#sailmakers – American Volvo Ocean Race veteran and world champion sailor Ken Read will become president of North Sails Group in early January, 2013

Read will return to North Sails in the role of president and take over from current president Gary Weisman, who has served at the helm of the world's largest sailmaker for 16 years, and who plans to retire within the next 4 months.

"This is an important and exciting time in the world of sailing, sailmaking and in the history of North Sails," said North Technology Group CEO Tom Whidden. "We are absolutely thrilled to have Kenny back in the mix transitioning into the role of North's president."

"Gary has done an absolutely fantastic job and he will be missed dearly by not only me, but all North Sails employees who have gotten to know him so well during his 39-year career at North," Whidden continued. "Gary plans to stay involved with the company in the short-term and he and Kenny will work closely to make the transition as seamless as possible."

Read started working for North Sails in 1996, yet has taken four sabbaticals to participate in some of sailing's elite events. He was the CEO of PUMA Ocean Racing and skippered PUMA's Mar Mostro during the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race (VOR) and il mostro in the 2008-09 edition of what is known as the "world's toughest sailboat race." Prior to the Volvo Race, Read skippered two America's Cup teams for Dennis Conner on Stars & Stripes in 2000 and 2003.

"Sailing has been my lifeblood since I was very young and it's such an honor to return to what I consider the marine industry's top brand" said Read, who has been involved with the sailmaking industry for 29 years. "My number one goal is to continue to build on the success of North Sails, which includes helping to educate sailors about the technology behind every North sail that is designed and delivered," continued Read, who will be based in Newport, RI. "But I also want to help the sport of sailing grow here in the United States. After sailing around the world twice, I have visited dozens of countries where sailing is huge. In Europe, the South Pacific, South America, and even the Far East, sailing is equivalent to football and baseball here in the U.S. and I will work hard to help make our sport more visible so everyone in the sailing industry can benefit," he said. "I look forward to getting back into the business of selling and developing North Sails products. I've been the largest North Sails customer in North America for the past six years so I have a unique perspective on how North Sails works from the inside and outside, and where there are possibilities for improvement."

Gary Weisman, who started working for North Sails in 1974, has bittersweet emotions about stepping down as president. "A part of me is really sad to leave this company that has allowed me to sail with some amazing people and be part of building what is now the biggest and most technologically advanced sailmaking company in the world," Weisman said. "But another part of me is excited to hand over the reins to a very capable and well-known sailmaker and sailor - Ken Read - who I know will do a remarkable job. When I look back on my years here at North, I have some great memories and will always be thankful to Lowell North who hired me nearly 39 years ago and to Terry Kohler who invested in all of us and helped grow North Sails to what it is today," Weisman concluded.

#icra – Like all consumer sports, sailing has taken something of a battering during the years of recession. The hard core dedicated enthusiasts are still actively involved, for nothing will deflect the true old salt from his or her destiny in and around boats. But many of those who took up sailing as just one of several lifestyle choices in the affluent times have faded away.

It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good. For anyone thinking of returning to sailing, or maybe getting involved for the first time, there's no better time than the present. The infrastructure is there to facilitate manageable expansion, and the people running the sport are keen to recruit newcomers, and bring back those who have strayed.

One area which is proving to be a happy hunting ground is university sailing. That said, it could equally be argued that it is the prodigious pace being set by the college matelots which is prodding the rest of the sailing community into positive action. Call it as you like, but the fact that the Galway University offshore racing boat was hailed as the latest ICRA Boat of the Year at the annual offshore racing conference last weekend struck us as being a very timely move.

We say that despite last week's column being prepared to wager a portion of the housekeeping on another boat altogether. We'll spare their blushes by not naming them, but up against the Galway juggernaut, all opposition fell astern. Team leader Cathal Clarke and his squad from the City of the Tribes put in a fantastic year with Martin Breen's Reflex 38, and as the entire crew were either students or recent graduates from NUIG, they provide the perfect personnel profile to make a healthy and useful longterm input into sailing.

Newly-elected ICRA Commodore Norbert Reilly of Howth is in no doubt that Irish sailing numbers have scope for expansion, and the 2013 programme will certainly keep those involved mighty busy. From early June until mid-July, you could be sailing with an offshore orientation almost continually, with the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race on 8th June, then on from Dingle to the ICRA Nationals round the corner in Tralee Bay from June 13th to 15th, then it's back to the south coast for the Sovereigns Cup at Kinsale from 26th to 29th June, followed by a return to the east coast with the Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta from 11th to 14th July.

The scope which this programme provides for introducing new crews to the sport is enormous, and it will certainly sort out the faint-hearted. The real hard chaws meanwhile will barely be up to speed by mid-July - like the Galway college offshore racing team, they'll be thinking in terms of the Fastnet Race in August.

And for anyone who complains that this is an awful lot of sailing, the answer is usually a brusque comment that, once your time comes, you'll not be sailing for a very long time indeed. Thus our thoughts this weekend are with Cork sailor Kieran Walsh. He's working in Dubai, but this week has been sailing as crew aboard Doug Worrall's First 36.7 Shahrazad in the annual Dubai to Muscat race, a three day RORC event.

You need to do such things to offset the rigours of working in the desert. But they did rather better than that. They won. It's a tough old life, but somebody has to do it.

THE GAFFER OF THE GAFFERS

Tim Magennis, newly-elected President of the Dublin Bay Old Gaffers Association, was in fine form on Tuesday night as he welcomed an eclectic and enthusiastic audience to Sean Cullen's presentation about INFOMAR in Poolbeg Y&BC under the auspices of the Old Gaffers. INFOMAR is the twenty year programme - currently in its twelfth year – to survey the seabed around Ireland and the adjacent ocean in unprecedented detail, and Sean Cullen has proven such a dab hand in charge of the survey ship that he is consulted by other nations keen to get in on the acquisition of knowledge of the deep.

The Boyd men of Poolbeg. Owners of Herbert Boyd-designed classics at the OGA gathering in Poolbeg Y&BC are (left to right) Tim Magennis (Marguerite, 1894), Ian Malcolm (Aura, 1898) and Sean Cullen (Eithne, 1893). Photo: W M Nixon

As for Tim Magennis, it made for a high profile week, as he had something of a starring role on Thursday night in TG4's extensive filmed documentary about Erskine Childers. Most appropriately, the guru of the gaffers was involved on the television programme to explain the skills involved in sailing the engineless Asgard to Howth with the cargo of guns in July 1914, and especially to highlight the sheer brilliance with which Molly Childers helmed Asgard to bring her gently alongside the pier, neatly head to wind in a strong nor'wester, a formidable display of seamanship.

Sean Cullen's work in surveying the seas of Ireland and their hidden depths is fascinating. And it's a bit scary to discover just how much is still to be discovered, when we tend to assume every major hazard has been known about and on the charts for decades. The most striking example of this is a previously unknown pinnacle rock a few miles westward of Slyne Head. There's 12 metres over it, which explains why it has gone undetected for so long. But as the rock is a bit like St Patrick's Cathedral plonked down in the middle of an otherwise fairly flat bit of the seabed, until it was discovered it represented a potential danger for any supertankers which happened to be proceeding up the west coast of Ireland.

OLD BOATS ON A COLD COLD SEA

The gaff enthusiasts of Dublin Bay are gearing themselves up to welcome fellow gaffers at the June Bank Holiday weekend next year, as Dublin Bay will be an important focal point in the Irish Sea for the rolling cruise-in-company with which the many branches of the OGA will be celebrating its Golden Jubilee.

Of course, for some folk in Ireland, making a song and dance about preserving gaff rig seems decidedly weird. It's not that this select group have rejected gaff rig entirely. On the contrary, as far as the Howth 17s are concerned, it never went away. They still sail their boats rigged exactly as they were designed in 1898 by Herbert Boyd, and they see little reason to change.

The OGA gathering in Poolbeg provided a rare opportunity for the owner-skippers of three different Herbert Boyd-designed gaff classics to get together. Sean Cullen owns the 25ft Eithne, the first Boyd yacht, built by Boyd himself in the boathouse at Howth House in 1893. Tim Magennis owns the 24ft Marguerite (that was Marguerite in the early part of the Childers film), which was built by Jack Wellington, a sailor/boatbuilder from Scandinavia who somehow acquired the name Wellington when he settled in Malahide. And Ian Malcolm owns the Howth 17 Aura, one of the original batch of five Howth 17s which were built by John Hilditch of Carrickfergus in 1898, and sailed home to Howth by their owners.

Baby, it's cold outside.... Ian Malcolm's Howth 17 Aura sailing from Carrickfergus to Howth on the evening of April 15th 1998 to celebrate the Centenary of the first five boats of the class making the same delivery passage in April 1898. The land just visible is the County Down coast on the left, the Antrim coast in the distance, and Copeland Island on the right. Photo: Damien Cronin

That inaugural voyage of the Howth 17s was replicated for the Class's Centenary in April 1998 in a strong and very cold nor'easterly wind. At least it was a fair wind, but conditions were otherwise Arctic. As one of those who took part, Ian Malcolm, was uniquely qualified on Tuesday night to tell the OGA enthusiasts about what is involved in sailing vintage gaff rigged yachts from Belfast Lough to Dublin Bay, which will be part of the Golden Jubilee programme.

But at least they'll be doing it in June rather than April, and they'll be doing it in boats with lids rather than a Howth 17, which passes the Number One test for a genuine classic – they're diabolically uncomfortable boats to crew aboard, even in pleasant conditions. In April 1998 with temperatures plunging towards freezing point during the overnight 85 mile sail, they were torture chambers, but the crews didn't notice - they were completely numb with cold......

#helmsmans – The stakes are raised in this weekend's All Ireland Senior Sailing Championship at Dromineer on Lough Derg following the success of the Junior Championship in Schull a fortnight ago. In some of the best sailing conditions of 2012, the new junior title holder by a clear margin was West Cork's Fionn Lyden (17), who has since been declared the Afloat.ie/Irish Independent "Sailor of the Month" for September.

But Lyden has been allowed little time to reflect on his success. He's back in the fray this weekend in the seniors event, and the lineup he will face racing in the SailFleet J/80s contains some formidable talent, including defending champion George Kenefick (24) of Crosshaven.

Former champion Mark Mansfield has been on top form recently, heading the racing in the 1720s, and he is fired up to avenge the narrow defeat inflicted on him by Kenefick at the same venue a year ago in this championship.

As the racing is in a specialized boat which does not feature as a supported class at any Irish sailing centre, the hope is that the competition will be as even as possible among sailors who usually helm craft of many different types. But of course the wind strengths will play a major role regardless of how even the racing is in theory, and predictions for this weekend suggest a wide variety of conditions.

Today's expected light breezes could inflict havoc in the programme, but the prospect of a freshening southeaster tomorrow – albeit with rain later – will provide ample opportunities to get a result before the weekend is out.

The lineup includes an interesting mixture of sailing specialities, including two veterans of the 2012 Olympics, Star class helm Peter O'Leary from Cork and the 49er's Ryan Seaton from Ballyholme.

Carrickfergus is putting forward Trevor Kirkpatrick, the helm from the Ruffian 23 class on Belfast Lough. It is of course the hope of all club sailors that some day the All Ireland will throw up an unexpected winner from one of the minor leagues. But that hasn't happened for a long time now, and by tomorrow afternoon the smart money is betting that it will be the big guns yet again in the final shootout.

Thus the likelihood of Royal Cork dominating with Mansfield, Kennefick and O'Leary setting the pace is high, but as well there are several highly possible contenders in the form of Tim Goodbody, Ben Duncan, David Dickson, Fionn Lyden, and Alan Ruigrok.

THE SOD IS YOUR FLEXIBLE FRIEND

When you consider the nationwide spread of the home ports of these top sailing talents, there's inescapable logic in staging the All Ireland on Lough Derg, as it and Lough Ree are about as central as you can get in Ireland. It was back in 1982 that I first saw what Dromineer could do when the Helmsmans Championship was staged in Shannon One Designs, and the winner was Dave Cummins of Sutton, crewed by Gordon Maguire no less, and Joe MacSweeney.

There was no lack of wind at that championship, but as John Lefroy's 1874-built all-iron former steam yacht Phoenix was the committee boat, the race officers (Jock Smith was OOD) at least were comfortably ensconced, and when the racing was completed we took the Phoenix up the lough at full chat just for the hell of it, giving a passable impression of a destroyer at the Battle of Jutland.

She'd turn round and look at you". Even in a moderate breeze, the Shannon One Design (sailed here by Sid Shine of Lough Ree) develops a marked twist in her hull.

As for the Shannon One Designs being sailed as hard as they could go by Ireland's brightest and best, they coped remarkably well, though inevitably there were breakages. The design having been developed from slim lake boats, the clinker hulls tend to twist a bit when pinned in for hard windward work - as Pompey Delaney used to say, in a breeze they'd turn round and look at you.

Both Dave Cummins and Gordon Maguire have been Australia-based for many years now, and of course Gordon was sailing master aboard the superb 63ft Loki, overall winner of the most recent Sydney-Hobart Race. He was home recently with his family for a few weeks holiday, and caught me out round the back of Howth YC in the boatyard in the midst of the keel and rudder re-configuration which is the current boat project (and has been for quite some time). Fortunately the great man dropped by at a stage when the job was going well, which isn't necessarily always the case. It's a bit unnerving, to say the least, to have your work evaluated by a Sydney-Hobart winner who is also trained in engineering, but if he thought the whole thing was crazy, he was still too polite to say so.

DESJOY FOR DESJOYEAUX

The fantastic trimarans of the MOD 70 class will by now be cherishing their memories of the great racing they had in Dublin Bay in good breezes on Saturday September 8th, as they have finally completed their European Tour at Genoa, and lack of wind has been a problem for much of the southern section of the programme.

Michel Desjoyeaux emerged as overall winner of the EuroTour on Foncia. But "emerged" is very much the word, as the final miles into Genoa saw these mighty machines crawling along at just two knots in the finest of zephyrs. It looked as though Spindrift Racing had it all sewn up, but by snatching a couple of places virtually on the finish line – just as he did on the stage from Kiel to Dun Laoghaire – the Foncia skipper carried off the cup, while Spindrift Racing was the season's winner when the Transatlantic results are combined with the EuroTour points.

Despite the subdued finish, the potential of this new class to provide spectacular sailing in a manageable budget has been amply proven, and it provides a marked contrast with the America's Cup, where the focus has swung to San Francisco and next year's series.

Foncia (Michel Desjoyeaux, seen here in Dublin Bay) has won the MOD 70s EuroTour, while Spindrift Racing is the season's champion. Photo W M Nixon

That will be raced in 70ft catamarans, and the first of these awesome and unbelievably expensive machines has been showing her paces. But meanwhile not everyone is a happy budgie in San Francisco, where a proposed major development of two piers to provide useful shore bases for challengers has been changed into an intention to have all the action focused more on the Golden Gate Yacht Club.

As ever with the America's Cup, massive sums of money top the agenda, and you can understand the frustration of the few remaining challengers as they take on the huge resources of Larry Ellison. After all, how can a few guys from New Zealand and their mates expect to face up to someone who has recently been able to buy quite a substantial Hawaiian island out of pocket money?

#sailing – Minister of State for Tourism & Sport Michael Ring has approved a grant of €400,000 for sailing, the biggest of all grants awarded today to 22 national sports bodies to buy new equipment and boost participation in sports and improve performance.

The sailing grant which is 15% of the total payout is awarded for "mobile training fleets, transport vans, coach boats, coaching equipment, Olympic sailing equipment and training camp equipment (excluding eyewear)."

The ISA says the funds will be spent on coaching equipment including coach boats, vehicles and training equipment, Olympic sailing equipment including a fleet of 420's, Laser Radials and a 49er with associated spares for training camps and training camp equipment which includes strength and conditioning apparatus to be used on training camps.

The ISA will also fund for four mobile training fleets for use on introductory ISA training programmes. The aim is to provide support for organisations looking to develop junior, schools and introductory adult programmes.

The funding has been awarded to a range of National Governing Bodies including the Athletics Association, the Irish Rugby Football Union, Irish Wheelchair Association Sport, Canoeing Ireland, the GAA, the Irish Sailing Association, the Football Association of Ireland, and the Ladies Gaelic Football Association.

The new equipment will include items as diverse as a mobile Olympic Handball arena, scrum machines, a 'cricket factory' where you can try out cricket for fun, and martial arts arenas.

It includes a grant of €160,228 to the Irish Wheelchair Association Sport to provide new equipment for sports like basketball, athletics, hand cycling and rugby, boccia, table tennis, archery, frisbee, tennis, powerlifting and gym equipment.

Minister Ring said: 'The real beneficiaries from this funding will be the thousands of sportspeople across Ireland who head out on weeknights and weekends to train with their local club. Although some of the equipment will be used at national level by the governing bodies, a significant portion will be utilised at local level. I hope it will encourage more people to get involved in sport'.

The equipment aims to help a diverse range of sports to attract more participants, run better competitions, monitor performance and train more effectively, building on the success of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Applications were invited through the Irish Sports Council. All 22 organisations which applied are being funded under the scheme.

#peteroleary – Peter O'Leary and David Burrows have produced Ireland's top Star class result at the London 2012 Olympics but it will be small consolation for the pair who won gold at the pre-Olympic regatta just six weeks ago. 

O'Leary finished 10th in the medal race and 10th overall, eclipsing Mark Mansfield's 12th at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 also crewed by David Burrows.

The regatta represented the final regatta for the 20 foot design after a 100 year stint as an Olympic class bringing an end the mens keelboat category.

The Cork-Dublin pair were 9th overall beginning the medal race this afternoon but due to their points on the leader board, they were not in contention for a medal.

Sweden's Fredrik Loof and Max Salminen won the Star Medal Race to upset the favourites and take the gold medal.

Having trailed overnight leaders Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson (GBR) by 12 points ahead of the Medal Race the Swedes won by four seconds over Hamish Pepper and Jim Turner to overcome the Brits who finished eighth.

The Brits had to finish sixth or better to guarantee gold but in a tense final run Norway's Eivind Melleby and Petter Morland Pedersen, America's Brian Fatih and Mark Mendelblatt and Brazil's Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada finished less than two seconds ahead of the Brits squeezing them into eighth and down into silver medal position. The Brazilians subsequently fell into bronze medal position.

Final top three:

1. Fredrik Loof and Max Salminen (SWE) - 32pts

2. Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson (GBR) - 34pts

3. Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA) - 40pts

The ISA's James O'Callaghan said "While it is the best result Ireland have achieved in the Star class it is still disappointing. We came here hoping to be fighting for a medal. That plan has not worked out in a way we could have foreseen".

#sailingonsaturday – Captain Cool of Carlow is the Afloat.ie/Irish Independent "Sailor of the Month" for July. Captain Cool is Finn Lynch, winner of the Silver Medal at the Youth Worlds 2012, and he's just sixteen. So maybe it would be more correct to refer to him as Cadet Cool. But as his style of winning - staying mentally calm and finishing in control of the race - is something that many much older sailors could usefully emulate, we'll acclaim him as Captain.

In fact, the entire country, afloat and ashore, could learn from his way of doing things. But how does a young lad from Bennekerry in the depths of north county Carlow come to be setting a national sailing example? Well, his father Aidan (a Dub) acquired a taste for sailing during ten years in Australia. Then back in Ireland his mother Grainne took up a job offer in Carlow, than which there is no lovelier county in Ireland.

The family settled there in Bennekerry, which as Aidan cheerfully admits is the middle of nowhere even by Carlow standards. But as it's in the north of the county, lake sailing at Blessington wasn't so very far away, and the three boys - Ben, Rory and young Finn - were introduced to sailing with the Topper fleet at the hospitable Blessington Sailing Club, where Aidan stood his watch as Honorary Treasurer.

All three emerged as top class sailors, and their Topper skills were soon noticed. Each in turn graduated into sailing the Laser Radial, and that led on to the subtle recruiting moves from Dun Laoghaire. The word is that it was Con Murphy of the National Yacht Club, father of Olympian Annalise, who was the talent scout in this case, and the Bennekerries found themselves sailing with the NYC star junior squad.

Even by those standards, Finn was something special. He'd been racing Toppers since he was eight, he was into Lasers in his teens and earlier, and now at sixteen he's proven world class, with three clear years of international youth sailing in front of him.

At the moment thanks to his Silver Medal, Finn Lynch is sailing in Denmark at a youth elite regatta in Aarhus, then it's on to the Euopean Youth Championship in Belgium at mid-month, and after that......well, after that, Captain Cool goes back to school.

The nail-biting classes are doubling their numbers by the minute as the Annalise Murphy challenge battles on through he sailing Olympics. It's deadline in two days time, with the double points scoring Medal Races bringing it all to a conclusion. For once, Baltimore Regatta on Bank Holiday Monday will have to accommodate itself to a lower slot on the national sailing scale.

Meanwhile in the Finn Class we can enjoy a majestic gladiatorial contest without an excruciating depth of personal involvement, as it's the battle of the Ben of Britain and the Great Dane reaching its conclusion tomorrow.

Ben Ainslie's 2012 Olympics got off to a terrible start with one mediocre performance after another, by his standards anyway, while Jonas Hogh Christensen of Denmark was putting in a showing matched only by Annalise Murphy in the Women's Laser Radials. But by Thursday, Ainslie was making a comeback, having made the throwaway comment that missing out on the Gold wouldn't be a setback, it would be a disaster.

Ben analysts wonder if this means that his contract with the America's Cup 2013 (which he takes up immediately after this Olympiad) is dependent in any way on his performance at Weymouth. Stranger things have happened. Be that as it may, it's battle to the death tomorrow, after less than harmonious scenes yesterday and on Thursday.

Thursday saw the Dane and Dutch helm Pieter-Jan Postma shout to Ainslie that he had hit a mark. He took the penalty turns but afterwards was in a real strunt about the whole business, claiming there had been no contact. When Ainslie has one of his moods, it's awesome, and the Dane in particular was upset.

Then in yesterday's second race, Ainslie was leading with the Dane second approaching the finish. Ainslie slowed back in his classic style to sit on the Dane and allow the Dutchman through to second, with the result of GB first, Netherlands second and Denmark third making it very close indeed for the up-coming medal races. The Dane still narrowly leads on points, but the number crunchers are already working out all the possible permutations which can provide another Ainslie gold.

Asgard may have been small for her role as a naional sail training vessel, but she definitely punched above her weight in racing success.

Next week, Erskine Childers' Asgard is put on permanent display in her conserved form in Collins Barracks. John Kearon and his team have done a wonderful job in the painstaking task of saving as much of the original as possible while capturing the spirit of the gallant ketch which Childers sailed to Howth in July 1914.

As one of the finest creations of the Norwegian designer and shipwright Colin Archer, the 1905-built Asgard is of international importance over and above her role in Irish history. But in the midst of all this, let us not forget that between 1969 and 1974 she served as Ireland's first sail training ship. She was too small, she was too old, yet she did her very best, and thanks to the skill of Archer's design, she achieved some notable racing success in her brief sail training career.

During those five years under the command of Eric Healy, more people – including many young trainees – would have sailed on Asgard than in all the rest of her sailing life. It meant a lot to them, it meant a lot for Irish sailing. Forty years on, they will appreciate this new display in Collins Barracks even more than the rest of us. Just the job for a day out on the travel pass. Photos of the restored Asgard at the museum

W M Nixon's sailing column is in the Irish Independent on Saturdays

#Star – There is disappointment for Ireland's Peter O'Leary and David Burrows because although they sail in tomorrow's Olympic medal race – a significant achievement in itself – they are not in contention for a medal. The Cork-Dubin duo who came together three years ago for a final assault in the mens keelboat will nevertheless compete in the final race of the Star as an Olympic keelboat. The famous design has been ditched from the 2016 regatta after 100 years of involvement in favour of kitesurfing. Any result achieved by the pair inside the top ten will be Ireland's best ever result in the class.

O'Leary and Burrows finished fleet racing yesterday in ninth place overall and with 75 points. Leaders Percy and Simpson (GBR) have 18 points, followed by Scheidt and Prada (BRA) on 26 points and Loof and Salminen (SEW) on 30 points.

In Friday's  final fleet racing qualification for the medal race hinged on the two final races. 

The pair rounding the first mark of Race 9 in 10th place. However, they were 14th rounding the second mark and just didn't manage to break the top 10 again finishing the race in 11th. Not letting that deter them, O'Leary and Burrows came out fighting in Race 10; the final fleet race. In the first leg they moved from 11th to 5th to eventually finish in 7th place, less than 90 seconds behind the leaders Percy & Simpson (GBR).

#OLYMPICS - Ireland's impressive showings in aquatic sports at the London Olympics may be the key to bringing in much needed corporate sponsorship, as the Evening Herald reports.

Sailing in particular has yet to capture the public's imagination in the same way as track and field athletics or boxing.

But with 22-year-old Annalise Murphy riding high in first place in the Laser Radial standings and on course to take the gold medal, the sport's profile is rising - and headline sponsors will surely come following the lead of her personal sponsor Tayto, and new sailing supporter Providence Resources.

The oil exploration firm - which recently struck a black gold bonanza off the south coast - signed on as a "generous" sponsort of the Irish Sailing Association (ISA) earlier this year, which is just the ticket for what can be an expensive sport.

ISA performance director James O'Callaghan said that big-ticket sponsorship would be a welcome addition to the "vital" grants received from the Irish Sports Council.

"The results that Annalise has had so far show how our teams are able to compete on an international level," he added.

"I think it's a good package for any sponsor. They are a really young team with Annalise, the 49ers and then we got a medal in the Youth Worlds in July for the first time in 16 years."

The Evening Herald has more on the story HERE.

#OLYMPICS ON TV - Sailing action continues for another week at the London Olympics, with BBC Three and BBC HD being the best places to catch the race action on TV.

First place Annalise Murphy will be racing her Laser Radial this afternoon and tomorrow - races that sadly will not be televised, according to our sources - but her class' medal race scheduled for Monday 6 August at 2pm, with live coverage expected on RTÉ and BBC.

In the 49er, Matt McGovern and Ryan Seaton are half-way through their race schedule and will be in action in three races today 3 August, with two apiece on Sunday 5 August and Monday 6 August, and with the medal race in their class set for next Wednesday 8 August at 2pm.

In the 470, Scott Flanigan and Ger Owens have just got their campaign underway and will be racing this afternoon, tomorrow 4 August, Monday 6 August and Tuesday 7 August, with the medal race sheduled for Thursday 9 August at 2pm on BBC One.

James Espey in the Laser will also be in action today and tomorrow from 1pm, with the medal race in his class set for Monday 6 August at 2pm.

Meanwhile, David Burrows and Peter O'Leary will be looking to put their recent disqualification behind them this afternoon, with the medal race in their Star class to be contested on Sunday 5 August at 2pm on BBC Three.

In canoeing, Ireland's last medal hopes rest with Andrzej Jezierski in the men's C1 200m. The Polish native will be in action in the first heat of the day on Friday 10 August at 9.50am, with the semi-finals set for 11.15am should he qualify, and the finals taking place on Saturday 11 August at 9.45am.

In rowing, Sanita Puspure easily outclassed the field in her semi-final race, crossing the line 10 seconds ahead of her closest rival, and the Latvian heads into tomorrow's finals in lane 3 of the C group at 10.20am on BBC One and RTÉ Two.

#annalise – A forecast of similar winds off Weymouth for the rest of Olympic week brought an even wider smile to first timer Annalise Murphy's face this afternoon as she sailed home the winner of both races in the Olympic Laser Radial. Today's result is a stand out performance never before achieved by an Irish sailor at an Olympic Games.

Weymouth's famous bay offered up ideal conditions for the 6'1" Irish representative to tower over her opposition producing a 100 metre lead in the first race.

"I'd a good start and tacked across the fleet and pulled away. It was great! I couldn't do much wrong today. I've brilliant upwind speed. It's all coming together" Annalise told reporters of her first race performance.

And the news of strong westerlies for the rest of the week gives the Irish heavy air expert a unique chance to be on the podium, a feat she has achieved twice before here in the practice events in the run up to this her debut Games.

Rarely has there been a display of such strength in any Olympic class as today and Irish support in Weymouth has swelled on the back of it and also those of the 49er this morning plus yesterday's opening Star results.

Tonight's clean score-sheet showed the 41 – boat radial fleet that the Dun Laoghaire sailor continues to be a force to be reckoned with.

But the results are no flash in the pan, Annalise has been making similar statements all season.

Annalise bucked a trend in transitioning so successfully from youth to senior. At her first Worlds in 2007 she was silver fleet, two years later she finished eighth at the world championships and she went on to better that again in 2011 finishing sixth at the 2011 Perth Worlds. Her transition has not been without it ups and downs but that is not unexpected with an emerging talent.

In 2011 she set an almost impossibly high bar to replicate only finishing outside the top10 once at a World Cup regatta. After a long 2011 season, Annalise has struggled to regain some of her form. However, the signs are there that she can deliver. She continues to rack up a lot of race wins but will need to work on consistency if she is to be in the mix at the end of this week.

The silver and bronze medallists from Beijing have both hit form at the right time the former being crowned 2012 World Champion. Marit Boumester has also had a dip in form since being on the podium at every event in 2011 but she cannot be ruled out.

Annalise will take huge confidence from today's results and also having medalled at this Weymouth venue last year. And with this weather forecast don't rule out a young girl from Dun Laoghaire who is used to bucking trends.

In other news from the Irish Olympic camp three of the four campaigns are lying in top 10 positions. Today was also the first day of racing for the, mens Laser and 49er campaigns, while the Star went in to today's racing in second place after a strong performance yesterday.

Peter O'Leary and David Burrows rounded the first mark of Race 3 of the Star in 10th position but dropped down to 13th for the second and third marks, finishing in 14th.

They maintained their position in the middle of the fleet in Race 4 until they rounded the last mark and climbed from 9th to finish in 5th position leaving them 5th overall.

The Irish 49er duo Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern got off to a solid start in their debut at the Games this afternoon. In Race 1 of their three lap windward-leeward course, they fought hard to climb up the fleet from 7th place to finish 4th overall. They started Race 2 in 9th, dropping back to 12th mid-way through only to return near the top of the fleet and finish in 8th. They currently lie 6th overall but still have a further 13 more races to sail followed by the medal race.

James Espey also began racing today in the 49 boat Laser fleet. He had a 38th and a 44th which sees him in 42nd overall. Espey has a further 8 races to sail before the top ten in the fleet sail the medal race.

Racing will continue tomorrow for the Star, Laser Radial, 49er and Laser. The 470 starts on Thursday. Sailing action starts at 12 noon in Weymouth.