Northern Ireland Olympic sailors made the best of the light conditions after a light air opening to yesterday's Trofeo Princesa Sofa MAPFRE on the Bay of Palma, Mallorca.
James Espey who seeks a final shot at Olympic qualification next month in the single handed Laser is in the top ten after mastering the tricky conditions and lies one place ahead of class world champion Tom Slingsby. Espey of Royal North scored a fourth and sixth to be four places ahead of the Australian champion and only three points off the overall lead.
Espey missed out on qualification last December after a penalty at the world championships in Perth. His next qualification chance is next month at the German based World championships.
The light conditions in the first race provided good opportunities for class outsiders to take a good start in the event. Andrew Lewis from Trinidad and Tobago won the first race. David Alfonso from Puerto Rico placed second and Dennis van den Berg (AHO) 3rd, in their respective groups. At the end of the day, consistent results placed Jonasz Stelmaszyk (POL) in top place followed by British Nick Thompson and Paul Goodison (GBR).
The Laser scoresheet this morning showing James Espey in sixth place in a fleet of 138 boats
London qualified 49er pairing Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern brought home another good opening result. The Belfast lough dinghy pairing scored a 10th and 7th to rank 15th out of 76 competitors and keep Irish hopes alive of another top finish in the 49er class.
They scored a 'personal best' performance and eighth overall in the world championships in December and since then have been traveling the world in intensive training for the London Games now only 100 days away.
Two Danish teams are leading the 49ers, with Peter Kruger Andersen and Nicola Thorsell one point ahead of team mates Jonas Warrer and Soren Hansen. They both won the last race in their group.
Dun Laoghaire medal prospect Annalise Murphy scored a 33 and 18 to lie in 49th place out of 89 starters in the Laser Radial fleet, after a day when many of the top sailors were also relegated. The 22-year old is ranked fourth in the world and will be hoping to boost results in the rest of the regatta this week.
Krystal Weir (AUS) is leading after winning the first race and placing 4th in the second. Results for the top 5 are tight. The Australian is only a point ahead of Alicia Cebrian (ESP), best Spanish sailor on the water today. Third place goes to Cecilia Sarol from Argentina on equal points with Finnish Tuula Tenkanen.
Two other Irish boats are still seeking the Olympic standard but yesterday's fickle sailing conditions brought little in the way of progress to Weymouth.
Gerbil Owens and Scott Flannigan scored a 39 and 24 to be 65th out of 92 in the mens 470, a class in which Owens has represented Ireland at two Olympics. The Dun Laoghaire and Howth campaign's last chance for selection is at the 470 World Championships next month.
Ross Hamilton in the single handed Finn scored 48 and 44 to be 49th from 57.
Although Peter O'Leary and David Burrows (who were second at last month's Bacardi Cup) are missing from the red hot Olympic Star keelboat line up that includes both the Olympic and world champion, there is an Irish presence in Palma in the form of Anthony Shanks who is crewing for John Gimson, the tuning partner of GBR's Olympic gold Medallists Ian Percy and Andrew Simpson. Shanks and Gimson lie 19th out of 27.
