#Rio2016 - Government ministers have joined in the applause for Annalise Murphy's stunning silver medal win in the Laser Radial at Rio 2016 yesterday (Tuesday 16 August).

Soaking after the race, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Shane Ross said: “I am delighted for Annalise, we all know how determined she was to bring home a medal, after coming so close four years ago this is a fantastic achievement for her.

"Bouncing back from the disappointment of finishing fourth in London 2012 to become European Champion in 2013 to now achieving a silver medal at the Olympics is a wonderful endorsement for what can be achieved through hard work and talent. She has been so determined and she is a fantastic role model for all young athletes.”

Minister of State for Tourism and Sport Patrick O’Donovan added: “Annalise has worked so hard not just for the last week but for the last four years, to overcome the frustration of 2012 and win an Olympic silver medal at Rio is no more than she deserves.

"To become the first Irish female to win an Olympic medal in sailing and Ireland’s first medal in sailing since 1980 is magnificent for Annalise, Team Ireland and the country.

"It was great to hear her brother was able to be there to support her during this achievement. Her family and the sailing club in Dun Laoghaire I’m sure are immensely proud to see her on that podium.

"It has been a great few days on the water for Team Ireland and hopefully there will be many more successes to come.”

#Rio2016 - Annalise Murphy made Irish sailing history this afternoon as she sailed to Olympic silver in Rio de Janerio in the Laser Radial medal race.

Murphy's first Olympic medal, coming after narrowly missing out on bronze at London 2012, is also Irish sailing's first medal triumph at the Olympic Games since 1980.

It all came down to the final push, with Murphy scorching past Denmark's Anne-Marie Rindom into second place behind gold medallist Marit Bouwmeester of the Netherlands.

Expect jubilant scenes in Dun Laoghaire Harbour where her home club the National YC showed the race live on a big screen at the clubhouse platform. Well done Annalise!

Marit Bouwmeester (NED) won the gold medal (centre) that eluded her four years ago. Silver went to Annalise Murphy (IRL) (left), a sweet reward after finishing an agonising fourth place at London 2012. Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) took bronze. Photo: Richard Langdon

Marit Bouwmeester (NED) won the gold medal that eluded her four years ago. Silver went to Annalise Murphy (IRL), a sweet reward after finishing an agonising fourth place at London 2012. Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) took bronze.

It was a tense Medal Race in light and fluky airs on the Pão de Açucar course in the shadow of Sugarloaf Mountain. Bouwmeester looked to be in a good position during the early stages, but a big split developed in the fleet after the top of the final lap, and the Dutch and Danish contenders were dropped to the back. They could only watch as Murphy and the other front runners sailed away and across the finish line more than a hundred metres ahead.

Annalise's mum Cathy MacAleavey holding tricolour and her brother Finn (wearing Shamrock tie) celebrate Ireland's historic win

It was so close between the front five boats on the final run, there was a chance the Irish sailor could steal gold from the Netherlands. But Murphy crossed the line in fifth, yielding the Olympic title to Bouwmeester. With Rindom back in eighth, Murphy had done enough to take silver.

All three sailors celebrated and every one of them looked delighted to have emerged with a medal from perhaps the toughest sailing venue ever seen at an Olympic Games. Bouwmeester now has the gold to go with the silver she took in London 2012.

#Rio2016 - After yesterday's postponement of Annalise Murphy's Laser Radial medal race, this evening all Irish eyes will focus once again on the near-shore Pao de Azucar course – literal translation 'bread of sugar', better known as Sugarloaf, and so called because of its proximity to the iconic mountain that overlooks the natural harbour of Rio De Janeiro.

Using a two-round windward/leeward course with a leeward gate and final reach, race officers will target a 25-minute duration, half the scheduled time of races in the preliminary round.

Today’s forecast on this course is for light to moderate winds at the scheduled start time:

Laser

Finn Lynch’s Olympics finished with the final race in the preliminary series last Saturday, 32nd overall of the 46 competitors.

Rio was always going to be a dress rehearsal for the National Yacht Club sailor, whose real target is Tokyo in four years' time.

It’s not going to be an easy ride, however, as there is an emerging force of young Irish Laser sailors, inspired by Ireland’s recent performances, who will push hard for 2020 selection.

49er

The final three races of the qualification series are scheduled for today, and Irish duo Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern will be looking to consolidate and hopefully advance towards medal positions prior to Thursday’s medal race.

Currently in fifth place, 12 points behind the Australians in the bronze medal position, the Ballyholme pair will need three good races to catch up.

The gold medal looks to be beyond the rest of the fleet as the ever-dominant New Zealanders Burling and Tuke look set to justify their pre-regatta favourites tag by securing the top honours before the medal race.

49erFx

Ireland's Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey will likely need three single-digit results today if they are to feature in Thursday’s medal race.

Lying 12th, but 21 points behind 10th place, the Royal Irish team have shown potential with a third and a couple of sixths in previous races.

The top of the fleet here is very close: only five point separate the top three, with hometown favourites Martina Grael and Kahena Kunze in the bronze position.

After a frustrating wait for wind on the Sugarloaf course in Rio today, Annalise Murphy and the other nine medal race competitors went afloat only to have racing scrubbed when strong winds swept over the course. The racing was postponed and will resume tomorrow. 

Annalise Murphy makes her medal bid in Rio this afternoon at 5pm and it will be broadcast live on RTE Television. The Dubliner has been here before when she famously finished fourth overall in London 2012. There is no guarantee of a medal this evening either but Annalise is currently in Bronze medal position. Five of the worlds best sailors will be pushing each other all the way to see who can emerge with an Olympic medal for their country. It is going to be nail biting, exhilarating and comes with a Health Warning! 

There is probably no better place to watch the race than at Annalise's club in Dun Laoghaire. The National Yacht Club will be showing the race on a big screen on the clubhouse platform!

After an epic ten race series, Ireland's Annalise Murphy goes into Monday's medal race with no guarantee of a medal but the confidence in knowing she has sailed the most consistent series of her career. Where many have fallen, including the London 2012 Gold medallist Lilja Xu of China who finished in 18th position, on–form Murphy has put in a most impressive performance against everything Rio and the world's toughest female fleet had to throw at her. Now she has the chance to win Ireland's first sailing medal in 36–years (Read more about 1980's Silver medal in Tallinn).

The top five positions going in to Monday's crucial medal race are:

1	NED	Marit Bouwmeester	47
2	DEN	Anne-Marie Rindom	55
3	IRL	Annalise Murphy	57
4	BEL	Evi Van Acker	66
5	FIN	Tuula Tenkanen	68.6

 

So what are the best and worst results for Annalise to medal?

Well, no matter what, a fifth place finish will earn her at least bronze and could even win the gold if the Dutch girl finishes in 10th place and the Danish girl is not better than 6th.

If Annalise finishes 6th or worse, then she cannot afford to be more than 4 places behind the Belgian sailor.

If she finishes 7th or worse and is within 5 places of the Belgian sailor, then she cannot be more than 5 places behind Finland.

With a first place she takes at least a silver medal, and, if the Dutch competitor is more than 5 places behind, that silver become gold.

Between 1st and 5th and ahead of the Dane guarantees at least a silver.

MEDAL RACE SCENARIOS FOR ANNALISE MURPHY (IRL)

In the final race of the Laser Radial qualification series, prior to Monday's medal race, Annalise Murphy finished seventh to complete the preliminaries in the bronze medal position. It is an excellent performance in difficult conditions by the National Yacht Club sailor with a string of very consistent results of 1, 13, 4, 7, 5, 2, (17), 12, 6, 7 in the 37–boat fleet. 

But even with such a scoresheet a medal is not yet guaranteed. All Murphy's main rivals finished ahead of her in race ten and regatta leader Marit Bouwmeester (NED), who finished the race in second place, now has an 8 point gap over second placed Annemarie Rindom (DEN) going into the medal race.

Rindom's third place in this race, allowed her to leapfrog Murphy by two points, while another big gain was made by Belgium's Evi Van Acker who narrowed the gap to Murphy to 9 points.

Starting at the pin end of race ten, Murphy was third around the first weather mark and, like Bouwmeester favoured the right hand side of the run to round the bottom mark in fourth place. However, her chosen left side was not the place to be on the next upwind leg and, despite the full hiking conditions, she fell back in to the pack, rounding the 2nd weather mark in eighth place. Up ahead the Dutch girl maintained second behind Alison Young (GBR) thus widening the gap between herself and Murphy in overall points. The downwind saw the Irish girl lose a further four places, but a hike out to the right on the last upwind prompted a small recovery to 10th, consolidated on the final run, with a further three places gained by the finish line.

Read also: Annalise's Medal Race Possibilities

Bouwmeester has moved back to the top of the leaderboard and holds a useful eight-point buffer on second placed Rindom for the Medal Race. The London 2012 silver medallist is assured of another medal and is strongly positioned to win the gold that was so nearly hers four years ago.

The Laser Radials contested one race on the Pão de Açucar (Sugarloaf Mountain) course and one on Niterói, and Bouwmeester proved very adaptable to the different conditions, scoring 5,2. Murphy also sailed superbly to score a sixth and seventh which puts her just two points behind Rindom. However best performer of the day was Evi Van Acker (BEL) whose first and fifth has brought her back into medal contention after a shaky start to the regatta, compounded by the effects of an intestinal infection. She and fifth-placed Tuula Tenkanen (FIN) will have to sail a very good Medal Race to have a chance at silver or bronze, but it's possible.

For Bouwmeester the Olympic Medal Race is familiar territory, after taking silver in the tightest of contests four years ago in London. "I think this time the difference is I have a few points on second and I'm certain of a medal, but the similarity is I still have to do a good Medal Race on Monday. We like the Medal Race course, it's challenging, but I'm quite confident there even though you never quite know what's going to happen on that course."

Evi van Acker was looking forward to another period of rest before Monday's showdown. "I still need to rest, after today. I'm pretty tired. I had my best day so far, and I'm so happy with the way I recovered after the bad three days at the beginning. For me the 36 hours of treatment and rest in the middle of the week was very important to have more energy and keep fighting. I made sure I had a lot of rest, a lot of food and a lot of smiling."

The bronze medallist from 2012 will have to fight hard and sail well to be assured of another medal in Rio. "It feels like London all over again, pretty much the same people and same situation except this this time I'm a bit behind. So I'll have to sail well in the Medal Race. But I'll be ready to go."

Meanwhile, China’s Lijia Xu was disqualified from races seven and eight for ‘right of way’ incidents. The pre-event favourite had already discarded a disqualification earlier in the series meaning she had to count two maximum scores for Friday’s races. She ends the series in 18th overall and will not be in the medal race on Monday.

It's a sensational Saturday for Irish sailing after a stunning sixth scored in race nine, Annalise Murphy moves back up to second in the overall rankings in the Laser Radial Fleet. Annalise recovered well from the teens in a 12–knot race that featured a poor result for the former series leader Anne-Marie Rindom of Denmark who is now third, two points behind Annalise on 52 points. The overall leader is now Holland's Marit Boumeester on 45 points. Race ten, the final qualifying race before Monday's medal race, follows shortly.

In another massive result for the Irish sailing team today, the 49er mens skiff pair, Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern, of Ballyholme Yacht Club, have won the fourth race of the series and move into second overall. 

 

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.

With yesterday’s fourth day of sailing for the Women’s Laser Radials at the Rio Olympics bedevilled by light breezes after unusually strong winds earlier in the week, pressure is intensified on Annalise Murphy, who has electrified everyone at home with an inspirational performance. Although she slipped from the lead to third overall after recording an 18th in yesterday’s first race in light conditions, she saw an improvement in the second contest (Race 8) to take 12th and continue in a clearer third place overall. W M Nixon takes a look at the family background which has provided the foundations for this world class sailor, and analyses how our Olympic sailing history has made the hope for a medal almost a national obsession.

Olympic sport is a matter of intensely private effort made under an unprecedented level of global scrutiny. And Olympic sailing can seem like a particularly exquisite form of torture, as it manages to combine the toughest elements of the sprint with the marathon.

The sprint side is obvious. The races of the 2016 Olympiad can seem almost absurdly short to the observer, even if they seem long enough to the participants, particularly those who have carved out a lead. But the insidious marathon side is to be found in the overall length of time the entire series takes up. Days and days. It’s like war. Brief periods of intense excitement and activity, separated by long periods – day after day - of waiting. Boredom could become an enemy for the psychologically unprepared.

In sailing in particular, the complexity is total. This vehicle sport, in which the mysterious wind is the driving power, and on an unpredictable sea at that, is a severe test for athletic ability, technological savvy, tactical and strategical techniques, and the most profound depths of psychological inner strength.

Even in a normal sailing area, that’s how sailing is. But the sailing in Rio is heroically abnormal. In fact, for the first five days of the Sailing Olympiad 2016, it could be argued that the sailing conditions are the unpredictable stars of the show. Offshore breeze with smooth water? Then you can get little bullets of wind curving round those crazy peaks to have one boat planing along while another well within shouting distance is just plodding. Strong onshore winds? They don’t mess about – these are winds, they’re not breezes, and on the most seaward course area at Copacabana, the result can be waves as big as house.

And then yesterday came light airs. So those who are doing well are those who are keeping themselves unfazed by the kaleidoscope of sailing conditions. And as Annalise Murphy has made no less than nine prolonged sailing visits to the race area in the three and more years since she shook off the upset of suddenly dropping out of the medals at the London Games of 2012 in the final Medals Race itself, Rio is almost a home from home, and she knows its wayward ways

But inevitably as she comes within striking distance of a medal in Rio, everything is magnified. But not in any panoramic way. We’re talking microscopic magnification here. Her every move, every facial expression, every statement, is minutely dissected and analysed.

A fortnight ago here, in trying to set the scene, we gave an impression of the team as they prepared to depart for Rio:

“So how are our sailors going to do in Rio? As Annalise Murphy has more experience of the venue than anyone else, her opinions were of special interest. She crisply dismissed any grumblings about the flukiness of the sailing waters by saying that the unpredictability is so general in sailing in Rio’s winter (or what passes for winter when you’re near enough to the equator) that in the end it’s the same for everyone.

Certainly she’s giving it her best shot, and she has benefitted – as have all the Irish sailing squad - from the involvement (intensive in her case) of uber-coach Gary Keegan of the Institute of Sport. He’s leaving the Institute for a new venture after the Olympics, but for now, he has helped guide Murphy to peak form, thanks to a closely-controlled weight reduction programme as part of a carefully-monitored training plan which, at Tuesday’s conference, had the Irish sailor looking extremely fit and well, with her mental outlook in a very good place.”

The Annalise Murphy who went off to the Olympics less than a fortnight ago was a very different person from the frustrated sailor who was disappointed with her own international performances early in the season. There’ll be time enough, once these Olympics are over, to learn about how the transformation was brought about in such a relatively short time. But some hints of the psychological adjustments which have been made came through from various sources.

In her interviews this week, as the mesmerizing saga of her consistency at the top of the Women’s Laser Radial leaderboard has unfolded to capture the national imagination, one of her comments stands out. She has said several times – indeed, many times – that she’s enjoying herself. Ally that with her determination to take it one race at a time, together with her new extra-trim fitness levels, and in all, Ireland has a formidable presence among the pace-setters in her class.

It speaks volumes for her strength of character, which in turn speaks volumes for the family background from which she has emerged. But then, when you have parents like Con Murphy and Cathy McAleavey, the likelihood of your own sailing being something special is very high indeed.

Con and Cathy were pioneers in multi-hull sailing in Ireland, and then Cathy pioneered in another direction by teaming up with Aisling Byrne to race the 470 for Ireland in the 1988 Olympics, the first Olympics with a specifically women’s class.

Cathy McAleavey and her daughter Annalise Murphy racing the family’s Water Wag in the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta. Photo VDLR
Cathy has since become a tower of strength in the classic boat movement with new boats for the Water Wag and Shannon One Design classes built with the great Jimmy Furey of Roscommon, but for many years before that she was a serious competitor in the Lasers. Yet it was the Holy Grail of the Round Ireland Sailing Record which really brought Con and Cathy into the limelight way back in 1993, when they persuaded Steve Fossett to bring his 60ft trimaran Lakota to Ireland for a record challenge in September. It was a challenge in which Con and Cathy were key members in the crew, a challenge so perfectly calculated that their record time stood for 22 years.

Thus there was a satisfying completeness to the global sailing scene as it impinged on their home club of the National Yacht Club last night, for not only were members gathered to cheer Annalise on her way as she sailed races 7 and 8 of the Rio Olympics, but American speed sailor Lloyd Thornburg was back in town to embrace the trophy which he so recently won with Phaedo 3’s new Round Ireland record, a trophy which first appeared when the Lakota record was set back in 1993.

The crew of Lakota in the National Yacht Club after her Round Ireland Record in 1993 are (left to right) Con Murphy, Cathy McAleavey, Steve Fossett, Dave Scully, and Brian Thompson who currently sails with Lloyd Thornburg on Phaedo 3.

As for Irish involvement in the sailing Olympics, it goes back only to 1948, as it had taken some time since Irish Independence in 1921 to establish a separate Irish national sailing identity. In fact for some time to come, most contentious sailing matters were still to be referred to the Yacht Racing Association in London, which became the Royal Yachting Association in 1953).

But for the Olympics in 1948, an ad hoc organization called the Irish Yachting Federation was established to be the required national authority. Thereafter, the Irish Dinghy Racing Association (subsequently the Irish Yachting Association, and now the ISA) took over the role, but today in seeing Ireland contemplate medal territory, it’s timely to salute those who sailed for Ireland in the Olympic cause in times past, for as late starters in the Olympic sailing game, we have an extra edge to our medal hunger. And we can also reflect on the huge changes in boat type used.

The boats of the 1948 Olympics are (left to right) the Firefly, International Star, Swallow Class, International Dragon, and International 6 Metre. In this first post-World War II Olympiad, while London hosted the main shoreside events, the sailing was staged 200 miles away in Torbay in Devon. Although the Germans had been developing una-rigged single-handed dinghies pre-war, following the Hitler unpleasantness there was no way the British hosts were going to use German boats for the 1948 games. In a sailing situation typical of the times, there was only one dinghy – all the others were keelboats. The new Uffa Fox-designed 12ft Firefly, hot-moulded “like a waffle” by Fairey Marine, was roped in to be the Singlehander despite being sloop rigged (it was to be replaced by the Finn for the 1952 Games), while the two-man boat was the 26ft Swallow Class keelboat.
IRISH OLYMPIC SAILING REPRESENTATION, 1948-2016

1948 - London (Torquay)
Firefly: Jimmy Mooney
Swallow: Alf Delaney, Hugh Allen
Reserve: D St J Sullivan
Management: Billy Mooney, Errol McNally

1952 - Helsinki
Finn: Alf Delany

1956 Melbourne
Finn: J. Somers Payne

1960 Rome
Flying Dutchman: Johnny Hooper, Peter Gray
Dragon: Jimmy Mooney, David Ryder, Robin Benson
Finn Class: J. Somers Payne
Reserve: Neil Hegarty
Management: Clayton Love Jnr, Alf Delaney
Boatman: Jimmy Miller

1964 Tokyo
Dragon: Eddie Kelliher, Harry Maguire, Rob Dalton
Finn: Johnny Hooper
Manager: Leo Flanagan

1968 Mexico City - Sailing in Acapulco
No competitors

1972 Munich - Sailing in Kiel
Tempest: David Wilkins, Sean Whitaker
Dragon: Robin Hennessy, Harry Byrne, Owen Delany
Finn: Kevin McLaverty
Flying Dutchman: Harold Cudmore, Richard O'Shea
Reserves: Curly Morris, Joe McMenamin
Management: Peter Gray, Ken Ryan, Kare Brevik

1976 Montreal - Sailing in Kingston
470: Robert Dix, Peter Dix
Flying Dutchman: Barry O'Neill, Jamie Wilkinson
Tempest: David Wilkins, Derek Jago
Management: Ken Ryan, Jock Smith

1980 Moscow - Sailing in Talinn
SILVER MEDAL
Flying Dutchman: David Wilkins, Jamie Wilkinson
Management: Michael Maguire, Tom Clancy

The magic moment – Afloat report on 1980’s Silver Medal
1984 Los Angeles

Finn: Bill O'Hara
Management: Mick Wallace

1988 Seoul - Sailing in Pusan
Finn: Bill O'Hara
Flying Dutchman: David Wilkins, Peter Kennedy
470(Women): Cathy MacAleavy, Aisling Byrne
Reserves: Maeve McNally, Conrad Simpson
Management: Michael Wallace, Con Murphy

1992 Barcelona
Europe: Denise Lyttle
Flying Dutchman: David Wilkins, Peter Kennedy
Star: Mark Mansfield, Tom McWilliam
Reserves: Denis E O'Sullivan, Conrad Simpson
Management: Michael Wallace, Mark Lyttle, Trevor Millar

1996 Atlanta - Sailing in Savannah
Laser - Mark Lyttle
Europe - Aisling Bowman(Byrne)
Finn - John Driscoll
Star - Mark Mansfield & David Burrows
470 (Women) - Denise Lyttle & Louise Cole
Soling - Marshall King, Dan O'Grady & Garrett Connolly
Management - Derek Jago, Paddy Boyd, Anne Blaney and Bill O'Hara

2000 Sydney
Europe - Maria Coleman
Finn - David Burrows
Star - Mark Mansfield & David O'Brien
Management - Bill O'Hara, James Hynes, Garrett Connolly, Paddy Boyd, Anne Blaney

2004 Athens
Europe - Maria Coleman
Finn - David Burrows
Star - Mark Mansfield & Killian Collins
49er - Tom Fitzpatrick & Fraser Brown
470 - Gerald Owens & Ross Killian
Laser - Rory Fitzpatrick
Management - Garrett Connolly

2008 Qingdao
Star - Peter O'Leary & Stephen Milne
Finn - Tim Goodbody
Laser Radial - Ciara Peelo
470 - Gerald Owens & Phil Lawton
Management - James O'Callaghan

2012 London sailing at Portland/Weymouth
Star - Peter O'Leary & David Burrows
Laser Radial - Annalise Murphy
49er - Ryan Seaton & Matt McGovern
Laser - James Espey
470 - Ger Owens & Scott Flanigan

2016 Rio de Janeiro
Laser Radial – Annalise Murphy
49er – Ryan Seaton & Matt McGovern
Laser – Finn Lynch
49erFX – Andrea Brewster & Saskia Tidey

The International Star was the unlikely provider of the last gasp for keelboats, and that was in the 2012 Olympics. Although the Stars still harbour hopes that they will get a call to return to the five ring circus, no-one else sees keelboats happening again in the line–up, as the athletic approach to sailing takes over completely.

As it is, involvement with the Olympics can knock a class off course completely, and over the 120 years of Olympic sailing, only a few of the boat types involved longterm have emerged unscathed. All of which resonates to the great credit of the Bruce Kirby-designed Laser. Here at last is a boat which can be both a very viable Olympic class – it has the biggest fleet at Rio – while also being a boat which succeeds for sailors at all levels. So let’s hear it for the gallant little Laser – she has risen above the Curse of the Olympics.

Meanwhile out in Rio yesterday the evening trickled away and still the quest for another medal, the first since 1980, goes on. Over the years, the level of Irish achievement has gradually risen. In 1960 when the Rome Olympics staged the sailing in Naples, we had our first race win by Peter Gray and Johnny Hooper, but that was by default as the Italian crew were disqualified after it was proven they’d left out a mark.

Thus it was 1972 at Kiel in Germany before Ireland got a race-winning gun, for David Wilkins and Sean Whitaker in the Tempest two-man keelboat. And then eight years later it was David Wilkins – our most tenacious Olympic sailor – who finally brought home the Silver Medal, crewed by Jamie Wilkinson in the Flying Dutchman, a two-man 20ft dinghy which seemed the height of modernity at the time, hut with a massively over-lapping genoa which went round the block and back again, she now seems almost quaint.

The team which took the Silver Medal in 1980 are (left to right) David Wilkins (helm), Michael Maguire (Manager), Kare Brevik (Meteorologist), Ken Ryan (Chef d’Equipe) and Jamie Wilkinson (crew)
But yesterday’s conditions weren’t quaint. They were maddening. Racing went nowhere at first, but by the second race - Race 8 - a reasonable breeze filled in further offshore. Annalise Murphy’s 18th in Race 7 should be seen in the broader context, with Race 8’s 12th firming up her third overall. For Olympic newbie Finn Lynch in the Men’s Laser the competition piled on, and he had to be content with a 33rd in Race 7 which tested his resolve, as it puts him back to 28th overall in a series in which he was showing in the top third of the 46–strong fleet in the early races, but her finished the day 30th overall.

As for the next wave of classes now coming into their programmes, Matt McGovern and Ryan Seaton in the 49er were best, they showed a 14th for the first race, but an outstanding second in Race 2 shunted them up to fifth overall, which is definitely something to work with.

But taking the long view, a medal is a medal. After 36 years, the people are hungry and thirsty. So for now, here’s to the Flying Dutchman, which did it for us back in 1980.

The International Flying Dutchman. All of 20ft long, and with a genoa only for heroes. But she brought home the Silver for Ireland in 1980