Ireland's Laser Radial Olympic medalist Annalise Murphy who was competing at a Moth event in Bermuda lat week will have been keeping a close eye on the Sailing World Cup Final in Melbourne, Australia where her Radial competitors were in action for the first time since Rio.

It was advantage to Rio 2016 Olympic gold medallist Marit Bouwmeester (NED) in the Laser Radial fleet heading into the Medal Race. The Dutch racer took a 12-point lead over Rio 2016 bronze medallist Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) into the final day and played her cards perfectly to walk away with World Cup gold.

Bouwmeester stayed close to Rindom, remaining risk free and allowing the Dane to win which confirmed Boumeester's gold medal and Rindom's silver.

"I should have been a bit more aggressive to win the race,” said Bouwmeester. "I thought if I stayed close to Anne-Marie I would be fine. I don't think I sailed my quickest but I'm happy to be here and finish the year off with a win. I'm going to have a nice break, put some proper work in and then I'll be back next year.”

Emma Plasschaert (BEL) overhauled Silvia Zennaro (ITA) to complete the podium.

Royal Cork's Johnny Durcan and the National Yacht Club's Nicole Hemeryck are ready for battle at the 2016 Aon Youth Sailing World Championships in New Zealand this Friday. Both the Irish sailors will compete in the Laser Radial class which will see the most countries and possibly the most diverse experience levels of all the fleets taking part.

When the racing begins in Auckland on December 16, the Irish sailors will meet time international racers, Youth Olympians and even senior level Olympians.

The girl's fleet will boast three Rio 2016 Olympic competitors who will feel they can push for the podium positions in a competition where sailing as the only country representative is few and far between.

Uruguay's Olympic flagbearer, Dolores Moreira Fraschini and Malaysia's Nur Shazrin Mohamed Latif represented their countries at the summer Games and so did last year's Youth Worlds champion, Hungary's Maria Erdi.

Speaking about her title defence Erdi said, "I'm very excited. I've been waiting for this event all year and it's finally here. I can't wait to see all the people. I was only racing in the open fleet this year and I was missing the youth fleet a lot. It will be also interesting to see how much the girls have improved.”

Some of those girls focussing on improvement are the competitors from the emerging nations like Venezuela's Nicolle Gonzalez and Egypt's Khouloud Mansy who have been getting in some last minute coaching in New Zealand from the World Sailing nominated experts.

Realistic about her chances, Mansy said, "I'm looking forward to it because it's my first time taking part. I know I'm not going to get the best results but I came here to do my best and for the whole experience. Make new friends. The weather. The event as a whole and just gradually improving.”

Gonzalez is taking a different approach and praying for the right conditions to give her a little edge, "I hope that it's not too windy. Ideally I want 5-7 knots and if it is those kinds of conditions I hope to be near the top of the fleet. If not, I just have to do my best and take the experience forward for next year.”

As well as international regatta novices and Olympians, there is also the returning 2015 silver medallist from Germany, Hannah Anderssohn. Anderssohn will resume her dual with champion Erdi from Langkawi, Malaysia last year.

Also in the mix will be Aruba's Odile van Aanholt who holds a Youth Olympic Games (YOG) silver medal in the Byte CII from Nanjing 2014.

There will be a new champion in the boy's section as Australia's Alistair Young is aged out paving the way for New Zealand's George Gautrey and Great Britain's Daniel Whiteley to move up from the respective silver and bronze medals they won in 2015.

As Gautrey and Whiteley return, two sailors either side of the pair in terms of Youth Worlds experience are Guatemala's Matias Rosenberg Callejas and Slovakia's Patrik Melis.

"It's my first Youth Worlds,” said Callejas, "I'm just 14 and hopefully I will have four more Youth Worlds after this and I want to do the best now and then make sure I do better next year. This year is more about experience.”

Returning to the Youth Worlds, Melis is very much excited about the challenge ahead, "Of course I am looking forward to it. It's going to be my third Youth Worlds and I want to improve my results from the last two years. New Zealand is a great place and I'm really going to enjoy it.”

There is also some YOG experience in the boy's fleet with sailors like Teariki Numa (PNG) and Asri Azman (MAS) as well as the Nanjing 2014 Byte CII winner, Bernie Chin from Singapore.

The Laser Radial boys fleet will begin at 10:55 local time on 16 December and the girls fleet begin at 11:10. Both have two races.

#Annalise - After a whirlwind 24-hour round trip by ferry and road to Britain this week, Annalise Murphy has returned to Ireland with the boat she sailed to a silver medal at this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio.

The idea of taking ownership of the historic Laser Radial dinghy was first mooted by our own WM Nixon back in August, and quickly gathered pace as Jim Cusask talked up the notion for the Irish Independent.

Here’s hoping Annalise and team have plans to let the public get a closer look at the dinghy she raced to success on Guanabara Bay at Rio 2016.

A 24hr round trip to @LaserPerform to pick up my boat from the Olympics! @Irish_Ferries got me safely home at 6am this morning! pic.twitter.com/WIH8iTFyBE

— Annalise Murphy (@Annalise_Murphy) November 29, 2016

Tomorrow's All Ireland Junior sailing championships looks like it will get off to a wet and windy start for the 16–nominated junior sailing stars drawn from seven yacht clubs from around the country.

The Under–18 championships is scheduled to race over two days in West Cork's own TR3.6 two handed dinghies but the weather forecast for the Schull venue shows winds topping 40–knots for Saturday and the same again on Sunday.  

XC weather forecaster shows big winds in Schull, West Cork tomorrow

In a show of strength for Dublin's Royal St. George Yacht Club more than a third of the participants are drawn from the Dun Laoghaire club. RStGYC juniors are representing the RS200 (Toby Hudson Fowler), the RS Feva (Henry Start), Laser 4.7 (Peter Fagan), Optimist (Tom Higgins), Topper (Jack Fahy) and Kate Lyttle from the 420 class.

Multi–champion in the Optimist class, Tom Higgins from the Royal St. George, is nominated for this weekend's All Ireland Juniors  in Schull

Royal Cork Yacht Club is the next biggest club on the water in Schull with four sailors involved. 29er skipper Harry Durcan and twin Johnny representing 29er and Laser Radials respectively. Harry Twomey represents the Optimist class and Sophie Crosby sails for the Toppers. 

The National Yacht Club's Clare Gorman represents the Laser 4.7 and will defend the girls title and the NYC's Leah Rickard sails for the Optimists.

Schull's own TR3.6 dinghies ready for the junior all Ireland sailors. Photo: Fastnet Marine

The West coast is represented by three clubs.Topaz sailors Adam Byrne and Dylan Reidy representing Dingle SC and Foynes YC respectively and Sligo Yacht Club sends Mirror ace Sarah White.

The 420 class is represented by Geoff Power of Waterford Harbour Sailing Club. 

Full nominee list below

#AnnaliseMurphy - Barely a month after her silver medal victory at the Rio Olympics and Annalise Murphy, The Irish Times' Sportswoman of the Month for August, is already back on the water.

This time, however, it was the foiling Moth she describes as her hobby compared to the "day job" of the Laser Radial she sailed to a podium finish in Rio's Guanabara Bay on 16 August.

Murphy – who was also named Afloat.ie's Sailor of the Month for August – tells Mary Hannigan how she still wakes up feeling like her incredible achievement was a dream - though her newfound fame has certainly changed her everyday life as fans approach with their congratulations.

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

#AnnaliseMurphy - Annalise Murphy has spoken of how the sting of missing out on a medal at London 2012 haunted her over the years of preparations for the Rio Olympics this summer – till she decided to make sailing fun again.

The Laser Radial silver medallist was a guest on last night's Late Late Show on RTÉ One – now available to watch on demand on the RTÉ Player – where she opened up to host Ryan Tubridy about the pressure her experience in Weymouth put her under.

"That medal race in London, it's kind of haunted me for the last four years," she said. "I always had this sort of voice in the back of my head, thinking maybe that was my moment and I messed it up.

"Olympic medals, they're really hard to come by, and I thought, maybe I wasn't going to get a medal in Rio, and that was going to be as good as it was going to get."

Murphy described her training in the intervening four years as a "rollercoaster", in particular last year's test event at the Rio sailing course, intended to see what shape she was in for this summer's games, where she placed last in the first day's races.

"The harder I tried, the 'more last' I would come," she said. "I nearly had to see the funny side of it, [because] I'd trained so hard and it just wasn't working out for me."

Murphy said the turning point was when she realised "I haven't been having fun, I need to start enjoying this again."

As a result, she regained her confidence "and in the last couple of months leading into the Olympics, I really felt like I was having good form and everything might start to work out my way."

Murphy credits her coach Rory Fitzpatrick, sports psychologist Kate Kirby and training partner Sara Winther with establishing a routine during the daunting week of racing in Rio, and keeping her "always in a really good frame of mind, just really enjoying it. Not getting stressed out, when I think of how some of the other competitors were."

But into the final medal race, she says she "suddenly had the fear of 'Oh no, I'm going to finish fourth again, this is going to be terrible.'"

Getting out on the water, the windy conditions gave a boost to the erstwhile 'Queen of the Breeze'.

However, when things got a bit too gusty, and Murphy suffered a number of capsizes, the race was postponed and she recalls: "At that stage I just wanted it to be done.

"I went into that [rescheduled medal] race thinking 'If I'm afraid ... I'm going to lose out.' I went in with zero fear. I was just like, 'You have to go and attack this race and see what happens.'"

It wasn't till she was in second place around the last windward mark, alongside Great Britain's Alison Young, and knowing both were far ahead of their closest rivals, that she realised a silver medal was hers at the very least.

"For it all to suddenly come together at the right time, it was just this feeling of relief," she said.

"Now I can look back and go, 'That was a really good fourth place in London.'"

Earlier in the evening, rowing silver medallists at Rio – and Afloat.ie rowers of the month for May 2015 – Paul and Gary O'Donovan shared their own story with Tubridy from the Late Late Show couch, which is also available on the RTÉ Player till 2 October.

#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.”

Hello and welcome aboard this week’s edition of your maritime programme Seascapes, shortly we’ll be talking to Eugene Garrihy of Dublin Bay Cruises out on the water aboard the St Bridget in Dublin Bay .......... Seamus Maguire will be linking up with us from our Sligo Studios where he has all the details on the All Ireland Coastal Rowing Championships and the inaugural Donegal Bay Maritime Festival .......our intrepid duo of Laura Hannon and Sarah Murphy bring us a further selection of reports from the Shore Shots Film Festival held in Sligo in April..they were there for Seascapes so this week in Part Two we feature ace surf photographer Tim Nunn and former professional surfer Fergal Smith ........first this week to the KBC Laser Radial World Championships opening ceremony which took place last Sunday in Dun Laoghaire in brilliant sunshine hosted by the Royal St George Yacht Club and the Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company we were there and as the forty eight flags of the attending countries were held aloft in the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council offices we spoke to David Kelly , Chairman of the event ......

Well from David Kelly and Eric Faust we spoke next to the Harbour Master Captain Simon Coate ....

At the event we also met Con Murphy; Louis Monk; Gareth Craig of Fotosail and many other friends of the programme, a few words from the Commodore of The Royal St George Yacht Club – Justin McKenna.....

You can read and see more about the KBC Laser Radial World Championships in Dun Laoghaire on the Seascapes webpage.....

Next to Dublin Bay and Dublin Bay Cruises who operate a fine vessel the St Bridget taking natives and visiting tourists across the bay to Dun Laoghaire and Howth we’ll hear about the BioSphere that is Dublin Bay on next weeks edition of Seascapes with and we’ll have a word with Catherine McCloskey of Failte Ireland on the “Breath of Fresh Air” initiative however on Monday of this week as the KBC Laser Radial World Championships were in full swing in the waters out off Dun Laoghaire we left the quayside at Sir John Rogersons Quay just down river from the Samuel Beckett Bridge and talked to Eugene Garrihy about the company and how it all began .....

As we motored out in the bay we met the Boskalis company's dredger the Freeway heading into the port ....we’ll have more here on Seascapes next week on Dublin Bay Cruises and the BioSphere with Dr Favel Naulty and hear from Caroline McCloskey of Failte Ireland about “A Breath of Fresh Air” , we can heartily recommend a voyage out on the water it’s a very comfortable and unique experience no matter what part of this island you are from ........and they don’t sail in adverse weather conditions .........you get a great sense of the scale of the port -the marine traffic the bay, the scenery and the wildlife ...

In our Seascapes competition this week you can win copies of “Shackleton’s South” as retold by John Mac Kenna in a “Real Reads” edition for youngsters with illustrations by Maurice Pierse if you can name the last vessel on which Sir Ernest Shackleton sailed in the Southern Ocean before his passing (hint the Cabin from the vessel is being restored in the West) ......answers on a postcard to Seascapes , RTE Radio 1, Fr Mathew Street , Cork or by email to [email protected]

Next to Donegal where the inaugural Donegal Bay Maritime Festival and the All Ireland Coastal Rowing Championships are taking place , we can hear from Seamus Maguire who is in our Sligo Studios and has all the details........

One young man whom we featured on Seascapes some years ago is Westport native Fergal Smith a former professional surfer he talked to Laura Hannon for Seascapes at Shore Shots ......

Fergal Smith at Shore Shots Festival in Sligo talking to Laura Hannon , next to surf photographer , writer and film maker Tim Nunn.....

The voice of Tim Nunn at Shore Shots talking to Sarah Murphy....next week here on Seascapes Ron Coveney meets Freediving Ireland’s Feargus Callagy and he talks to Peter Conroy of Irish Tow Surf Rescue Club ..............
This week an exhibition of aerial photographs “ West Cork from the Air “ by Dennis Horgan was opened by Lord David Puttnam and the exhibition continues for the next few weeks in the Town Hall in Skibereen with stunning images of the Fastnet ; Roaringwater Bay and Crookhaven.....more on the seascapes webpage....

“Next week here on Seascapes more on Dublin Bay Cruises with Eugene Garrihy and the BioSphere with Dublin Bay BioSphere Discovery Tour Guide Dr Favel Naulty , and in a Seascapes exclusive we visit Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club and meet our sailing Olympians to coincide with the Brasil Olympic Games opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro we’ll hear from Finn Lynch ; Saskia Tidey ; Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern and Annalise Murphy and the Irish Olympic Sailing team leader James O’Callaghan plus we meet the Commodore of Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club Roger Smith and hear about their regatta which is happening on the 13th and 14th August .....................and in our final report from Shore Shots Ron Coveney talks to Freediver Feargus Callagy and Peter Conroy of the Irish Tow Surf Rescue Club...................all that and much more here on Seascapes , until next Friday night , tight lines and fair sailing.”

Marcus Connaughton

China's Lijia Xu, The Netherlands' Marit Bouwmeester and Belgium's Evi Van Acker, medallists from London 2012, will make their Olympic return in the One Person Dinghy (Laser Radial) at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. For Ireland's fourth placed Annalise Murphy it is a chance to settle old scores.

The four were locked in a thrilling winner take all Medal Race battle at the London 2012 Olympic Games with Annalise missing out on the podium in Weymouth and Portland, Great Britain.

Four years on and Xu returns to defend her crown, Bouwmeester and Van Acker will be aiming to go one and two spots up whereas Murphy will be wanting to vanquish the demons from London 2012.

The Chinese racer initially stepped away from the sport after London 2012 but the lure was too strong as she made a return to Olympic sailing at the end of 2015.

"Of course the goal is to get another medal,” explained Xu, "but realistically it's a very short time, only one year, to prepare.

"I decided to retire because of so many injuries. I suffered quite a lot and I wanted to have a healthy body to live the rest of my life with, rather than having pain here and there. Last August I suddenly felt that the Olympics was still something that fired me up. After two years break I actually felt my body was recovering much better than before so I thought why not give it another try.”

Xu has secured some steady results since making her return with a silver medal at the 2016 Sailing World Cup Weymouth and Portland regatta the highlight. Whatever her result at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games is, the picture is much broader for Xu, "The Olympics is just part of the goal and I want to lead an active life forever and leave a legacy for Chinese sailing. That's the ultimate goal I'm seeking and the Olympics is just a part of it.

"I think I am one of the few who is doing something I truly love and enjoy doing. Of course, in terms of Olympic sailing and the Olympic circuit it takes a lot of effort and you need to be prepared to make some sacrifices like being away from home, travelling a lot and spending thousands of hours in the gym and on the water.

"So long as you find something that interests you it will motivate you to keep going, no matter what lies ahead. I feel very lucky to find sailing as not just my hobby but as my career.”

As for the form guide, Bouwmeester and Van Acker have dominated the Laser Radial over the Olympic quadrennial. The Dutch and Belgian racers have featured regularly on World Championship, European Championship, Sailing World Cup and Olympic Test Event podiums. They will both be major contenders in Rio.

Building up to the 2016 Games, the World Championship titles have been shared four ways. Tina Mihelic of Croatia took the title in 2013, Bouwmeester snapped it up in 2014 followed by Anne Marie Rindom (DEN) in 2015 and Alison Young (GBR) in 2016. Mihelic, Rindom and Young have the Olympic experience under their belts as well so know what it takes to perform.

Away from the World Championships, Lithuania's Gintare Scheidt, Beijing 2008 silver medallist and wife of Brazilian sailing legend Robert, claimed gold at the 2015 Olympic Test Event. Scheidt will be making her third Olympic appearance and will also have the honour of carrying her nations flag at the Opening Ceremony on 5 August.

Further leading lights of the Laser Radial, who will have an eye on the podium, are Tatiana Drozdovskaya (BLR), Veronika Fenclova (CZE), Tuula Tenkanen (FIN), Ireland's Murphy, Josefin Olsson (SWE) and Paige Railey (USA).

Much like the Men's One Person Dinghy (Laser), the Laser Radial will feature some of the tightest, tactical racing at Rio 2016 and any sailor on any given day could come up with a performance of a lifetime to seal the deal.

Racing will commence at 13:10 local time on Monday 8 August on the Escola Naval racing area.

Imagination matters when growing up. Children pictures themselves as their heroes and heroines. From film stars, sporting heroes, astronauts and firemen, the list goes on.
Having a vivid imagination is key and playgrounds and playrooms are transformed into iconic venues such as the Brazilian football stadium, the Maracana and Hollywood's Red Carpet. As children grow up, the imagination helps to form dreams which can often turn into reality.

However sometimes when you're about to achieve your dream, it's important to remember the innocence of a childhood imagination. It seems farfetched that on the eve of a four-way Olympic showdown that a soon to be Queen of Chinese Olympic Sailing did exactly that, imagining herself as an A-list actress, parading in front of the world's showbiz media on the red carpet of a Hollywood premiere, eyes of the world on her in an attempt to relieve the pressure of Olympic sport. For Lijia Xu, it worked.

Heading into the Laser Radial Medal Race at London 2012 China's Xu was one of four sailors in with a shout of gold. Out of Xu, Marit Bouwmeester (NED), Evi Van Acker (BEL) and Annalise Murphy (IRL) it was winner take all.

Far from being a perfect race for Xu, it was however, her best Olympic race.

"I meditated and pretended to be an elegant actress with numerous cameras on me," explained Xu. "I sailed the race in my mind over and over again and I was prepared for the spectators on the Nothe course and lots of cameras."

As the cameras started to roll each leading contender concentrated on their own efforts as whoever crossed the finish line first would be crowned Olympic champion.

Bouwmeester took the early initiative but it then swayed to Murphy and then to Xu. As Xu looked to take control she was penalised on the first downwind and forced to make a penalty turn, handing the advantage back to Bouwmeester. However, Xu was in the mood and focused solely on what had to be done. She grabbed the lead and held on to cross the finish line to take Olympic glory.

Watch Lijia Xu's Medal Race back above.