Olympic debutante Eve McMahon (HYC) lies in 17th place following the completion of Saturday’s racing of the 2024 Olympic regatta in the Women’s Dinghy (ILCA 6).
The light winds that plagued the Olympic race officers for the first races of the regatta were swept away by a 17-knot wind, which also shook up the 43-boat fleet.
The postponed Race 4 got underway in breezy NW winds and rough seas. Setting an outer loop quadrilateral on the Calanques race area, the race committee got the race underway just after 11 a.m. local time.
A good first leg saw Eve McMahon (HYC) rounding the top mark with the leaders but was overtaken along the reach and first downwind leg and was unable to recover, finishing in 22nd place. Hannah Snellgrove (GBR) won with Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) 2nd and Erika Reineke (USA) 3rd.
In race five, Ireland's Under 21-World champion rounded the first mark in the bottom ten of the fleet before gaining four places and moving up to 28th. However, there was no further improvement, and McMahon ended the race, dropping back six places to finish 34th.
In a three-race day, McMahon rounded the first mark of race six in tenth place and climbed to seventh by the second rounding of the windward mark with some excellent positioning to avoid port layline congestion, but will rue dropping back six places to finish the race in 13th place.
Overall, McMahon drops back two places from 15th on Friday to lie 17th overall on 80 points, 26 points off tenth overall.
"We've had tough day today to be honest with you, I'm disappointed with my sailing," McMahon said. "I picked it back up in the very last race, but with the really tricky conditions, it wasn't the best today."
The Dublin sailor is nevertheless performing well within expectations for an athlete at her stage of development, with her first Olympics coming just weeks after winning the Under 21 World Championship title.
"I don't know if I'm one of the youngest or the youngest in this event, so these girls have a lot more experience than me. I can race a lot better than what I did today, and I know I can beat a lot of those girls."
The full-power day that required a lot of stamina and fitness, particularly for the women who had to catch up a lost race from the previous schedule.
Despite the rigours, three-time Olympic medallist from The Netherlands Marit Bouwmeester extended her lead today.
“Marseille is quite tricky, so if you told me I’d have this kind of start to the regatta I would have definitely signed up to it.
“I do like the variety of conditions, the strong winds, light winds, and it’s a bit of everything. And I always find that that maybe suits me, but we’ll see what’s happening the next few days.
“Three races was quite a tough day but I really enjoyed the downwind legs. They just went by too quickly as the current was pushing us along so the upwinds were a bit longer. But I’m happy how things are going and hopefully I can maintain this level.”
Reigning World and Olympic Champion, Anne-Marie Rindom of Denmark had to dig deep today, due to not feeling well. “It was dream conditions. I mean, I love this but there is also a lot of pressure on to do well and I haven’t had the start that I was hoping and obviously with already a discard. So it’s just really tough.
“Everyone is so fast in this fleet. I definitely feel like I had to catch up a little bit today, but I am super fast so I shouldn’t be worried at all. But obviously, the nerves got to me a little bit today and not feeling super good in general, with just being a little bit sick or slightly nervous.
“I’m happy about the day because I really go out there and I take some brave decisions and that’s how I want to be as a sailor. For example it it’s a pin end start, obviously, that is a high risk start. But if that’s the best strategy for the day, then I have to go down there and fight for it.”
Big surprise package of the day was Hannah Snellgrove, the British sailor who won the first two races of the strong wind session and moves up to third overall.
“It felt like a bucket list ticking-off moment when you win a race at the Olympics. And then I did it again which is really cool. Unfortunately I couldn’t do it in the third race but I guess you can’t have too much of a good thing,” she laughed. “I hit the pin end at the start and had to do turns, so getting back to 14th was very hard work. It was a bit of a silly error, but overall today was a massive confidence boost and I’m really happy with my speed.
“That’s my favourite conditions, big waves, big wind, super fun. I mean, even even in an ILCA 6 we get to surf a little bit, you know, so can’t complain!”
Racing continues for both one-person dinghy events on Sunday and Monday with two races daily scheduled to complete their series.
Results are here
Explainer:
Medals for the Women’s Dinghy (ILCA 6) will be decided by the cumulative results of the 40-strong fleet over 10 races. The boat with the lowest total will rank first.
Athletes will be able to discard their worst finishing position after they’ve completed three races.
At the end of the Opening Series, the top ten boats in the fleet will qualify for the Medal Race, which is worth double points. The score in the Medal Race cannot be discarded. The sailor with the smallest overall points total will win gold.