#OLYMPIC SAILNG – After a busy month of six world Olympic sailing championships Ireland will send a five boat team to the sailing Olympics this July after two more boats were added to the team in the last ten days.

Beyond the qualification celebrations though the heat is on to deliver 'six medal race finishes plus two medals' in pre-Olympic events as a sign that the team is on track to deliver Olympic success in just over eight weeks time. That was the results tab calculation by team manager James O'Callaghan a month ago when he declared the Irish sailing team vision was to 'stand on the podium' in Weymouth in August.

The proclaimation followed the release of ISAF's standings that put both of Ireland's medal contenders in the Laser Radial and Star classes in the top five of the world rankings in January.

So far Peter O'Leary and David Burrows look on target in their keelboat class finishing fourth in the Star Worlds in France this month, one of Ireland's best ever results at an Olympic class world championships and secured when competition is at its hottest in an Olympic year. It follows a sixth in Hyeres Olympic week (even with a broken forestay) and a silver medal (for the third time) at the Star class Bacardi Cup in Miami in March.

Last week Ger Owens and Scott Flanigan finished with a fourth at the 470 world championships in Barcelona and moved up to 24th overall, a result that qualified them for London, Owens' third Olympic regatta and Flanigan's first.

Also through this month to London by virtue of a Gold fleet finish at the Laser worlds in Boltehnagen, Germany is Bangor Laser Sailor James Espey. He is the second Belfast Lough crew on the team joining Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern who race the 49er dinghy.

And at the same venue Annalise Murphy, finished 25th overall yesterday at the Laser Radial Worlds after an event where an inconsistent score sheet shows how the Dun Laoghaire sailor won two races in her 133-boat fleet but also discarded a 64th at the shifty venue.

Meanwhile Peter O'Leary and David Burrows who were narrowly denied a bronze medal at the Star Worlds a week ago have posted an update on the team website describing themselves as 'happy enough' with fourth overall and how the high quality event gave them the chance to test new gear. 'Some areas we were happy with and others we need to work on', they conclude.

Whatever the outcome in August for the Star keelboat it is the end of the Olympic road.

#LASER RADIAL WORLDS – Another stunning performance by Annalise Murphy at the 133-boat Women's Laser Radial fleet in Boltenhagen, Germany today moves the Dun Laoghaire sailor up to 15th overall and within striking distance of the top ten overall as the Radials finished the last races of their qualifying series today before being divided into the gold and silver fleets for the finals. The choppy waves out on the Wohlenberger Wiek proved challenging and again there were several capsizes.

In the strong winds London Olympic debutante Annalise is showing her strength and repeats her scores from yesterday with a first and second place. Improving twelve places she is now 15th overall due to a rather disastrous first day of racing where she was 65th and 33rd. Similarly the conditions seem to suit Paige Railey (USA) who is only two places and one point behind Murphy with much more stable Top 10 results over the last two days.

The two Finnish competitors seemed to feel right at home and both scored a first and second in today's races. This pushes Sari Multala from fourth to first place overall, three points ahead of Lija Xu (CHN) who is steady in second place. Alison Young from Great Britain drops to third place as the results of a ninth and fourth place in the yellow fleet.

With the exception of the very first race of the qualifying series Marit Bouwmeester (NED), currently seventh overall, is achieving consistent Top 10 results and will be trying to close the twelve point gap between her and Multala in first place during tomorrow's gold fleet races. Josefin Olsson (SWE) who had been working her way up in the results capsized on the last down wind of the second race, losing two points. Righting her boat fast enough meant she still finished eighth in the blue fleet.

In the U21 ranking another American is pushing ahead. Erika Reineke overtook Marie Bolou (FRA) who had been leading throughout the first two days. In third place is Michelle Broekhuizen (NED), who will be racing in gold fleet tomorrow along with the current Top 10 of the U21 competitors.

Results for download in pdf format below.

#LASER RADIAL – After a disatrous opener yesterday London Olympic prospect Annalise Murphy bounced back to the front of the 133-boat Women's Laser Radial fleet in Boltenhagen, Germany today finishing  first and second in her two races moving her up 70 places from 103rd to lie  27th overall.

With 20 knots of wind from 270 degrees on the race course it was the perfect opportnuity for the 6'foot 1" Dun Laoghaire sailor to show her world class heavy air form.

Overall Britian's Alison Young leads the fleet. Results after four races are downloadable below in pdf format.

Racing continues until Saturday with the top 10 sailors progressing to the medal race on Sunday.

Tactically challenging conditions with mildly oscillating winds from 15 to 20 knots today's races lead to interesting changes in the results at the top of the leader board. In uncharacteristically rough waters for Boltenhagen there were several capsizes during the races and in the strong winds some starters were a little too eager, receiving a total of seven black flags.

Young (GBR) was able to discard her 39 points from the very fist race of the series and moves up from 31st to first place in the overall results with a second place and a win. Only four points behind is Lija Xu from China who was fifth in the first race and won the yellow fleet's second race. In third place with eight points like Lija Xu is Cecilia Carranza Saroli (ARG) who came second in the first race but had to discard her 14th place from the second race.

Defending World Champion Marit Bouwmeester (NED) is delivering a steady performance in fifth place, only one point behind the World Champion from 2009 and 2010, Sari Multala from Finland who achieved the same scores as yesterday with a first and eighth place. Even though American Olympic hope Paige Railey placed seventh and fifth today her results from the first day prevent her from moving up significantly in the overall results. She improves from 30th place to 23rd.

France's Marie Bolou is still leading in the U21 results, followed by Erika Reineke (USA) and Michelle Broekhuizen (NED).

#OLYMPIC – Both of Ireland's Olympic sailing contenders are ranked fifth in the latest official world rankings released this evening by International Sailing Federation (ISAF).

Dun Laoghaire's Annalise Murphy is on equal points with world Laser Radial champion Marit Bouwmeester in fourth but the overall rankings leader is Chnia's Lijia Xu.

Mens keelboat pairing Peter O'Leary and David Burrows are also fifth in the Star rankings that is topped by world champions Robert Sheidt and Bruno Prada of Brazil. The ranking result follows a fifth achieved at the Miami Olympic Classes Regatta.

Ireland's 49er pair Ryan Seaton and Matthew McGovern who also qualified for the London Olympics in December last year are now ranked eighth in the world standings.

The 2011-2012 ISAF Sailing World Cup standings are starting to take shape after Sail Melbourne and last week's US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR, the opening two regattas in the seven series World Cup. Annalise finished ninth overall in Miami.

China's Lijia Xu has had the perfect start to her World Cup campaign winning Laser Radial gold at Sail Melbourne and the Rolex Miami OCR. With back to back victories she comfortably leads the Standings and is six points ahead of Alison Young (GBR) who has finished fourth at both World Cup regattas.

Laser Radial silver medallist at Sail Melbourne, Tuula Tenkanen (FIN) has fallen one place following her 13th place in Miami. 2010-2011 Sailing World Cup Laser Radial Champion Marit Bouwmeester (NED) is fourth, trailing Xu by 15 points.

Canada's Lee Parkhill leads the Laser Standings on 25 points and is closely followed by Charlie Buckingham (USA) who is second on 24 points. The Canadian's fifth in Melbourne and 12th in Miami is enough for him to hold an advantage over Buckingham, who came 11th in Melbourne and seventh in Miami, ahead of the third regatta in Palma, Spain.

Beijing 2008 gold medallist, Paul Goodison (GBR) and Laser World Champion, Tom Slingsby (AUS) have a regatta win each and are in third and fourth.

Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page (AUS) and Stu McNay and Graham Biehl (USA) are locking horns in the Men's 470 with just two points splitting the pair after Miami. The World #1 Australians hold top spot after they won silver in Melbourne and gold in Miami. Belcher and Page have been dominant in the Men's 470 over the last year after World Cup glory and World Championship honours. But McNay and Biehl are pushing them hard early on in the World Cup having won Melbourne gold and finishing fourth in Miami to trail the Australians by a narrow margin.

Americans Amanda Clark and Sarah Lihan lead the Women's 470 on 34 points with Germany's Kathrin Kadelbach and Friedrike Belcher second on 29 points and Rolex Miami OCR winners, Lisa Westerhof and Lobke Berkhout (NED), in third on 20 points.

Sebastian Wang-Hansen (NOR) has had a steady start to the World Cup with a fourth and a third place to his name. The Norwegian leads the Standings on 35 points, seven ahead of Bob Willis (USA) who has been unable to match Wang-Hansen's consistency. Nick Dempsey (GBR) comfortably won gold in Miami after winning 10 of 11 races, he is third on 20 points.

In the Women's RS:X, Demita Vega (MEX) and Jessica Crisp (AUS) are tied on 20 points with one regatta win each to their name and America's Farrah Hall is tied on 19 points with Bryony Shaw (GBR).

Nico Delle-Karth and Nikolaus Resch (AUT) and Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen (AUS) top the Standings on 20 points. The Austrians claimed the Miami honours with the Australians taking Sail Melbourne gold before their World Championship win at Perth

Rob Coutts (NZL) leads the Finn class on 22 points but Zach Railey (USA) and Olexsiy Borysov (UKR) are just two points behind him in second and third.

There was no Star and Women's Match Racing competition at Sail Melbourne so sailors got their campaign underway at the Rolex Miami OCR. It was business as usual for Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA) who took the Star gold to lead the Standings. And in the Women's Match Racing Lucy Macgregor (GBR) overcame Olivia Price (AUS) in the final in Miami to take an early lead after one regatta.

In the Paralympic Classes, Dan Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch (AUS) are tied on 39 points with Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell (GBR) in the SKUD. Matthew Bugg (AUS) leads the 2.4mR on 31 points and Udo Hessels, Marcel Van de Veen and Mischa Rossen top the Sonar Standings on 20 points.

The third ISAF Sailing World Cup Regatta, Trofeo S.A.R. Princess Sofia MAPFRE, in Palma, Spain, takes place from 31 March to 7 April.

#PERTH2011–A revision of the official scoreboard at the ISAF World Sailing Championships in Perth to include the scores of top Belgian girl Evi Van Acker now places Dun Laoghaire's Annalise Murphy in second place overall with eight points. Earlier scores showed Murphy leading the women's Laser Radial class but she now trails the Belgian by two points. The string of superb results for the Irish contender keeps her in contention for tomorrows final series race before the medal race scheduled for Sunday.
 

 

Big breeze played in to the hands of Ireland's top Olympic campaigners in the first day of the Delta Lloyd regatta. Annalise Murphy nearly had the overall lead save for a capsize but she holds second overall. Both the Stars are in the top ten and O'Leary leads.

All our Olympic Sailing Coverage here.

After scoring 10,10,21 Ryan Seaton and Matthew McGovern are 10th overall in the 49er dinghy and Ed Bulter and Ben Lynch are 22nd in the 39-boat fleet.

Barry McCartin and Thomas Chaix are 38th, Robe Lehane and Tom Mapplebeck are 44th and after an OCS double Olympian Ger Owens crewed by Scott Flannigan is 61st in a fleet of 68.

Delta Lloyd Day one stories:

First Blood to O'Leary and Burrows

Capsize Costs Annalise the Lead

 

Irish sailing's golden girl Annalise Murphy has shot to the top of the Laser Radial fleet in strong winds at the ISAF World Cup series in Medemblik today, counting a third in the first race and a second this afternoon to be placed second overall after day one. The National Yacht Club sailor should have won the opener to give here the overall lead but she capsized and got her mast stuck in the mud.

 

Irish sailing bosses are determined to "stand on the podium" at the 2012 Olympic Games.

That was the message from last week's briefing by Ireland's four Olympic 'water sports' of canoeing, rowing, swimming and sailing, covered in The Irish Times.

For next summer the Irish Sailing Association has narrowed its focus on three boat classes - the Star Class, 49er and Laser Radial. 

But the competition will be tough, with more than 40 countries vying for a handful of remaining Olympic spots at the Perth Sailing World Championships in December.

Other sports are more modest in their aspirations, with rowing rebuilding from the ground up with younger athletes, and Swim Ireland pushing forward with a streamlined team and plans to have six swimmers compete in London next summer.

In canoeing, Eoin Rheinisch - who placed fourth in the canoe slalom in Beijing - was on hand to discuss his qualification hopes, with two chances to clinch a spot between now and the games.

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

National Yacht Club Olympic campaigner Annalise Murphy won the UK Laser Radial Qualifiers in North Wales at the weekend. It was a short, sharp affair with no wind in Pwhelli on Saturday. She scored a 1,1,6 in the three races on Sunday sailing in a southerly 15-knot breeze and in a mixed fleet of 79 entrants.

There was no doubt that race two of the series was owned by Murphy who had finished 55th in the first race according to a UK Laser report. Murphy's upwind speed put the rest of the fleet to shame and she pulled well clear leaving the rest of the fleet to scrap over the minor places. Brewster who has been training with Murphy in Ireland obviously had some of the strong wind technique rubbed off on her to take second with Phil McCoy coming in third.

Race three and Hannah Snellgrove had the best start but Murphy footed off underneath and with the first shift tacked and was never seen again. Harvey showed that he can not only perform in the light but also the wind, putting in a convincing second, with Olly Porter taking third.

Race four and Murphy was unable to clear the pin at start time and had to tack duck the whole fleet, leaving her to claw her way back through the fleet which was being initially led by Harvey. The battle at the final windward mark was between Porter and Harvey who were well clear of the chasing pack, with Emmett holding off Murphy for third. This time downwind Porter got the better of Harvey, securing the bullet with Harvey second. This was more than enough for Harvey to take the event with Porter's bullet putting him into second. Murphy had a disappointing downwind to finish seventh and a drop to third overall.

However upon returning ashore it transpired that Harvey had been black flagged, promoting Emmett to second in the race. This dropped Harvey to fifth overall and promoted Murphy to take the event on tie breaker!

Overall results:

1st Annalise Murphy 8pts
2nd Olly Porter 8pts
3rd Andrea Brewster 11pts
4th Cameron Douglas 12pts
5th Ross Harvey 13pts
6th Hannah Snellgrove 17pts

Murphy (21) is in Weymouth today at a two week training camp before Ireland's first Olympic qualification event at the Delta Lloyd regatta in Holland. It's a process however that has got easier for the Dun Laoghaire sailor following the withdrawal of the Belfast lough campaigner Tiffany Brien.

Far from hanging up her boots though Brien was back on home waters winning the Laser Radial Ulster Championships at Royal North Ireland YC, Cultra last weekend.

 

 

Over the next few days hundreds of boats will arrive in Dun Laoghaire in preparation for the Mitsubishi Youth National Championships over the May Bank Holiday weekend (29 April – 02 May).

Over 300 sailors will compete in Dublin Bay in seven different classes (Laser Radial, Laser 4.7, 420, Feva, Topper, SL16 and Optimist). For youth sailors, this event is the most important in the annual calendar as it is the decider for the top Irish sailors to compete internationally during 2011 and is the pathway for future Olympic sailors. Podcast with Olympic Team Manager James O'Callaghan here.

The 420 fleet is already in situ as the Leinster Championships were held over Easter and the girls team Emma Geary and Niamh Connolly won the event in style. This team is the only 420 crew to qualify internationally for a place on the Irish team to compete in the ISAF Youth Worlds in Zadar, Croatia and will be looking to win next weekend to secure this honour.

Dublin Bay will host the 2012 ISAF Youth World Championships and this year's ISA Mitsubishi Youth National event is an important test event with representatives from the international sailing authority visiting Dun Laoghaire to view plans and test logistics.

In addition to the 420 fleet the Laser radial fleet will also be competing to qualify to represent Ireland in Croatia. Philip Doran aged 17 from Courtown in Wexford is the current former under 17 World Champion in the Laser Radial fleet although the National title has eluded him so far. In the girls fleet it will be a toss up between Saskia Tidey (RIYC) and Sophie Murphy (Quoile YC) as both already have a national title each under their belts.

A fleet of top Optimists are expected. Photo: Bob Bateman

The younger Optimist fleet is also celebrating this week after two top 5 positions at the Easter Regatta in Braassemermeer, the Netherlands. In fact an Irish team has competed at this event for 23 years and this is the first time that Ireland has won the country prize. Sean Donnelly from Dun Laoghaire who finished fourth in Braassemermeer is also leading the Optimist fleet in the trials and will be anxious to hold on to first position during the ISA Mitsubishi Youth Nationals.

In other fleets, the laser 4.7 fleet is enjoying record numbers with many ex-Optimist and Topper sailors choosing this boat. Finn Lynch from Blessington and Seafra Guilfoyle from Cork will be firm favourites to win the class.

Overall Dublin Bay will be a spectacle of sail over the May Bank holiday weekend with light winds forecast.

Mitsubishi Motors have been a proud supporter of junior sailing in Ireland for the last 7 years. In recent years Ireland has had successes at youth level with winner of the girls under 21 Laser World Championships and a top 10 at the 2010 ISAF Youth Worlds and wins at the British National Optimist Championships.