the Finn dinghy.

How to handle the super tricky conditions experienced so far in Palma are captured in this youtube account by British Finn sailors Andrew Mills and Giles Scott.

Racing begins this morning at 11am with an easterly wind of 5 knots shifting to a southerly position and increasing to 14 knots this afternoon and possibly more.

Full results here

#TrofeoSofia_en – Looking forward to another consistent showing this today, Ireland's James Espey lies 30th after three rounds at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Trofeo Princesa Sofía in Palma and leads Irish hopes at the massive Spanish regatta. The Belfast sailor counted a 10, 13, 8 leaving him 30th overall in the mens 144–boat Laser fleet.

The rest of the Irish Olympic Sailing Team will be seeking a better performance as they hit the water this morning about now with winds forecast to be slightly stronger than yesterday's 6-8 knots. First day Irish report here and vid highlights above.

Originally scheduled for 11am the fleets have been held ashore with the Finn dinghy (including Ireland's Ross Hamilton) released first. Two more races are scheduled in each of the 11 competing classes.

Espey has been in Palma for over a week and has experienced a host of different conditions which he appears to have mastered by virtue of yesterday's performance and his recent twitter postings:

This wind needs to clam down! The ferry to France could be jumping!

— James Espey (@James_EspeyIRL) March 21, 2014

#TrofeoSofia_en – In a light air day when risks ran high Annalise Murphy's arch rival Marit Bouwmeester (NED) picked up two race wins and leads the Laser Radial fleet. The Dubliner had to be content with a 32, 46 and 48 to place 88th out of 96 in what has been a disappointing opening day of racing for Ireland at the 2013-2014 ISAF Sailing World Cup regatta in Mallorca, Spain. 

Racing in the yellow fleet the Dutch sailor took two close victories over Chloe Martin (GBR) in Race 1 and Tina Mihelic (CRO) in Race 2. Bouwmeester finished second in the third race of the day to solidify her leading position. Martin got the better of Bouwmeester in the final race and sits second.

In the blue fleet, in which Annalise is drawn, race victories went to ISAF Sailing World Cup Qingdao gold medallist Dongshuang Zhang (CHN), China's Min Gu and Sweden's Josefin Olsson. The Swedish sailor sits on three points tied with Martin and Zhang.

But there are still seven races left to sail so the massive regatta that has over 1130 sailors competing in 11 classes is far from over with double races scheduled until Friday. Tomorrow is another qualification day for prized gold fleet places.

It appears conservative racing was order of the day but so far the light winds have not suited any of the seven competing Irish crews.

Best of the Irish was James Espey in the Laser class, the Belfast single–hander lies 30th after scoring a 10, 13 and 8 in his 144 boat fleet.

Espey's London 2012 team mates Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern are 57th from 79 after three races.

Newcomers Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey lie 39 from 50 and Royal Irish clubmate Ross Hamilton lies 82 from 92.

Full results are posted here. The forecast for Tuesday is for slightly more winds up to 11 knots.

#isafrankings – Irish sailing star Annalise Murphy who won this year's Laser European Championships is placed 13th in the latest ISAF World Sailing Rankings. London 2012 Laser rep James Espey in the men's Laser class is 49th in the just released rankings and his Northern Ireland club mates from Belfast Lough, Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern are 40th in the 49er Skiff class. 

The Top ranked sailors in each class are:

Laser: Tom Burton, AUS
Nacra 17: Moana Vaireaux / Manon Audinet, FRA
Laser Radial: Mathilde De Kerangat, FRA
Men's 470: Mathew Belcher / William Ryan, AUS
Women's 470: Lara Vadlau / Anneloes Van Veen / Jolanta Ogar, AUT
Finn: Caleb Paine, USA
Women's RS:X: Bryony Shaw, GBR
Men's RS:X: Ivan Pastor Lafuente, ESP
49erFX: Martine Soffiatti Grael / Kahena Kunze, BRA
49er: Stephen Morrison / Ben Rhodes / Chris Grube, GBR

The full ISAF World Sailing Ranking lists, results from all ISAF Graded events, lists of Graded events throughout the year, Ranking release dates and the method of calculation for the Rankings can be found on the ISAF website at www.sailing.org/rankings