The National Yacht Club double Olympian Finn Lynch got his LA 2028 Olympic campaign off to a great start in Mallorca at the weekend by winning a warm up regatta ahead of this month's big one, the 54th Trofeo Princesa Sofia Trophy, that is set to attract 900 sailors to the Bay of Palma on March 28th.
The 52-boat ILCA 7 fleet at the Mallorcan Sailing Centre regatta Photo: Bernardí Bibiloni
It wasn't the only Irish weekend success at the Mallorcan Sailing Centre regatta either. Lynch's rival for the single Irish place in Long Beach in four years, the Green Rebel Howth campaigner Ewan McMahon, finished fifth in the 52-boat ILCA 7 fleet.
Lynch won the five race event in medium breezes with a 1,1, 5, 2 (8). The Irishman (tenth at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games), was followed by Croatian Filip Jurisic and Hungarian Jonatan Vadnai (fourth at Paris 2024).
As regular Afloat readers know, in a further indication of current form, Lynch recently finished eighth in a Spring Regatta in Vilamoura, Portgual, this month.
Paris Olympian Eve MccMahon of Howth in action at the Mallorcan Sailing Centre Regatta 2025 Photo: Bernardí Bibiloni
In a big showing for Howth Yacht Club in Mallorca, McMahon's sister, the 2024 Paris Olympian, Eve, finished seventh in her woman's ILCA 6 fleet with club mate Sienna Wright expected to join the Balearic Island fray in ten days when, with 188 boats registered, the ILCA 6 is the most crowded category this year.
The Italian Chiara Benini was the best among the 185 participating teams. Benini, fifth in Paris 2025, showed her magnificent performance in the qualification series with two partial victories out of a possible four, and she finished the final race to close her participation with a five-point lead over her closest challenger, Tim Lubat from Spain. Third was also Italian Emma Mattivi.
Results are here
