Solid Performance Sees NYC's Finn Lynch Lying 14th at ILCA7/Laser Euros in France

17th November 2022

The local Mistral wind whipped up conditions for the 300-boat ILCA European Championships at Hyères today with Ireland's Finn Lynch lying 14th in the 169-boat Olympic ILCA 7 fleet Credit: Yepá Photography

Rio 2016 Olympian Finn Lynch of the National Yacht Club is knocking on the door of the top ten overall at the ILCA 7/Laser European Championships in Hyères, France.

The 2021 world Silver medallist is 14th overall, with just six points between the Dun Laoghaire solo ace and the podium in the 169-boat fleet.

Lynch discarded 13th place today in strong wind Mistral conditions and posted his best result of fourth place in the four races sailed so far.

There is one more day of qualifying races before the gold fleet finals on Saturday.

"just six points between the Dun Laoghaire solo ace and the podium"

"I had one counter and a 13, which wasn't a great race," said Lynch. "I'm still in the game, which is the goal for these long, six-day regattas".

"You just need to be within 15-20 points of the leader, and then you're still in the game," he said.

Meanwhile, Lynch's main rival for Paris 2024, Ewan McMahon (Howth YC), had an improved form for the second day when he placed ninth in the breezy opening race, followed by a 20th. His overall standing at 66th leaves him trailing Gold fleet qualification on Friday with a 20-point gap to overcome.

McMahon's brother Jamie is lying 51st ((10, 26), and Royal St. George's Tom O'Higgins is 135th.

The reigning 2021 EurILCA Senior European champion Michael Beckett GBR (3-2-1-1) showed a terrific performance today and took the ILCA 7’s leadership with 4 points after scoring two bullets.

The 2020 Senior European champion Elliot Hanson GBR (8-3-2-2) is second with 7. The third place overall is for Jonatan Vadnai HUN (2-4-9-3) with 9.

Kaarle Tapper FIN (7-DNF58-1-2), Hermann Tomasgaard NOR (17-1-3-6) and the overnight leader Duko Bos NED (1-3-19-6) are tied in 10 points on places 4th to 6th, respectively.

12 points are sharing now the recent 2022 World champion Jean Baptiste Bernaz FRA, the 2019 Senior European champion Lorenzo Chiavarini ITA and the 2018 Senior European champion Pavlos Kontides CYP.

Filip Jurisic CRO completes the provisional European’s Top 10 with 13 points.

Friday is the last day of the qualifying series, with the first warning signal at 12:00.

The forecast is for even stronger winds.

Six days of races are scheduled in total, with the last ones coming on Monday 21st, to decide the new 2022 EurILCA Senior European champions.

Results are downloadable below

Downloads

ILCA_7_OVERALL_before_jury_after_4_races.pdf (90 Downloads)

Published in Laser, Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing, National YC

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Published in Laser

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Finn Lynch

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About the ILCA/Laser Dinghy

The ILCA, formerly known as the Laser, is the most produced boat in the world, with 220,000 units built since 1971.

It's easy to see why the single-handed dinghy has won the title of the most widely distributed boat of all time.

The Laser is a one-design dinghy, the hulls being identical but three rigs that can be used according to the size and weight of the sailor.

The class is international, with sailors from 120 countries. The boat has also been an Olympic class since 1996, being both the men's and women's singlehanded dinghy.

Three rigs are recognised by the International Laser Class Association (ILCA):