The National Yacht Club's Finn Lynch (National Yacht Club) counted two top 20 results in his 52-boat ILCA 7 flight seeking Gold fleet qualification at French Olympic Week in Hyeres.
He scored 18th and 19th places for the day in 25-knot Mistral conditions as he deals with a continuing wrist injury (an injury he first reported at Hyeres 2022)
The Med’s famous Mistral pushed the sailors to their limits and beyond on day 2 of the 54th Semaine Olympique Française de Hyères - TPM. Glorious sunshine and 23-knot+ westerlies building throughout the day and gusting towards 30 welcomed the fleets in the Bay of Hyères.
Ewan McMahon, Lynch's rival for the single Paris ILCA 7 berth, is not competing in Hyeres.
It was another strong day for Britain and Australia, who dominate the leaderboard. Britain has the leader, Eliott Hanson, two boats on the podium and three in the top eight. Their Tokyo Olympian, Hanson, gave a lesson in the art of Mistral sailing, winning both his races in blue fleet (one of three) and is the overall leader after his 2, 1 on Monday. His fellow Briton, Daniel Whiteley, was second in both those races and is third overall. Between them is Australia’s Finn Alexander, who was 2, 1 in the red fleet.
But the top of the leaderboard is packed with pedigree and single-digit numbers across the four races so far. Australia’s Olympic champion, Matt Wearn, was 1, 2 in the blue fleet to move to sixth overall - one of three Australian’s in the top six.
“Any day you win two races, it’s very satisfying, but with some heavy wind specialists in an international fleet, even more so,” Hanson, second in Hyères last year, said. “There will be changing conditions, which kind of what happened last year, I don’t think the Mistral is going to stay here for much longer. But these conditions, if you’re fit and strong and healthy, it’s very enjoyable.”
Results are here