The stakes are high this morning for the final day of racing at the 1720 Europeans 2021 at Waterford Harbour Sailing Club, where the top three boats have already discarded teens or higher results after six races sailed.
A 27-boat fleet, one of the biggest in recent years, has gathered at Dunmore East, but so far proceedings have not gone as expected for pre-championship favourite Robert O'Leary and his Dutch Gold crew from Baltimore Sailing Club.
Instead, the Ross McDonald skippered Rope Dock Atara from Howth, and Royal Cork hold a commanding 16-point lead going into today's final three races, according to provisional results (see link below).
The 'McBearla' crew count two race wins on their scoresheet from six starts but will also be well aware they are discarding a 17 from race five.
This week's performance is a return to the form that McDonald found in July when he won the Eastern Championships on his home waters at Howth.
Thanks to a win and a sixth-place scored on Friday afternoon, another Howth helmsman, Robert Dix, now holds second place by a point. Therefore, the 1976 Olympian and his Lemon crew will be keen to keep a clean score sheet as they are discarding a disqualification from the second race on Thursday.
With only five points separating second O'Leary in fifth place, the national champions remain in contention for a podium later today.
Top five after six races sailed at 1720 Europeans 2021 at Waterford Harbour Sailing Club
1 1720 Rope DocK Atara 1720 2000 HYC/RCYC McBearla's 7.0 1.0 2.0 4.0 (17.0) 1.0 32.0 15.0
2 1720 Elder Lemon 1720 2888 BSC Robert Dix 2.0 (28.0 DSQ) 5.0 17.0 1.0 6.0 59.0 31.0
3 1720 Live Wire 1720 1755 BSC BSC 4.0 (16.0) 14.0 6.0 4.0 4.0 48.0 32.0
4 1720 Probably Legal 1720 1804 RCYC Mia Murphy 5.0 7.0 12.0 7.0 (19.0) 3.0 53.0 34.0
5 1720 Dutch Gold 1720 2020 BSC Rob O'Leary 1.0 10.0 10.0 (28.0 OCS) 8.0 7.0 64.0 36.0
Results here
