A potent Finn Lynch of Ireland has sailed into the top ten of the ILCA 7 Laser World Championships after the first day of the final series, but a black flag disqualification for the National Yacht Club ace could yet prove costly in this single discard championship in Adelaide, Australia.
According to provisional results (see below), Lynch is ninth overall after the first of two final races in the 153-boat fleet.
The fourth day had it all: big breeze, big swells, and some world-class ILCA 7 racing.
The first blip in an otherwise uber-consistent scoreline for Lynch came in race seven, the first of the final races, when the Rio Olympian and 2021 World Silver medalist was disqualified under the black flag rule (BFD) for a premature start.
The gold fleet was eager to get started as sailors forced four general recalls in the opening race, three of them under the black flag, and a total of seven sailors ended up disqualified under black flag rules.
Lynch bounced back in the second race of the day with a well-earned 12th in breezy, testing conditions that have characterised the event.
The event schedule has two more 'finals' races on Tuesday, with the top ten boats in the Gold fleet, then going into a short, high-scoring Olympic-style medal race final on Wednesday ((with that race score worth double points and is unable to be discarded) while the remaining competitors battle to decide the other overall standings. Lynch can discard the BFD result from his tally, but if he is to make the coveted top ten final, he can afford no further slips in this single discard regatta.
The regatta also serves as the first round of an Irish Olympic trial for Paris 2024 in the men's singlehanded class and Lynch's Paris 2024 rival, Ewan McMahon of Howth Yacht Club, is in 44th place, after scoring 36 in both final gold fleet races.
The battle for Olympic qualification is also highly competitive, with seven remaining ILCA 7 Olympic nation berths also up for grabs among 15 countries in the gold fleet, which shows just how important the next two days of racing will be.