A race win and an Irish potency seldom seen on the Olympic circuit is emerging from this week's Hyeres Olympic regatta where Finn class single-hander David Burrows looks sure of a top10 overall placing and an ISA cash bonus of £2,000.
Still recovering from a knee injury that worsened during January's ISAF World Championships, 21-year old Burrows is now in the driving seat for this season's fourway Olympic selection process - ironically in a class the Irish Sailing Association sought to ditch in a 1992 submission to the International Yacht Racing Union (IYRU).
John Driscoll of Ballyholme, who competed in the 1996 Olympic Games, now faces a severe test of his ability against Burrows, having only regained his Atlanta form in January, where he posted 13th and qualified the class for an Irish Olympic place.
This week's competition, the biggest on the European circuit, had an Irish highlight in race four when in windy conditions Burrows and Driscoll, in a tussle for the lead, took first and second respectively against a fleet of 53 top-class boats. The overall leader after 10 races is Poland's Mateus Kusznierewicz.
From next month's Spa regatta in Holland, Burrows, Driscoll, Ballyholme's Colin Chapman and Baltimore's Youen Jacob, who are also competing in Hyeres, will be locked into a selection process that also includes the European Championships in June and Kiel week at the end of June.
Other Irish squad members in Hyeres, which ends tomorrow, is Europe class single-hander Maria Coleman, lying 13th after 10 races, and Tom Fitzpatrick and David McHugh in 39th place in the 470 men's gold fleet. John Lasenby in the Laser class is 35th in the Gold fleet.
At home, six light air races were sailed in last weekend's second round of the Optimist Ranking Trials. Howth Yacht Club's Ray Otto has moved to first place with 35.75 points, followed by Nicholas O'Leary, RCYC, with 39.75 points. There are six races left to sail at the final trial tomorrow at the Royal St George Yacht Club.
The top five places will form the World Team and the next eight places will form a European Team. At least three places in the European Team will have to be occupied by girls and the leading contender at present is Lisa Tait (RCYC) in ninth place followed by Gillian Burke (HYC) in 13th place and Aisling Canty (RCYC) in 17th place.
In the wake of last month's biggest-ever Boat Show, the Irish Marine Federation have opted to retain the exhibition's biennial date, despite calls for the introduction of an annual event for the millennium.
Following intensive debate on the prospect of an annual boat show, IMF chairman Bernard Gallagher announced this week that it has fixed March 7th-11th as the date for the 2001 show at the RDS, Dublin.
Meanwhile, the Irish Sailing Association, the Irish Windsurfing Association and the East Coast Surfing Association are seeking a meeting with Fingal County Council over new beach bye-laws that, they claim, will be tantamount to a ban on windsurfing and sailing within 200 metres of the shore on north Dublin beaches. A sailor contravening the new ruling can be liable to a fine up to £1,000.
The ISA want the council to implement a consultation process with watersports users to designate beaches that come under the effect of the new legislation.
"It is difficult to understand why we have been identified as a threat to water users because the ISA has no record of any instance where our sport has been a source of conflict," the ISA's development officer, Tony Wright said.
