Bowman makes early impression

TWO Irish crews, who prior to the start of the Olympic Games sailing regatta had been relatively low profile, moved towards the front of their fleets yesterday while other highly tipped boats had still to show consistent form after day two of racing.

Goodwill Games gold medalist Aishling Bowman scored tenth and sixth places in her opening two races yesterday and is now placed fifth overall. However, she must still step up another gear to match Dane Kristine Roug, who managed a first and second place yesterday.

Nevertheless, Bowman's results were just what she needed for a confidence booster and marked her progress up the fleet from the Spring qualification regattas and her return to familiar equipment rather than the pursuit of new technology that several other nations have been trying.

The Soling crew of Marshall King Dan O'Grady and Garret Connolly weren't able to repeat their third place from Monday in yesterday's two races but two 11ths placed them sixth overall and in contention for the match racing finals which will decide this class.

Mark Lyttle's opening result in the 56 boat Laser class was a disappointing 30th although the presence of Britain's high scoring Ben Ainslie in 27th points to the competitiveness of these single handers. Lyttle's second race saw him settle down to improve immediately to 12th which places him 16th overall going into today's racing.

Mark Mansfield and David Burrows in the Star only started to find their form after their second race of the series when they followed Monday's 23rd place with a PMS (premature start) disqualification in the first race yesterday. Although reports suggested that barging by another competitor may have been the cause, no such complaint had been made late last night.

The Star's second race, race three of 11, saw the Irish crew return to more usual form with a 12th placing but this was still insufficient to lift them above the bottom level of the overall results, 23rd out of 25 boats. Racing continues today when more fresh sea breezes are expected for the afternoon.