Dublin sailor Gary “Ted” Sargent’s project to sail clockwise from Schull round Ireland in a Laser is well past the halfway stage, as today he is battling with light winds in the approaches to Ardglass in County Down writes W M Nixon.

The challenge, aimed at raising funds for the charity ChildVision which is dedicated to the education and therapy needs of blind and multi-disabled children, is being undertaken with a high degree of safety awareness - he is accompanied by a RIB with a shore support team. But even so, in a boat as small as a Laser, it can be a long and lonely voyage.

Ted departed from Schull on May 14th, taking on the Big One – the West Coast – almost immediately, as he cheerfully admitted that otherwise it would seem to appear bigger and even more brutal if he left it until the latter half of his circumnavigation.

But in terms of fair winds and reasonable sailing, while the West Coast may not have been a great big pussy cat, it certainly provided fast and efficient passage-making. However, since then he has found the north and east coasts increasingly frustrating with light winds and unavoidable strong to very tides all the way from Malin Head through the North Channel to the South Rock off the County Down coast.

But today, more than four weeks after leaving Schull, the South Rock has finally been put astern, and he’ll have normal tides until he’s in the area of Skerries. But quite when that will be remains to be seen – sailing round Ireland is something very different when you’re in a boat the size of a couple of bathtubs rather than one with which you’d be allowed to do the Volvo Round Ireland Race. Get the full story here

Finn Lynch (20) of County Carlow is the Afloat.ie Olympic “Sailor of the Month” for May, following his arduous and often lonely journey to succeed in taking over Ireland’s already-secured place in the International Laser Class in the 2016 Olympics Games, scheduled for August in Rio de Janeiro.

A year ago, few would have rated Lynch’s chances very highly. An extremely promising junior sailor, he had hit the “Cadet-level Ceiling” where virtually no funding is available for international competition and coaching for anyone caught between the highly-organised, parentally-supported junior level, and the early stages of the full-blown Olympic programme.

But having been “adopted” by the National Yacht Club, fund-raising was undertaken on Lynch’s behalf by an informal organisation set up by Carmel Winkelmann NYC and friends, and between April 2015 and June 2016, €40,000 has been raised to send Lynch to key events and coaching sessions.

Nevertheless the likelihood of Finn Lynch actually taking the Irish Olympic place originally secured by James Espey was only a distant possibility. The point of the campaign was to encourage the growth of Lynch’s talent as much as possible. Postponement in some sort of soul-destroying limbo was not an option. And Finn Lynch, with his soaring performance and extraordinary ability to focus on the task in hand, not only soared, but he took over Ireland’s Olympic place at the Laser Worlds in Mexico on Wednesday May 18th 2016.

It was an exceptional breakthrough, and it evoked a response of exemplary generosity and good sportsmanship from Belfast Lough sailor James Espey in a posting on Facebook:

“Pretty gutted that a tough week here at the World Championships means I won't be representing Ireland at the Olympic Games this time around. Nervous to give up the spot I earned in Santander, and the lead I had going into this week meant I was vulnerable on the race course in the early days and couldn't come back from it.
A fall at the last hurdle... but well done to Finn Lynch Sailing for taking up the spot and our flag at the Games.
It's been a real honour to race against Laser sailors from all over the world these past eight years, and what a blast it has been! I couldn't have made a better group of friends, both in this class and in the rest of the classes of our traveling circus, and for that I will be forever grateful (and hopefully will have people to visit around the world for life). Special thanks to my training partners and coaches over the years, you all know who you are and I hope you have as many great memories of our times as I do.
A limitless thanks to all of my supporters, my friends and family back home. I couldn't have done this without you, and the only consolation for not making the Games is that I'll get to be home with you all sooner to show my thanks in person.
I'm looking forward to all the great sailing I'm going to get to do in the future - may try out a couple more classes than just this hiking beast!
See you all on the race course,
 Bapsy”

As Irish youth sailors continue to perform on the international competition circuit, the Royal St. George Yacht Club has announced the host nation will boast the largest fleet at July's KBC–sponsored Laser Radial World Championships on Dublin Bay. Top Irish youth radial sailor Ewan McMahon emerged as the winner of May's Belgium round of the Laser Europa Cup. The Howth YC sailor, who is one of Ireland's leading hopes for the KBC championships topped a 50–boat fleet in Nieuwpoort. Country man Johnny Durcan of Royal Cork Yacht Club was third overall. Full results from the May 14–16 event are downloadable below. It's only the latest youth success with Durcan in the top ten in a massive fleet in April and Aoife Hopkins on the podium in Holland early last month.

Yet another Europa Cup podium result bodes well for Irish chances in Dun Laoghaire in eight week's trime (preview here) as the latest entries reveal 45 countries and 335 sailors are now confirmed for the Royal St. George event with still two weeks to close of entry. It will be Ireland's biggest sailing event in 2016 that is hosted jointly by the east coast port and the yacht club. 

'There are 480 places available in the youths and mens radial world championships and with two months to the first race on Dublin Bay, we've 70% of the entries already in', event chairman David Kelly told Afloat.ie

The top ten squads are from Ireland, then the UK, Italy, France, Netherlands, Australia, United States, Spain, Croatia and Switzerland.

Royal Cork's Nick Walsh was the winner of the Irish Laser Master Championships at the National Yacht Club at the weekend. The Crosshaven man beat local Dublin Bay Sailing Club's Dan O'Connell on the tie break rule after both sailors finished on the same nett points of 14 after six races sailed. In third place in a 26–boat fleet was Royal St. George Yacht Club helmsman Sean Craig on 19 points. Paul Ebrill of Wexford Harbour Boat Club was the winner of a five boat Radial fleet. Results are downloadable below. 

This popular event, open to Lasers Sailors aged 35 and over, is now in it's 10th year and firmly positioned as an annual favourite with the class members.

This year the fleet was bouyed by many new faces and a fledgling radial fleet both of which are very positive future signs.

Cork as usual sent a strong contingent, Wexford too was represented, Galway provided some of the new faces and Ballyholme sent a boutique but talented squadron of challengers. From closer to home it was great to see support from Howth YC. The RStG really padded out the numbers with a large showing and local boats also launched from the RIYC, DMYC and Coal Harbour for a total of 35 racing.

Ron Hutchieson was, as usual, officiating shoreside ably assisted at registration by Sandra Moore.

On day 1 a brisk SW'ly met the sailors as they ventured out towards Seapoint. It was looking a lot like a tough day on the bay. Before Race 1 got underway the breeze had moderated a little but the course was still being raked by strong gusts. Choosing which side of the bay to aim for was going to be crucial.

The fleet was very eager to get away and there were two general recalls before PRO Con Murphy unleashed the fleet and let them at it. The inner loop trapezoid course is very popular with the Laser sailors as it provides a good W/L course complete with 2 and a quarter beats alongside a sprinkling of blast reaches thrown in for good measure.

In race 1 Nick Walsh laid down a marker to take the bullet and begin his quest to reclaim the title he lost to Roger O'Gorman in Ballyholme 2015. Nick wasn't having it all his own way and it was a hard fought race with big wind pressure changes and shifts. 'Head out of the boat' was the order of the day. Second was Dan O'Connell and Paul Keane opened his account with a 3rd.

In race 2, David Hillmyer visiting from Sarasota Sailing Squadron in Florida showed great mental reserve to hold his lead to the finish from the marauding pack who were chasing him down after the breeze shut off. Sean Craig scored a handy 2nd while Daragh Sheridan bagged the last podium place. Front runners Dan O'Connell and Nick Walsh had a 6th and 7th respectively.

Race 3 (part #1) was going all the way of Ross O'Leary and Shirley Gilmore in a radial who were launched on the paying side of a huge shift before Con, cruelly perhaps but demonstrating why he is so respected as a PRO, abandoned the race to reset the course. The wind had other ideas and disappeared completely so Con weighed anchor to head into the bay in search of some new pressure. Summer turned into an Autumn gale as a strong line squall found the fleet. When the squall abated Con was able to reset a course and the fleet was quickly off again.

Race 3 (part #2) went to Nick Walsh to put him in the overnight lead. Dan O'Connell was 2nd and Robert Howe began to find his form with a third. Points wise it was very close at the top and a good indicator of things to come.

Saturdays Master Class dinner in the National YC was a perfectly tempered meal. Tired sailors caught up over a delicious meal provided by Louise and her A-Team of helpers.

Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny with a mysterious, light, but very raceable westerly breeze in place of the pessimistic soft forecast. The breeze held nicely for the first race though it was hard going keeping the concentration on the beats and torturous body positions downwind.

Sean Craig revels in the light air and the more twisted the turns in conditions the better. In Race 4 he stamped his mark, and his larger intentions, on the fleet with a convincing win. With Dan again in 2nd and Nick bagging a 3rd the leaderboard was getting tighter and tighter at the top.

Race 5 went to Rob Howe who was on a bit of a charge as he tried to negate a heavy DNF from Saturdays racing. Ross O'Leary popped up in 2nd and Nick posted a 3rd against Dan's 11th.

After race 5 the wind abrubtly but simply shut off! Con, with his usual instinct for detection of the slightest zephyr, upped sticks and set off into the bay in search of breeze. He really should play the lottery as a perfect sea breeze duly arrived as if by magic from 155deg.

His very experienced mark laying team led by Dave Morley were quick to take advantage of the cards they had been dealt and set up a course in record time. And so Race 6 was quickly underway in a sunny glamour 12-14kts, perfect champagne sailing (with a little lightning and thunder across the bay) for the fleets last hurrah.

At the first mark it was neck and neck between O'Connell, Craig, Rice and Keane who all rounded in unison. It was Keane who got a lucky break and the inside berth on the downwind to lead at the bottom. He held the lead for the remainder of the race and despite a strong challenge by O'Connell on the finish line took the bullet. Rob Howe finished in 3rd with Craig in 5th and Nick back in 6th.

As the sailors headed towards the harbour the conversation on the water turned to maths. Incredibly Nick and Dan were tied for 1st on 14 points and 3rd place was a tie three ways between Sean Craig, Rob Howe and Paul Keane on 19. The top slot in the radial too was a tie between Paul Ebrill and Shirley Gilmore.

Ron applied the various countbacks as dictated by the SI's and the leaderboard took on it's final shape. Nick Walsh is again Masters Champion and Paul Ebrill Champion in the radials. The complete and official results can be viewed below

Laser sailor Finn Lynch will be given a hero's welcome when he arrives back to the National Yacht Club (NYC) this evening. The Dun Laoghaire club gave its full support to the teen's campaign that ended with Olympic nomination success on Wednesday.

Lynch secured his selection over boat qualifier James Espey (the London 2012 representative) and fellow trialist Fionn Lyden on the final day of the Laser Worlds in Mexico. Lynch was the only sailor to make gold fleet.

David O'Brien in the Irish Times this morning noted the fledgling campaign was only kept afloat by club fundraisers, spearheaded by NYC doyen Carmel Winkelmann. A point also noted on Lynch's Facebook page (below).

Tonight, the NYC is getting ready to hear Finn's story first hand when it toasts both Lynch and his clubmate Annalise Murphy who will both be flyng the NYC ensign in Rio in August.

Lynch will become Ireland's youngest ever Olympic helmsman at age 20, eclipsing Malahide Finn sailor David Burrows who sailed in Sydney 200 aged 22 and Malaide club mate Robert Dix who sailed in Kingston in 1976 aged 23.

Rising star Lynch has had a meteoric rise to his this weeks Olympic place.

Finn Lynch's Road to Rio

2008 Selected for ISA Topper Squad (age 12)
2009 Topper World Championship Silver Medal
2011 Selected ISA Academy
2012 ISAF Youth World Championships Silver Medal
2012 u17 Radial European Champion
2013 u21 Radial World Champion
2013 Radial World Championship Bronze Medal
2014 u19 Laser World Champion
2015 u21 Laser World Championships 4th
2016 Wins Irish nomination trials for Rio Olympics

A globe trotting Irish Olympic mens Laser trial comes to a conclusion in Mexico today with Finn Lynch leading the three boat contest for the single Rio berth. Lynch is 50 out of 56 in the gold fleet of the Laser World Championships that form the third Irish trial. Both the other trialists, Fionn Lyden and James Espey, are racing in silver fleet. All eyes are on Lynch for the Olympic nod later today after the last two races of the 112-boat championships are sailed.

After five days of competition at the 112-boat Laser World Championships in Mexico, the National Yacht Club's Finn Lynch has built a lead of 45–points over James Espey in the race for the final Irish Olympic sailing berth in Rio. The big points cushion of Lynch's 187 versus Espey's 232 is important because this week's championships – that concludes tomorrow – is the final selection trial for the Irish Olympic mens Laser berth in Rio.

Going into the event last Thursday, (the last of three Irish trials since December), Belfast's Espey had earned a slender six point lead over the Carlow debutante but after ten races at Riviera Nayarit, the regatta has tipped in Lynch's favour. On Monday, Lynch was the only one of three Irish competing (Fionn Lyden of Baltimore is the third) to make the gold fleet cut. Yesterday, a black flag disqualification for Espey in the silver fleet has made things more difficult for the Ulster sailor to regain lost ground. Still, while the gap has widened, Lynch, currently lying 48th from 56 in gold, will be well aware four races remain to be sailed, making it arguably possible for Espey, (Ireland's London 2012 rep) to make a come back at the notoriously fickle venue.

Results are here

The National Yacht Club's Finn Lynch made the gold fleet cut at the Laser Worlds in Mexico yesterday by finishing the qualifying rounds in 56th place in the 112–boat fleet, taking the last place for today's gold fleet finals. Not only is it a significant achievement for the former youth medalist at this level in an Olympic year, but much more importantly it moves the Carlow youth a step closer to winning Olympic selection by Wednesday. Both rivals Fionn Lyden and James Espey will complete the championships in silver fleet position where they are in five places apart in 65th and 70th place respectively. The final series starts to day and although the trials advantage is now with Lynch there are still six races left to sail. 

Nick Thompson of Great Britain had another good day at the races to close out the qualifying series in first place overall in the Laser Standard Men’s World Championship in Riviera Nayarit, Mexico. Thompson’s 2nd and 4th place allowed him to increase his advantage over Jean-Baptiste Bernaz of France to five points, a margin by which Laser Championships can be won or lost. Tomorrow the sailors will be split into gold and silver fleets to begin three days of finals series racing.

Celebrated Laser World Champion and Olympic medalist, Robert Scheidt, moved into third place with two more top-ten results while the previous third place holder, Croatia’s Tonci Stipanovic, scored an 8th and 25th. Stipanovic now has to count a 14th (his previous discard race) but holds on to fourth place overall.
The top-3 sailors at the end of qualification have all, so far, maintained single figure results excluding their discard races. However, a close look at the score cards reveals that several sailors are starting to find the consistency that was missing at the beginning of the championship. These include the best sailor of the day, Wannes Van Laar of Belgium, who posted two second place finishes today to jump five places into fifth overall.
Today’s slightly lighter winds from a more southerly direction provided another mix in the results on this final qualification day. Changes in the wind strength and direction were minimal, between 215 and 230 degrees and 9 to 12 knots during the three hours of racing. However, these variations were enough to keep things interesting for the sailors and proved sufficient to provide significant changes in positions from one race to the next.
With three days of Finals Series racing to come, the sailors are certainly aware that the coming days of will be long and twice as hard, as the world’s top sailors now go head-to-head. Sailing skills need to be at a sailor’s best. Places will be won and lost by a meter or a second. A cool head under the hot sun and maximum concentration will be needed to stay consistent over the upcoming six scheduled races – even more so if the weather changes.

Overall Results after 8 races with 1 discard
Nick Thompson GBR 16pts
Jean-Baptiste Bernaz FRA 21pts
Robert Scheidt BRA 33pts
Tonci Stipanovic CRO 37pts
Wannes van Laer BEL 39pts
Matthew Wearn AUS 41pts.
Tom Burton 42pts
Marco Gallo ITA 46pts
Philipp Buhl GER 46pts
Sam Meech NZL 50pts

In the Irish selection trial being sailed as part of the Laser World championships in Mexico, Finn Lynch has extended his lead over James Espey and Fionn Lyden for the single berth in Rio. While there is only one point between the leaders at the top of the fleet only 19 points separate the Irish trio. Lynch is 64th, Lyden 71st and Espey 83rd in the 112–boat fleet.

The Dun Laoghaire sailing star, who is a Youth World Championship silver medallist and U–19 Laser World champion, trailed Espey by six points going into this week's Laser Worlds so must maintain his current advantage to be sure of his Rio berth. Read more about the Irish trialists final battle here.

Tonci Stipanovic from Croatia heads the leader board with a well deserved win in the first race of Day 2. In a 10–knot south westerly breeze Matthew Wearn from Australia led the blue fleet round the first mark ahead of Wannes van Laer BEL and Julio Alsogaray ARG. Stipanovic took the lead ahead of Wearn after a good second windward leg when both pulled clear of Alsogaray and the chasing pack to then lead the fleet home. Germany’s Olympic representative, Philipp Buhl, was a major casualty at the start of the blue fleet race when he had to retire after being given a second yellow flag penalty on the start line.

In the yellow fleet, sailing on the outer loop, overnight leader Nick Thompson GBR, could only manage a 5th behind Jean-Bapiste Bernaz and the first three Marco Gallo ITA, Kacper Zieminski POL and Franccesco Marrai ITA who traded places in front of him.

The wind increased for the second races of the day bringing larger waves enabling sailors to catch some good downwind rides and, for a few, also the attention of the on-water jury.

The previously favoured right right-hand of the course was not so dominant although most of the favourites scored well. In the yellow fleet, Olympic silver medalist, Pavlos Kontides CYP won the port end pin position at the start and tacked to cross the fleet early to lead all the way home ahead of Bernaz. 5 places back from the pin Thompson got trapped at the port end and had to take a two turn penalty after he inadvertently impeded another boat whilst trying to clear his wind. Thompson did well to round the first mark in 20th and then recover to 13th which is currently his discard race.

Luke Elliot AUS also led from start to finish in the blue fleet with Alsogaray and Scheidt again in single figures after both climbing through the fleet.

5 points separate the first 7 places in the overall results after 2 more races at the Laser World Championships at Vallarta, Nayarit, Mexico.

Top Ten Overall Results after 4 races with 1 discard

Tonci Stipanovic CRO 6pts
Nick Thompson GBR 7 pts
Jean-Baptiste Bernaz FRA 8pts
Matthew Wearn AUS 9pts
Robert Scheidt BRA 10pts
Julio Alsogary ARG 10 pts
Francesco Marrai ITA 11pts
KacperZieminski POL 14pts
Philipp Buhl GER 18pts
Marco Gallo ITA 20pts

Just fifteen places in a fleet of 112 sailors from 44 countries separated the three Irish sailors competing at the 2016 Laser Standard Men’s World Championship in Mexico yesterday.

Britain's Nick Thompson has opened his Laser title defence with a perfect 1,1 score and in the final Irish selection trial being sailed as part of the championships, Finn Lynch leads James Espey and Fionn Lyden, although results in the 60s and 70s will not be the kind of performance Ireland is hoping for in Rio in August. Lynch is 62nd, Lyden 73rd and Espey 77th. Read more about the Irish trialists final battle here.

Competitors enjoyed sparkling conditions of 12 to 15 knots in the waters off Nayarit on the west coast of Mexico. The total fleet is sailing in two groups during the qualifying series to determine the gold and silver fleets.

The first fleet was a little jumpy in the lighter conditions at the beginning of the day and needed 3 attempts to start before getting away on fourth start. In the process, 7 boats were taken out by the black flag for breaking the start line, including 9 times world champion, Robert Scheidt from Brazil.

On the final start in a building breeze Croatia’s Tonci Stipanovic tacked quickly on to port off the start line and headed for the starboard side of the course on a two-tack first beat. His tactic helped him to round the first mark in the lead, a position he held to the finish ahead of Milivoj Dukic from Montenegro. Behind him Philipp Buhl from Germany pulled through from 9th to 4th and then to 3rd by the finish.

The blue fleet started on the first attempt with Mark Spearman (AUS) rounding the first mark in the lead but was soon overtaken by Nick Thompson (GBR). “I had a good start and protected the right-hand side and rounded in fifth behind the guys who went further right” said Thompson. “I managed to gain places on the downwind second leg to get the lead at the bottom of the run and then hold on to the finish”.

In spite of a large swarm of bees landing on the Race Committee signal boat and pin boat, both fleets got away first time with clean starts for the day’s second race. In the yellow fleet race Scheidt made up for his previous black flag start to lead the fleet to a comfortable win ahead of Jean-Baptiste Bernaz of France and Andy Maloney from New Zealand.

In the blue fleet, Thompson got another good start from a slightly favoured pin and was able to cross over to the right side of the course to round the first mark just behind Julio Alsogarey ARG and ahead of Matthew Wearn AUS. Thompson pulled through to first on the second windward leg to take the gun ahead of Alsogarey and Wearn.

Qualifying racing continues today with two more races scheduled in the 14 race series. Overall results after 2 races without discard.

Nick Thompson GBR 2 pts
Tonci Stipanovic CRO 5 pts
Matthew Wearn AUS 7 pts
Jean- BaptisteBernaz FRA 9 pts
Millivoj Dukic MNE 13 pts
Andy Maloney NZL 14 pts
Philipp Buhl GER 15 pts
Kacper ZieminskiPOL 16 pts
Jesper Stalheim SWE 17 pts
Lorenzo Brando Chiavarini GBR 17 pts