Finn Lynch's defence of his ILCA 7/Laser World Championships silver medal suffered a gear failure setback yesterday at Vallarta, Mexico when the National Yacht Club ace posted a 'Did not Compete' (DNC) in his final qualification race.
Until yesterday, the consistent performance of the 26-year-old Carlow sailor kept him inside the top ten with an impressive scoresheet of 10, 2, 4, 13 and 10 in the 126-boat fleet.
With such scores, Lynch eased into the Gold fleet finals after three days of competition but will, however, rue the missed final qualification race.
It was a day of drama for Lynch who was lying eighth in the first race of the day but 'made contact' with another boat and ended tenth. In the second race, in ideal 12-18 knots winds, his downhaul rope broke ruling him out of the race.
Coach Vasilij Zbogar said "his downhaul rope broke but fortunately it was the last race and it is discarded so it's acceptable - the points are close and there's a lot in play in the finals."
Downhaul ropes have huge loads in Laser rigs and are fitted as a double block 8:1 purchase requiring replacement every four-to-five events, according to top campaigners.
Now at the halfway stage of the regatta and in 11th place going into the final six races, Lynch will be aiming to make up the 27 point gap between leader Jean-Baptiste Bernaz of France on 12 points and his own 39-point tally.
One race discard applies after the qualification round while a second discard will be available in the final round.
Bernaz with (19, 3, 2, 3, 2, 2 places) has maintained his overall lead in the regatta, with former World Champion Kontides moving up several places to fifth with a strong performance on Wednesday.
The championships continue with the final series where a maximum of six races will be sailed over the next three days. The top half of the fleet will sail in the Gold fleet while the balance, including injury-hit Ewan McMahon of Howth, are in the Silver fleet.
McMahon, who has battled his ankle problems since last week's pre-worlds training, has decided not to continue. Zbogar said "Ewan isn't able to perform because of his injury, it doesn't make any sense to continue to sail and make things worse," said Zbogar. "There's too much pain and too many anti-inflammatories and painkillers needed."
The top 5 starting their Final series:
1. Jean-Baptiste Bernaz (FRA) - 12 points
2. Elliot Hanson (GBR) - 15
3. Jonatan Vadnai (HUN) - 18
4. Daniel Whiteley (GBR) - 19
5. Pavlos Kontides (CYP) - 20
11. Finn Lynch, (IRL) - 39