Due to light winds and strong tide at the Sailing World Championships in The Hague, today's cut-short ILCA 6 qualification series has denied Ireland's Eve McMahon of Howth Yacht Club the chance to recover from a Black Flag penalty and earn herself a Gold fleet place. The Howth youth sailing star will now compete in the Silver division for the remainder of the series.

As Afloat reported earlier, McMahon had dropped to 81st overall in her 110-strong ILCA6 women's single-handed on Monday and faced a difficult comeback.

While Olympic nation qualification in The Hague represented the best possible preparation for Paris 2024 and the best indicator that Ireland is in the medal hunt, McMahon has two remaining opportunities to make the Marseille startline next July. These are the ILCA 6 2024 Continental Championships and a final qualification regatta just weeks before the Games itself.

Ireland's Eve McMahon of Howth Yacht Club dropped to 81st overall in her 110-strong ILCA6 women's single-handed class at the Allianz Sailing World Championships in the Netherlands on Monday.

With two races left to decide the Gold fleet split for the final round later this week, the Irish Sailor of the Year must overcome a 20-point deficit in Tuesday's schedule if she is to keep Ireland's Olympic nation qualification chances alive in The Hague.

As Afloat reported, her regatta started badly on Sunday with a black flag disqualification in race two.

"The Irish Sailor of the Year must overcome a 20-point deficit"

Hungary’s Maria Erdi pulled clear at the top of the standings thanks to a third-place finish in the day’s opening yellow fleet race on a day of mixed results for the top contenders.
 
Erdi leads Carolina Albano by a point after the Italian finished fourth and 22nd in the two blue fleet races, with Marilena Makri (CYP) and Maud Jayet (SUI) taking victory.
 
The yellow fleet races were won by Patricia Reino Cacho (SPA) and Marie Barrue (FRA), with Olympic gold medallist Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) rising to third thanks to finishes of eighth and third in the yellow fleet.
 
Home favourite Marit Bouwmeester (NED) sits sixth after a mixed day that saw her finish seventh and 11th, while Emma Plasschaert (BEL) responded from a 30th-place finish in the day’s opening race to grab a second-place finish in the blue fleet’s second race.

ILCA 7

McMahon was the only Irish sailor to race yesterday as racing for ILCA7 Men's single-handers, where Finn Lynch and Ewan McMahon are competing, was cancelled due to light winds and strong tides on the race course. Lynch (National Yacht Club) is eighth overall in his 138-boat event thanks to a 12th and fourth place from Sunday's opening races. 

49er

Tuesday sees the opening races of the finals round for the 49er, where Ireland's Robert Dickson (Howth Yacht Club) and Sean Waddilove (Skerries Sailing Club) have qualified for Gold fleet and lie sixth overall after their nine-race qualification round.

Irish hopes for Paris 2024 Olympic Qualification were boosted last week with some strong performances at this month's Test Event in Marseille ahead of August's 2023 Allianz Sailing World Championships at The Hague. 

The Dutch event from the 10th to the 20th of August represents the first of three opportunities to qualify for the Summer Olympic Regatta in Marseilles.

The regatta is a once-a-cycle event where the world championship titles for all ten Olympic classes are up for grabs at the same time.

Sailing for Ireland in The Hague are five Dublin sailors and two from Cork Harbour. Three of the seven are already Olympians from both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

2022 World Youth Champion Eve McMahon from Howth Yacht Club sails in the ILCA 6, and her brother Ewan McMahon also from Howth and 2016 Olympian from Rio Finn Lynch (National Yacht Club), compete in the Men’s ILCA 7. Dublin reps from Tokyo, Robert Dickson (Howth Yacht Club) and Seán Waddilove (Skerries Sailing Club) and Cork duo Séafra Guilfoyle and Johnny Durcan (both Royal Cork Yacht Club) are all competing in the 49er Men's skiff event.

"A top 16 finish in each of the ILCA events will secure a Paris 2024 spot for Ireland"

The World Championships at the Hague will see 1,400 of the world’s best sailors compete across 10 Olympic and 4 Parasailing events. 107 Olympic places are up for grabs alongside the title of World Champion.

Only one boat from each country can compete in each event at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

A top 16 finish in each of the ILCA events will secure a spot for Ireland at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, while in the 49ers, a top 10 finish is required.

Robert Dickson (Howth Yacht Club) and Seán Waddilove (Skerries Sailing Club) will compete in the 49er skiff in The Hague for an Olympic berth at Paris 2024 Photo: INPHO/Bryan Keane

If Ireland does secure Olympic qualification, the Irish sailors in that event will then battle it out for nomination to the Olympic Federation, based on the results of sailors at a pre-determined list of events as laid down in the selection process set down by Irish Sailing’s Olympic Steering Group, a procedure which was not without controversy for Tokyo 2020.

Should Ireland fail to qualify a boat at the World Championships in the Hague, two more opportunities await, but a qualification in The Hague represents the best possible preparation for Paris 2024 and the best indicator that Ireland is in the medal hunt. The remaining opportunities are 2024's class Continental Championships and a final qualification regatta just weeks before the Games.

Hopes are high that Ireland will qualify in all three events. Despite a bumpy start to the pre-Olympic year, there have been some strong finishes, most recently in last week’s Olympic Test Event in Marseille.

The eight-day regatta was the first of four test events run by Paris 2024 organisers to fine-tune their processes – and for the athletes, it was a dress rehearsal for the Games with only one entry per nation in each of the ten classes.

It was also a key performance indicator in the run-up to Paris 2024.

Lynch finished sixth in the ILCA 7 and has, it appears, put his long-standing arm injury behind him. In her first season competing as a Senior, McMahon finished 11th in ILCA 6, a result that included a win in race 8. Dickson and Waddilove placed 13th, just outside the top ten for the medal race final.

The World Sailing Championships begin in The Hague at the port of Scheveningen from 10th August 2023.

World Sailing President Quanhai Li has praised preparations for the Paris 2024 regatta after visiting the test event in Marseille.

The Paris 2024 Test Event concluded on Sunday with many of the world’s best sailors competing across all Olympic classes at the venue on the city's edge, just 5km from the world-famous Vieux-Port.

In what was very close to a full test for the sport at Paris 2024, athlete numbers were actually higher than they will be in August next year when 330 athletes will attempt to win medals in one of the ten events.

Quanhai Li, President of World Sailing, arrived in Marseille having attended the 420 and 470 Junior European Championships in Gdynia, Poland, as well as the Grand Finale of the Ocean Race in Genoa.

Together with World Sailing Chief Executive Officer David Graham, the President met with competitors, Paris 2024 officials, World Sailing staff and volunteers, and Member National Authority officials to discuss their views on the ongoing work to prepare for the Olympics.

Li said: “Marseille is passionate about sailing, and I believe the Marseille Marina will be one of the great venues of the Paris 2024 Olympics.

“The journey is only three hours from Paris by train, and fans who visit will experience fantastic sport in a fantastic city.

“It was wonderful to see preparations going so well – the venue is being transformed and will provide a superb legacy for French sailing after the Olympics.

“Last week was a test event whose purpose was primarily to test the venue, the team or the operations on the water including sport, security and medical amongst others. The feedback received from the athletes was extremely positive and World Sailing is confident that the Paris 2024 regatta will be a success for the sport and for the Games.”

Paris 2024 President, Tony Estanguet said: “We were delighted with the overwhelming success of our first major test event for the Paris 2024 Games.

“Marseille, with its changing wind directions, the low tides and good visibility, has proved to be a perfect site to host sailing competitions and we look forward to a repeat, in 2024, of the fantastic sporting performances we saw over the last 10 days.

“We equally look forward to the strong legacy that these Games will leave for the city. The nautical base that will remain after the Games will provide the people of Marseilles with a very fine site for sailing - for amateurs all the way through to elite athletes.

“I want to take to take this opportunity to thank all of the different national and international authorities who contributed to success of this event, including of course our friends from World Sailing.”

An ultra-consistent Finn Lynch (IRL) is lurking in the hunt for a podium finish at the Paris 2024 Test Event in Marseilles on Saturday after a string of top-ten results in a 42-boat ILCA 7 fleet.

The National Yacht Club's Lynch was as high as third on Wednesday evening, the second time in the series he's been in a podium position, but dropped back to fifth overall on Thursday after scoring an 11th in race nine.

Michael Beckett (GBR) has moved into a commanding position for the title. He suffered his first off day of the competition on Thursday, but the Irish sea sailor bounced back in style to put himself into a strong position ahead of the medal race.

Finishing second and then third, Beckett moved back ahead of Olympic champion Matt Wearn (AUS) in the standings.

Beckett currently sits on 30 points, nine clear of Wearn, meaning that even with double points in the medal race on Saturday, he has a comfortable buffer.

New Zealander George Gautrey won the second race of the day to move up to third on 45 points with Pavlos Kontides (CYP) and Finn Lynch (IRL) lurking in the hunt for a podium finish on 48 and 49 respectively.

Results here

So far, the most unpredictable class of the Paris 2024 Test competition has been the 49er, with six winners in as many races, including an Irish win for Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove in Race 3.

Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie (NZL) took the final win of the second day of action, and that was enough to move into top spot, ahead of Sébastien Schneiter and Arno De Planta (SUI) on countback, with the pair both on 27 points.

However, with the next four teams all sitting between 30 and 32 points, including third place for Mihovil and Sime Fantela (CRO), the 2018 world champions, the Kiwis are well aware of the precarious nature of their position heading into the rest day.

McHardie said: “It was a super tricky day, it was unbelievably shifty with big puffs and big lulls so it was all about getting off the start line, it was a bit of a left-hand track, so you needed a good start, and then go left, that made for an ok race.

“I’m sure there will always be a target on the back, but we’ll go out there and race our best. It’s not a bad place to be coming into a rest day. It was always about coming here to do the best we can, so to come into a lay-day in first, we’re pretty stoked.”

The 49er fleet has a scheduled day off on Thursday as the ten fleets share 4-course areas in this Field of Play Test.

More from the 49er class association here and a (glitchy) results link here

The Maxi trimaran Banque Populaire XI will bring the Olympic flame across the Atlantic next summer as part of the torch relay en route to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Skipper Armel Le Cléac’h will lead a legendary crew for the historic voyage from 7 June 2024 from Brest to Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe and then Fort-de-France in Martinique.

It will mark the first time in the Games’ history in the modern era that the Olympic flame crosses the ocean by sail — carried by the winds aboard one of the fastest sailboats in the world, the Maxi Banque Populaire XI.

The boat’s title sponsor Banque Populaire is also official sponsor of the Olympic torch relay and a premium partner of Paris 2024.

Tony Estanguet, president of the organising committee for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games said: “The Olympic torch relay will be an event in its own right. For 12 weeks, the flame will help unite as many people as possible, promote our territories and generate enthusiasm until the Olympic fortnight.

Christening of Banque Populaire XI during the Transat Jacques Vabre 2021 by Tony Estanguet, godfather of Utim, and in the presence of Edouard Philippe, mayor of Le Havre | Credit: Jean-Marie Liot/Aléa/Transat Jacques Vabre

“The Maxi Banque Populaire XI will participate in this great popular celebration by allowing residents of Brest, Guadeloupe and Martiniquais, as well as all French people, to experience it intensely.

“It is a source of pride to be able to bring the Olympic flame solely by the force of the wind to the other side of the ocean. As sponsor of this boat, I am happy that he can take part in this adventure which will remain etched in history.»

Le Cléac’h added: “I am very proud to participate in this historic event. We are very happy to meet all those who have the same passion for the sea as us, in Brittany and the West Indies and who have been experiencing great offshore racing moments for years.

“It is an honour and a great responsibility to take part in this celebration and to lead the Olympic Flame across the Atlantic, and a joy to share these emotions with all French people.”

As the critical first chance at Olympic qualification for Paris 2024 looms in August, three Irish campaigns get the chance for an Olympic regatta dress rehearsal in July, the results of which will indicate Ireland's medal prospects in exactly one year's time.

Ireland will have an entry in three events which is limited to one per nation, just like the Olympic regatta itself.

2016 Rio veteran Finn Lynch of the National Yacht Club races in the ILCA7 men's single-handed event. Multiple youth Gold medallist Eve McMahon of Howth Yacht Club (and winner of last weekend's Ulster ILCA Championships at Ballyholme) competes in the ILCA6 women's single-handed event.

Finn Lynch of the National Yacht Club races in the ILCA7

Tokyo 2020 Olympians Robert Dickson (Howth YC) and new National E boat champion Seán Waddilove (Skerries Sailing Club) make a return after early-season illness in the 49er men's skiff event.

The sailors were selected after a trial series over the two World Cup regattas earlier in the season.

It follows a troubling injury time for some of the squad after the massive Hyeres Regatta where priorities since April have been focused on recovery and rehab.

As Afloat reported previously, Royal Irish's Saskia Tidey from Dun Laoghaire has been named as the Paris Test Event 49er FX Crew for Team GB.

Multiple youth Gold medallist Eve McMahon of Howth Yacht Club competes in the ILCA6

The Test Event is also the final preparation for the first Olympic qualification opportunity for Paris 2024 at the World Sailing Championships in The Netherlands next month.

The nation qualification goals at The Hague will be an Irish boat in the top 16 places by nation for each ILCA event (Men and Women) and a top ten nation place for the 49er men's skiff event.

That event will see Séafra Guilfoyle with Johnny Durcan (Royal Cork Yacht Club) in competition for the 49er men's skiff event, while Ewan McMahon contests the ILCA7 men's single-handed event.

Finn Lynch will not be racing at the Allianz Regatta at The Hague this week, despite his silver medal performance at the North Sea Regatta at the same venue, because the Rio Olympian is focussing on preparations for the Olympic test event in Marseilles from July 9 to 16.

After wrist injury setbacks after Hyeres in April but a 10th at the Europeans in March, the Irish number one finished an encouraging second overall counting seven top-five finishes from ten races at the largest regatta on the Dutch North Sea.

The windy 2023 edition was won by in-form Cypriot Pavlos Kontides, a 2102 Olympic silver medalist. Overall, Lynch beat noted international performer Tonci Stiponavic, the 2016 silver medalist, who finished fourth in the 53-boat fleet.

Howth Yacht Club brothers Ewan and Jamie McMahon are both competing in the men's single-handed ILCA7 fleet at Allianz Regatta at The Hague this week.

The results of the 2023 North Sea Regatta are here 

Irish Olympic ILCA 6 and 7 campaigners for Paris 2024 will be hoping for a consistent Wednesday at Mallorca’s giant 52nd Trofeo Princesa Sofia to get back on track in the all-important qualifying series.

The National Yacht Club's top-ranked Finn Lynch had a 19th result in his opening ILCA7 race but suffered a U flag penalty for early-starting in race two. He is currently lying 124th in a 184-boat fleet.

Lynch's rival for Paris 2024, Ewan McMahon (Howth Yacht Club), rounded off a solid day with a 14th and 12th place to lie 31st, according to official results here.

McMahon's younger brother Jamie lies 142nd.

Jamie McMahon (Howth Yacht Club) in the thick of it on the first day of the  giant 52nd Trofeo Princesa Sofia in Mallorca Photo: Sailing Energy

Shifting wind directions and big changes of wind pressure again taxed competitors and race organisers alike as Mallorca’s giant 52 Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca assumed its full size and shape when all ten Olympic classes took to the racing waters over the course of a very long day on the Bay of Palma.

Eve McMahon

McMahon's younger sister Eve racing in the women's ILCA6 event, put the disappointment of an early-starting disqualification on Monday behind her to place seventh in the second race of the day and lies 66th in a 106-boat fleet.

With the programme over the first two days compromised by weather, the organisers need a consistent Wednesday to get the qualifying series back on track. 

Olympic medallists started safely in the ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 fleets. The Netherlands' triple medallist Marit Bouwmeester tops the Womens' fleet whilst last year's Men's class winner GBR's Micky Beckett in second today, is sandwiched between Croatia's 2016 silver medallist Tonci Stipanovic who leads and Matt Wearn of Australia the reigning Olympic champion.

"It was a long day for a single race but I am happy to have won it so it was kind of worth it." smiled Wearn, "I was going well in the second race too when they abandoned it and so overall I am quite happy with the way I am sailing. Last year we had 25-30kts on the first race here and I had a breakage which cost me the two races effectively so I am happy to have started well now. We have had a good, big summer of training at home with our squad and some racing at the Nationals Sail Sydney and Sail Melbourne and did some training with the Brits at the venue for the 2024 Worlds and so I think I am in good shape."

Bouwmeester, who has started with a first and third remarked, "That was an ok result. But after two days, we have only done two races. Yesterday we started twice, but both races were cancelled again halfway through, due to lack of good wind. Today, three races were scheduled. Indeed, the other half of fleet has done three and our fleet only two. We are suffering from rain and showers here and they are completely messing up the wind. Yesterday we spent six hours on the water and today seven. They are very long days for very few races."

In spite of spending seven hours afloat and although the conditions were sunny for much of the day with up to 15 knots, the wind direction oscillated over 20-30 degrees and a steady course couldn't be set by the race committee for more than three hours.

Conditions permitting, three further races are scheduled for both ILCA single-handed fleets in the Men's and Women's events for Wednesday which will conclude the qualification round to decide Gold fleets across all classes in the regatta.