The rise of Finn Lynch into the top ranks of Irish adult dinghy sailing has been meteoric. It was as recently as May 18th in Mexico that he secured the right to become our Olympic Men’s Laser representative in Rio, where the first races of the Sailing Olympiad 2016 get under way on Monday August 8th. Yet he had only just turned 20 on April 23rd 2016. W M Nixon sets the scene.

With significant Bicentenaries and Tricentenaries cascading around us these days, Golden Jubilees may not make the same impact as they did back in the 20th Century. Nevertheless an achievement of fifty years of continuous specialised sailing enthusiasm and success is still something to be celebrated at all levels.

In the National Yacht Club next year - if they can find the time in the midst of their usual busy annual programme, which will include an up-graded Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race - they might like to take an evening out to mark fifty years of their internationally-renowned Junior Sailing. It has become a pace-setter central to Irish sailing, so much so that with the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro just two weeks away, of the four boats in the Irish team, two will be sailed by alumni of the NYC’s Junior Programme – Annalise Murphy in the Women’s Laser Radials, and Finn Lynch in the Men’s Lasers.

Yet we get some notion of the way that the NYC people get on with the business of the day, living and sailing as they do in the moment, that the matter of the Junior Sailing’s Golden Jubilee came up as something of a minor aside. In the midst of a discussion about the spirit of the NYC Juniors, the enthusiastic Carmel Winkelmann simply mentioned in passing that it all really goes back to 1967, when Johnny Hooper came home from a dinghy championship in Scandinavia fired up with enthusiasm about the way the clubs there put so much in the way of resources and energy towards encouraging the juniors.

“We did it!” Carmel Winkelmann and Finn Lynch get together at the National YC on June 23rd for a quiet bit of celebration of his newly-won Olympic place – and find that already, with any appearance of the new super-star, a bit of local product-placing from the club kitchen is on the menu. Photo: W M Nixon

In his quiet but determined way, Johnny Hooper - with his own Olympic credentials and more championship wins than you could list on one page - was able to persuade his fellow NYC members to take positive action for juniors, and continue to keep taking that positive action. For it can be easy enough to start things. It’s keeping the programme going and growing, with rising standards all the time, that differentiates the exceptional setup from the merely run-of-the-mill. The Hooper inspiration has endured and thrived. But it was only when the year of its inception happened to be mentioned that the radar flashed up: Golden Jubilee in 2017.

Regardless of what happens at the Olympics, there certainly will be something to celebrate next year. But for the next few weeks, any notions of such celebrations will be on the most remote back burner, as the entire club - and indeed all of Irish sailing - will be on Olympic high alert.

We’ll share a state of nervous anticipation as the quadrennial five ring circus unfolds afloat amidst the unrivalled beauty and unique sea water quality of Rio de Janeiro. And somewhere in the midst of it all, attention will be particularly focused on the youngest sailor ever to represent Ireland in the Olympic, a 20-year-old from an utterly rural part of County Carlow whose very young demonstrations of special talent soon saw him being inducted into the bigger world of National Yacht Club’s Junior Section, and also provided him – thanks to that special NYC spirit - with essential financial support in the crucial year of moving from junior to adult level.

Finn Lynch at 20 years and three months will not only be the youngest sailor ever to represent Ireland in the Olympics, he’ll actually be a couple of months younger than the notably young Paul Elvstrom of Denmark when he began his stellar career back in 1948, an achievement which set a benchmark for youthful Olympic sailing participation.

Finn Lynch is welcomed home at the NYC after qualifying for Rio. At 20 years and three months, Finn will be Ireland’s youngest-ever Olympic sailor. Photo: W M Nixon

But as Lynch only snatched Ireland’s Olympic Men’s Laser place as recently as May 18th on the last race in the last chance in Mexico, the sailing community are still getting to grips with the fact that a rising talent, who had been showing great promise to be the ideal representative in Tokyo in 2020, has already come centre stage to begin his Olympic career in Rio 2016.

The story of how this has come about for Finn is circuitous and distinctly offbeat, yet ultimately very Irish. But if you suggested the outline of it to a movie producer as a possible film treatment, you’d probably be told it’s so over the top that audiences would refuse to accept it. All that can be said is that if it isn’t true, then somebody should make it up, as it’s too good a story to waste.

His father Aidan Lynch is of a midlands family, and though his boyhood was in Dublin, much time was still spent down the country, but boats had absolutely nothing to do with it. His mother Grainne Adams is from rural Carlow, that small county which is so beautiful that it has been rightly remarked the Creator was in fine form when he put it together.

However, neither Carlow nor Dublin offered the young couple the prospects they sought, so they emigrated to Australia. There, Aidan found much better career opportunities, and it was during his time as a rising star in the manufacturing world that he was taken on a corporate sailing outing. He was instantly hooked, and made it his spare-time business to learn about sailing and get involved with it as soon and as much as possible.

In Australia their three sons Ben, Rory and Finn were born, but after twelve years – when Finn was just two – the Australian sojourn came to and end, and Grainne was able to return to her beloved Carlow, to Benekerry which is just about as rural as it is possible get in a very rural county. But Aidan hankered after his sailing, and got involved in the nearest club, Blessington on its lovely reservoir lake just up the road in County Wicklow. In time, Blessington became his home while Grainne continued in Benekerry, and for their three boys, time with Dad saw sailing playing an increasing role. While Ben and Rory were already rising stars in the Blessington Topper sailing scene, it was when Finn had his first sail in charge of a Topper at the age of eight on Blessington Lake that history was made.

The first sail - his father Aidan introduces the 8-year-old Fnn Lynch to Topper steering in Blessington Lake

He’d already shown a complete fascination with everything to do with boats and sailing. Big brother Ben was showing additional talent as a coach, and when he ran classes in the Blessington SC clubhouse, he was at first disconcerted to see his kid brother Finn perched under the front table, bright-eyed and determinedly absorbing every snippet of boat and sailing information that came his way.

Blessington was one of the foremost clubs in the country in promoting the use of the Topper in junior sailing. But although this weekend will see the largest Irish entry ever in the 250-strong Topper Worlds which are getting under way in Ballyholme – last count had the home group pushing toward the 85 mark - only twelve years ago, the economical Topper still had a certain amount of persuading to do in order to get acceptance in Ireland.

Yet those were good times when they were building the class, and Aidan Lynch happily recalls the spirit of camaraderie and shared purpose which energised the steadily growing “Topper family” in Ireland, creating friendships which were rekindled when former Topper colleagues from all over Ireland shared in Finn Lynch’s successes.

For although he may not have started properly sailing until he was eight, in his case it seems to have been the right time, and by the age of 12 in 2008 he had been selected for the ISA Topper Squad in which he developed so rapidly that in 2009 he took the Silver Medal at the Topper Worlds in Austria.

He was still sailing with Blessington, but with the prospect of Laser sailing with the National YC coming up on the agenda, he moved his focus to Dublin Bay and by 2011 was selected for the ISA Academy. The ISAF Youth Worlds in Dublin Bay in 2012 were perfectly timed for his developing talents, where he won the Silver Medal, and added the Under 17 European Laser Radial title to his trophy list, while in 2013 he was Under 21 Laser Radial World Champion, winning the Bronze in the Open Division.

The Laser might have been designed with Finn Lynch in mind

Into his stride. Finn Lynch in command, Dublin Bay 2012

The Under 19 Laser World Champion title followed in 2014, while in 2015 he was fourth in the Under 21 Laser Worlds. But now at age 18 he was no longer a junior, yet was very much in that limbo stage in which Irish sailing seems to place talent which is no longer junior, but is still definitely not adult. It’s an undesirable state of affairs, yet with ISA resources under enormous pressure, it was not a problem which was going to be solved by the National Authority in 2015.

The 18-year-old Finn Lynch found himself right at the heart of this dead end, needing backing which was beyond family resources, but in any case frustrated at not being able to make his own way in a true spirit of growing independence. He had impressed everyone with his talent, his coolness under pressure and his sheer dedication to the sport, but a quantum leap in resources was needed to see him across the gap from family support under the ISA junior umbrella, and on into the challenging world of adult sailing based on an adequate budget.

In the Spring of 2015 Carmel Winkelmann, a strength of the National Yacht Club and particularly its junior section for longer than anyone can remember, was already working quietly behind the scenes to find support for what she reckoned was a great talent at risk of going to waste. After consulting with Finn about the events he’d particularly like to do in the year ahead and the international coaches whose talents he’d like to use, it was reckoned that with the most careful expenditure it could be done for €40,000, and that was the target Carmel had set herself by June 2015.

Young man with a van. Finn Lynch in Dun Laoghaire in June 2015, hoping……..Photo: W M Nixon

She’s a formidable woman when she thinks a real noise has to be made about some boat issue, but she’s much more formidable when she takes the approach of working quietly behind the scenes to achieve her objective. Her Finn Lynch fund-raising was done under the very sensible approach that good works are best done by stealth, and the money-raising was mainly through a small but impressive list of private subscribers.

I met Finn in June 2015 when there was still a considerable element of the unknown and the unknowable about it all, and then I met him again at the end of June this year when his Olympic place was secured against all the odds, and the story of what had happened in between was in keeping with the extraordinary story of how he and his brothers came to be keen sailors in the first place.

For the past year, his life has been a mobile existence. While Carmel Winkelmann and her team had to come up with all the resources to keep the Lynch show on the road, James O’Callaghan the ISA Performance Director was able to come up with the introductions to the top coaches in Croatia whose special talents fit well with the Irish sailing model. Nevertheless, even with all the support and good wishes being drummed up under the NYC umbrella, it was still a lonely enough existence for the 19-year-old Carlow lad to take himself off to southeast Europe and be the youngest in an intense training squad which lived and breathed Laser racing, but they lived and breathed it in languages other than English.

His first introduction to the notably successful Croatian training programmes was with Milan Vujasinovic, who as Finn recalls, “turned us into sailors and into men”. Then through dogged persistence, and maybe a bit of blarney, he managed to get himself taken into the elite group under the tutelage of the “medals coach”, Jozo Jakelic, who is a legend in the training world.

Coach to the stars….Croatia’s Jozo Jakelic has seen all five of his elite international squad gain an Olympic place at Rio

It’s a status he thoroughly deserves, for all of his special squad of five Laser sailors have secured their country’s Olympic places for the Rio games. Jakelic is bringing stardust to countries which would formerly have been thought of as being on the fringes of world sailing, paces like Cyprus and Poland and Ireland too, for let’s face it, despite having one of the longest sailing histories of any country in the world, in international competition terms Ireland is on the fringe.

Thus you could argue that Finn Lynch was on the fringe of the fringe group, for at 19 he was much the youngest of the Jakelic squad – the next up was 25. Yet he kept at it, keeping up a ferocious regime in which, when not in competition, you still expect to be doing a lot of sailing on at least fifteen days in very month, while gym work towards ultimate fitness is just a normal part of life all the time.

The pressure is on. Finn Lynch during the long battle to secure the Olympic place

Yet in this rarefied and almost monastic atmosphere, progress was being made, but there were setbacks. Last November, while out on an intensive session on a training bike, Finn Lynch had an accident which left him with a badly damaged shoulder. At one stage it was thought surgery would be necessary, but thanks to high-powered physio with Sports Med in Dublin, he was just about able to compete, albeit with an impaired performance, at the Copa de Brasil in Rio.

One of his concerns would be that this accident would discourage his group of private supporters. But on the contrary, if anything it spurred them onto to greater efforts and a determination that he would see the programme through to leave him, at the very least, in a good condition and in a good place to begin the serious countdown to Tokyo 2020, buoyed up by the knowledge that an entire year hadn’t been allowed to go to waste.

Certainly for most observers it seemed very much an outside chance that Lynch would manage to take the Irish place through the final qualifier, the Laser Worlds in Mexico in May 2016. But the Finn Lynch who arrived at the Worlds was a different Finn Lynch from the damaged athlete who had been unable to give of his best in Brazil. And he was a whole world away from the still-to-prove himself young adult who had been in Dun Laoghaire in June 2015.

It didn’t start well in Mexico, as he’d picked up a virus which sapped his strength. But he seemed to shake it off through sheer will-power, and put in a performance of almost superhuman focus to do the job. Finn Lynch secured that Irish Laser place in the Rio Olympics in a last ditch stand on May 18th 2016, and it’s no exaggeration to say that at a stroke his lifepath had been changed.

We’ve a problem in Ireland in that getting an Olympic selection is seen as such a goal in its own right that for some athletes, it seems to be the main goal – what happens in the actual Olympics becomes almost irrelevant. But that’s not a mindset which is going to take hold in a member of Jozo Jakelic’s squad, so for a while after the Mexican breakthrough, Finn Lynch chilled out in Norway with his girlfriend and her family (she’s a Laser sailor too) and then spent private time in Ireland – continuing training all the time – until an informal gathering was organized through Carmel Winkelmann. This was in late June at the National YC where the new Olympic star was to meet again with Afloat.ie, and also put through a well-received interview with Clair McNeill of the “Carlow County Matters” magazine programme on Irish TV Sky 191, for in Carlow - even more than in Dun Laoghaire - a new Olympic star is big news.

They didn’t know they’d Olympic sailors in Carlow until the Carlow County Matters programme was screened on TV on July 13th. Finn Lynch with presenter Clair McNeill in Dun Laoghaire, and some further product placement from the National Yacht Club kitchens. Photo: W M Nixon
As almost exactly a year had elapsed since I’d met him with his then only resource, a van which might well have served from time to time as overnight accommodation, it was fascinating to try to make comparisons between the more confident young man of today and that much younger hopeful of 2015.

For sure he was more of an impressive and confident presence, but essentially he was still the same Finn Lynch, but with the best bits made even better, and an underlying steely determination now getting towards something even tougher.

But don’t think for a moment that the traiming programme organized through the funding raised by Carmel Winkelmann resulted in him becoming a pampered athlete. There were times when he had to make do with the most basic and often very shared accommodation, while the budget was always tight. But the fact that he was a member of the squad which was the elite of the elites – albeit very much the youngest member of that squad in Croatia – has been transformational.

In a sense it has made him supra-national. The esprit de corps in the Jakelic squad is something which raises pure sailing athleticism above national ambitions and aspirations. Indeed, at a time when the European ideal is taking such a battering, the very existence of such a group made of rising sailing stars from the fringes of Europe is somehow very heartening. Thus the experiences of Finn Lynch during the past twelve months have an added and encouraging resonance for all of us.

Nevertheless, back home the securing of that Olympic place is yet another specific success for the NYC’s Junior Sailing, and Commodore Larry Power and his team treated us to a cheerful bar lunch before everyone went on their way, your reporter off to Wicklow to re-immerse himself in covering the Round Ireland Race, and Finn Lynch soon on his way back to Croatia and further intense yet carefully monitored training sessions to transform him from an aspirant to a contender.

That little gathering in the National YC marked the end of a phase. It quietly concluded Carmel Winkelmann’s fund-raising for Finn Lynch. She was able to provide resources in a hurry when they were urgently needed, and she was able to pass on messages of hundred per cent support from her team when things seemed to be going pear-shaped during the winter.

But now that Finn has shown independently what he can do, it’s time to turn to more orthodox lines of support, and his father has been working behind the scenes to see about putting it all on a more businesslike basis.

Inevitably, just how that all takes shape will depend to some extent on how things go in Rio, but we can only hope that a more mature attitude can be found among the rest of us. Success in Rio would certainly be a bonus, but really we should be thinking about Tokyo 2020, and simply being in contention in Rio is unrivalled experience for Japan in four years time.

Since the end of June Finn Lynch had been back in Croatia, but this week he returned to Ireland to give logistics support to the Croatian squad in the Laser Radial Worlds in Dun Laoghaire. Coaching and encouragement seem to be in the Lynch family blood – after our meeting in June, he’d set that evening aside for a special session of personal coaching for his brother Ben’s training group, and Finn will not be the only Lynch in Rio – Ben is coach to Ireland’s John Twomey and his Paralympic crew. We wish them all the very best of luck. Irish Olympic sailing turns up some remarkable stories, and this is surely one of the most remarkable of all.

All six of Ireland's Olympic sailing team bar one are in action at the final World Cup sailing competition ahead of Rio 2016 gets underway this week in Weymouth this week.

Ireland’s Olympic veterans from four years ago will be first into action on Wednesday morning. The venue is the notoriously windy London 2012 Olympic site though the sailors are preparing for completely different conditions expected in Brazil.

Annalise Murphy in the women’s single-handed Laser Radial event will face all three medallists from her event in 2012 when she narrowly missed a place on the podium. China’s Lijia Xu (Gold) along with The Netherlands’ Marit Bouwmeester (Silver) and Belgium’s Evi Van Acker (Bronze) are all on form but are in turn are joined by challengers such as Britain’s Alison Young, the recently crowned world champion.

Newcomer Aoife Hopkins (18) is also in Weymouth for more competition experience at world-class level after unsuccessfully challenging Murphy for the Irish place in Rio during trials earlier this year but with the radial worlds in Dun Laoghaire in July now the next target.

Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern in the men’s skiff 49er class will be seeking to make good on their Gold medal performance at the Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma in early April with another podium result to boost their confidence before final training for Rio in August commences. However, four-times unbeaten world champions Peter Burling and Blair Tuke from New Zealand are not expected to compete in Weymouth this week.

The women’s skiff event makes its debut with the 49erFX class at Rio 2016 and Ireland’s Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey are aiming to build on recent strong individual race performances at recent major regattas following an injury-enforced break at the start of the year. The pair will be using this week’s regatta to improve consistency across their series with the aim of reaching the medal race final.

Absent from Weymouth is Finn Lynch, the 20-year old rising star of Irish performance sailing who recently won a three-way selection trial to be nominated for Team Ireland. His event in Rio is the men’s single-handed Laser standard class and the Carlow native is currently at a three-week training camp in Croatia. Inclusion in the Irish Providence squad for Rio 2016 marks the high-point of an eight-year career that to-date includes world and youth titles.

268 boats from 40 nations are taking part in ten disciplines, many featuring athletes expected to be contesting the Olympic regatta in two months time. Ireland is competing in three of the ten disciplines the Laser Radial, the 49er and the 49erFX.

The four-day opening series starts on Wednesday (8th June) while the top ten boats in each discipline will contest a double-points medal race final on Sunday.

Sailing World Cup Weymouth and Portland has a poetic story bubbling under the surface as the Rio 2016 Olympic Games get ever closer.

In the home of the London 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition, Weymouth and Portland, the Sailing World Cup is the last opportunity for fleet racing at a recognised regatta for the majority of the sailors before the torch gets handed over to the Marina da Gloria for Rio 2016. One Olympic venue straight to the next.

It may be the last big regatta before the Games, but for some sailors it's also the first since they got the news that they would have the honour of representing their nation this summer.

Two sailors in that category are New Zealand's Laser sailor Sam Meech and Australia's Jake Lilley in the Finn. Something else they share, relief.

"It's really important to get through the selection process, it takes about 18 months and it does start to weigh on you a little bit, so to get the nod is a bit of a relief,” said Lilley.

With relief evident and selection confirmed the focus for Lilley is now, as simple as it sounds, racing, "I'm working on a bit of race process here [at the Sailing World Cup]. Most of our equipment is in Brazil right now so the main focus is on racing and not the equipment set up so much. The calibre of the fleet here is full of guys close to the top end so it's all about racing and execution. This is the first and last regatta before Rio since the selection.”

In his 'first and last regatta', Lilley will compete against formidable opponents such as Great Britain's four-time world champion Giles Scott, France's London 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Jonathan Lobert and Finland's Tapio Nirkko in the Finn Sailing World Cup fleet.

In another strong fleet and echoing the thoughts of his Trans-Tasman neighbour, Meech also felt the weight lift from his shoulders with his national selection confirmed, "It's fantastic and it's a pressure release which has been building since half way through last year.”

Again with the same train of thought as the Aussie towards the Sailing World Cup timing, Meech said, "It's the last big race for all us really and there are some things I want to work on before I head back out to train in Rio. The fleet looks pretty good. There are a lot of the top guys here so there should be some good racing.”

An area that Meech's preparations differ is in the processes the Kiwi has to get used to, "The fleet size will be very similar to that of the Games so in that respect this regatta is fantastic but working one on one with the coach is a bit different as there is usually a team of us. That's a bit strange.”

Meech won't be totally alone in Rio as compatriot Andy Maloney will be in attendance to act as a training partner, but the coaching will be solely focused on him as there is only one spot per country in each Rio 2016 fleet. This is a big step out of the comfort zone for Meech who usually has a team to rely upon, "There has been five or six of us in the squad every time I have been sailing. It feels really weird not having the other guys here and training with them.”

Whether comfortable or not, both Meech and Lilley will be looking to take the opportunity presented to them at Weymouth and Portland to race in high calibre fleets in the home of London 2012, before they head to the next adventure of Rio 2016.

Getting used to the processes, the similar size fleets, the high calibre opponents and racing in the last big regatta before the Olympic Sailing Competition are all achievable steps for every sailor, including Meech and Lilley who have their national selection confirmed.

For the rest, it is the final chance to test against the future Olympians and push for a Sailing World Cup medal.

Finn Lynch (20) of County Carlow is the Afloat.ie Olympic “Sailor of the Month” for May, following his arduous and often lonely journey to succeed in taking over Ireland’s already-secured place in the International Laser Class in the 2016 Olympics Games, scheduled for August in Rio de Janeiro.

A year ago, few would have rated Lynch’s chances very highly. An extremely promising junior sailor, he had hit the “Cadet-level Ceiling” where virtually no funding is available for international competition and coaching for anyone caught between the highly-organised, parentally-supported junior level, and the early stages of the full-blown Olympic programme.

But having been “adopted” by the National Yacht Club, fund-raising was undertaken on Lynch’s behalf by an informal organisation set up by Carmel Winkelmann NYC and friends, and between April 2015 and June 2016, €40,000 has been raised to send Lynch to key events and coaching sessions.

Nevertheless the likelihood of Finn Lynch actually taking the Irish Olympic place originally secured by James Espey was only a distant possibility. The point of the campaign was to encourage the growth of Lynch’s talent as much as possible. Postponement in some sort of soul-destroying limbo was not an option. And Finn Lynch, with his soaring performance and extraordinary ability to focus on the task in hand, not only soared, but he took over Ireland’s Olympic place at the Laser Worlds in Mexico on Wednesday May 18th 2016.

It was an exceptional breakthrough, and it evoked a response of exemplary generosity and good sportsmanship from Belfast Lough sailor James Espey in a posting on Facebook:

“Pretty gutted that a tough week here at the World Championships means I won't be representing Ireland at the Olympic Games this time around. Nervous to give up the spot I earned in Santander, and the lead I had going into this week meant I was vulnerable on the race course in the early days and couldn't come back from it.
A fall at the last hurdle... but well done to Finn Lynch Sailing for taking up the spot and our flag at the Games.
It's been a real honour to race against Laser sailors from all over the world these past eight years, and what a blast it has been! I couldn't have made a better group of friends, both in this class and in the rest of the classes of our traveling circus, and for that I will be forever grateful (and hopefully will have people to visit around the world for life). Special thanks to my training partners and coaches over the years, you all know who you are and I hope you have as many great memories of our times as I do.
A limitless thanks to all of my supporters, my friends and family back home. I couldn't have done this without you, and the only consolation for not making the Games is that I'll get to be home with you all sooner to show my thanks in person.
I'm looking forward to all the great sailing I'm going to get to do in the future - may try out a couple more classes than just this hiking beast!
See you all on the race course,
 Bapsy”

Solo sailor Finn Lynch (20), returned home from the Laser World Championships in Mexico last night to the National Yacht Club and a hero's welcome. The Dun Laoghaire clubhouse was packed to cheer the ground breaking achievemements that saw the U21 Laser world champion claim the single Rio berth ahead of London 2012's James Espey of Belfast. Lynch, originally from Carlow, is a member of The National Yacht Club and is the youngest ever Irish helmsman to qualify for the Olympics. Read more on his qualification victory here. 

View the photo gallery below by Joe Fallon:

Hello and welcome aboard this week’s edition of your maritime programme Seascapes,  this week we congratulate Finn Lynch who is the latest member of the Irish sailing team bound for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro following the World Championships in Mexico this week......Laura Hannon visits Tourin House near Cappoquin on the banks of An Abhainn Mor for Seascapes where she meets with Dennis Murray and hears about the great rowing tradition on the Munster Blackwater..............

First this week on Seascapes to an award winning documentary film maker from Tipperary – Richie O Donnell who has produced a fine piece of work which follows the fortunes of three small fishing communities in Galway ; Norway and Newfoundland as they struggle to maintain their way of life in the face of mounting economic and ecological challenges , a few weeks ago Richie O Donnell came into studio and we discussed how “Atlantic “ took shape......

Here on Seascapes we’re talking with documentary film maker Richie O Donnell about his latest release “Atlantic “ which also looks at the issue of super trawlers which appear in Irish waters off the West Coast with devastating effect....

You can see “Atlantic “ in The Abbey Tavern in Howth next Thursday evening , tickets are available from the venue –Admission is €7 euro ., the screening is being hosted by Friends of Howth Maritime Museum ...many thanks to Pat Murphy for alerting Seascapes to this screening , the narration on “Atlantic” is by distinguished actor Brendan Gleeson.....

Congratulations to a young man whom we’ve been following for over a decade here on Seascapes .........At the Laser class World Championships in Mexico on Wednesday night 20 year old Finn Lynch from Carlow became the youngest ever Irish sailing helmsman to qualify for the Olympic Games.

The World Championships was the third and final trial in the selection series for three contenders including London 2012 veteran James Espey along with up and coming Baltimore sailor Fionn Lyden. James Espey led by 6 points going into the final trial but finished 24 places behind Finn. Fionn Lyden narrowed the gap on James by finishing 11 places ahead of him at the Worlds but still finished the trial third.

Sailing for the National Yacht Club, Finn Lynch emerged from the four day preliminary round of the world championship as the only Irish sailor to reach the Gold fleet for the top 56 competitors in the 112-strong event. That result helped secure an advantage over Espey and Lyden who sailed the finals in the separate Silver fleet, overall they finished 67th and 78th respectively. Lynch placed 54th in the Gold and overall. ........

Competing in the Men’s single-handed event, Lynch will now join newcomers Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey along with London 2012 veteran Annalise Murphy and Ryan Seaton with Matt McGovern to be nominated by the board of the Irish Sailing Association to the Olympic Council of Ireland for inclusion in the Irish team at Rio 2016

Next here on Seascapes to An Abhainn Mor , a few weeks ago Laura Hannon headed for Cappoquin and Tourin House on the river to meet up with Dennis Murray....

The film “Badoiri “ is being screened on RTE One Television on Monday night .....Using still images and film footage taken over thirty years ago photographer Joe St Leger tells the story of capturing images of the last of the hooker boatmen of Connemara.

For centuries Galway hookers sailed the waters of Galway Bay transporting people, goods and animals and connecting remote coastal communities with the Aran Islands, Galway city and market towns like Kinvara. Celebrated every year in the annual Cruinniu na mBad...... Transport and fishing once provided work for hundreds of these boats and their crews but by the 1960s their working days were coming to an end and many old boats were abandoned.

In the 1980’s attempts were made to revive interest in the craft starting with the annual Crinniú na mBád or Gathering of the Boats in Kinvara and to preserve for future generations the skills needed to build and to sail them.......

This film “ Badoiri “ by Joe St Leger uses photographs taken during the revival to document what remained of the Galway hookers and of the people aboard .....the film can be seen this Monday night 23rd May @ 7.30pm on RTE One Television not to be missed...........

This weekend also on television you can see Kenneth Branagh as “Shackleton “ marking the centenary of the loss of The Endurance on More 4 on this Sunday night @ 9.00pm .....

Next Friday night prior to the opening of the Baltimore Wooden Boat Festival ....John Kearon will give an illustrated talk on the restoration of the “ASGARD “.....conserving Erskine Childers historic yacht...

Laser sailor Finn Lynch will be given a hero's welcome when he arrives back to the National Yacht Club (NYC) this evening. The Dun Laoghaire club gave its full support to the teen's campaign that ended with Olympic nomination success on Wednesday.

Lynch secured his selection over boat qualifier James Espey (the London 2012 representative) and fellow trialist Fionn Lyden on the final day of the Laser Worlds in Mexico. Lynch was the only sailor to make gold fleet.

David O'Brien in the Irish Times this morning noted the fledgling campaign was only kept afloat by club fundraisers, spearheaded by NYC doyen Carmel Winkelmann. A point also noted on Lynch's Facebook page (below).

Tonight, the NYC is getting ready to hear Finn's story first hand when it toasts both Lynch and his clubmate Annalise Murphy who will both be flyng the NYC ensign in Rio in August.

Lynch will become Ireland's youngest ever Olympic helmsman at age 20, eclipsing Malahide Finn sailor David Burrows who sailed in Sydney 200 aged 22 and Malaide club mate Robert Dix who sailed in Kingston in 1976 aged 23.

Rising star Lynch has had a meteoric rise to his this weeks Olympic place.

Finn Lynch's Road to Rio

2008 Selected for ISA Topper Squad (age 12)
2009 Topper World Championship Silver Medal
2011 Selected ISA Academy
2012 ISAF Youth World Championships Silver Medal
2012 u17 Radial European Champion
2013 u21 Radial World Champion
2013 Radial World Championship Bronze Medal
2014 u19 Laser World Champion
2015 u21 Laser World Championships 4th
2016 Wins Irish nomination trials for Rio Olympics

At the Laser class world championships in Mexico last night, 20–year–old Finn Lynch's Olympic dream came true when he won his place at the Rio games. The Carlow man becomes the youngest ever Irish sailing helmsman to qualify for the Olympic Games.

The event was the third and final trial in the selection series for three contenders including London 2012 veteran James Espey along with up and coming Baltimore sailor Fionn Lyden. James Espey led by 6 points going into the final trial but finished 24 places behind Finn. Fionn Lyden narrowed the gap on James by finishing 11 places ahead of him at the Worlds but still finished the trial third.

“This is a particularly welcome result for Finn who has been on a promising trajectory since he first won silver for Ireland at Topper Worlds seven years ago,” commented James O’Callaghan, ISA Performance Director. "Winning the place for Rio is massive and the experience should serve to propel his career even further" The result moves Lynch overnight from ISA Development sailor to full senior Providence Team Ireland status.

Sailing for the National Yacht Club, Lynch emerged from the four day preliminary round of the world championship as the only Irish sailor to reach the Gold fleet for the top 56 competitors in the 112-strong event. That result helped secure an advantage over Espey and Lyden who sailed the finals in the separate Silver fleet, overall they finished 67th and 78th respectively. Lynch placed 54th in the Gold and overall.

Nick Thompson from Great Britain successfully defended his world title in a top ten line-up that included multiple Olympic medallists and world champions.

Competing in the Men’s single-handed event, Lynch will now join newcomers Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey (Women’s skiff) along with London 2012 veteran Annalise Murphy (Women’s single-handed) and Ryan Seaton with Matt McGovern (Men’s skiff) to be nominated by the board of the Irish Sailing Association to the Olympic Council of Ireland for inclusion in the Irish team at Rio 2016.

A globe trotting Irish Olympic mens Laser trial comes to a conclusion in Mexico today with Finn Lynch leading the three boat contest for the single Rio berth. Lynch is 50 out of 56 in the gold fleet of the Laser World Championships that form the third Irish trial. Both the other trialists, Fionn Lyden and James Espey, are racing in silver fleet. All eyes are on Lynch for the Olympic nod later today after the last two races of the 112-boat championships are sailed.

 

After five days of competition at the 112-boat Laser World Championships in Mexico, the National Yacht Club's Finn Lynch has built a lead of 45–points over James Espey in the race for the final Irish Olympic sailing berth in Rio. The big points cushion of Lynch's 187 versus Espey's 232 is important because this week's championships – that concludes tomorrow – is the final selection trial for the Irish Olympic mens Laser berth in Rio.

Going into the event last Thursday, (the last of three Irish trials since December), Belfast's Espey had earned a slender six point lead over the Carlow debutante but after ten races at Riviera Nayarit, the regatta has tipped in Lynch's favour. On Monday, Lynch was the only one of three Irish competing (Fionn Lyden of Baltimore is the third) to make the gold fleet cut. Yesterday, a black flag disqualification for Espey in the silver fleet has made things more difficult for the Ulster sailor to regain lost ground. Still, while the gap has widened, Lynch, currently lying 48th from 56 in gold, will be well aware four races remain to be sailed, making it arguably possible for Espey, (Ireland's London 2012 rep) to make a come back at the notoriously fickle venue.

Results are here

The National Yacht Club's Finn Lynch made the gold fleet cut at the Laser Worlds in Mexico yesterday by finishing the qualifying rounds in 56th place in the 112–boat fleet, taking the last place for today's gold fleet finals. Not only is it a significant achievement for the former youth medalist at this level in an Olympic year, but much more importantly it moves the Carlow youth a step closer to winning Olympic selection by Wednesday. Both rivals Fionn Lyden and James Espey will complete the championships in silver fleet position where they are in five places apart in 65th and 70th place respectively. The final series starts to day and although the trials advantage is now with Lynch there are still six races left to sail. 

Nick Thompson of Great Britain had another good day at the races to close out the qualifying series in first place overall in the Laser Standard Men’s World Championship in Riviera Nayarit, Mexico. Thompson’s 2nd and 4th place allowed him to increase his advantage over Jean-Baptiste Bernaz of France to five points, a margin by which Laser Championships can be won or lost. Tomorrow the sailors will be split into gold and silver fleets to begin three days of finals series racing.

Celebrated Laser World Champion and Olympic medalist, Robert Scheidt, moved into third place with two more top-ten results while the previous third place holder, Croatia’s Tonci Stipanovic, scored an 8th and 25th. Stipanovic now has to count a 14th (his previous discard race) but holds on to fourth place overall.
The top-3 sailors at the end of qualification have all, so far, maintained single figure results excluding their discard races. However, a close look at the score cards reveals that several sailors are starting to find the consistency that was missing at the beginning of the championship. These include the best sailor of the day, Wannes Van Laar of Belgium, who posted two second place finishes today to jump five places into fifth overall.
Today’s slightly lighter winds from a more southerly direction provided another mix in the results on this final qualification day. Changes in the wind strength and direction were minimal, between 215 and 230 degrees and 9 to 12 knots during the three hours of racing. However, these variations were enough to keep things interesting for the sailors and proved sufficient to provide significant changes in positions from one race to the next.
With three days of Finals Series racing to come, the sailors are certainly aware that the coming days of will be long and twice as hard, as the world’s top sailors now go head-to-head. Sailing skills need to be at a sailor’s best. Places will be won and lost by a meter or a second. A cool head under the hot sun and maximum concentration will be needed to stay consistent over the upcoming six scheduled races – even more so if the weather changes.

Overall Results after 8 races with 1 discard
Nick Thompson GBR 16pts
Jean-Baptiste Bernaz FRA 21pts
Robert Scheidt BRA 33pts
Tonci Stipanovic CRO 37pts
Wannes van Laer BEL 39pts
Matthew Wearn AUS 41pts.
Tom Burton 42pts
Marco Gallo ITA 46pts
Philipp Buhl GER 46pts
Sam Meech NZL 50pts