After a surge in performance in recent months, hopes for a fourth Irish boat on the national squad for Sydney 2000 took a hammering this week after Tom Fitzpatrick and David McHugh were knocked out of contention at the 470 European Championships on Lake Garda, Italy.
However, Laser single-hander Jon Lasenby is closing on his remaining qualifying result.
Although Fitzpatrick and McHugh were yesterday reviewing their campaign that started three years ago, it will not formally end until they have completed the massive Kieler Woche at the end of next week. "We don't want to end on a sour note," McHugh said yesterday. "We'll stick to our plan and finish our European circuit; I feel we can still do well for ourselves."
The outcome of the event on Lake Garda was a cruel twist of fortunes for the pair. Having opened the qualifying rounds for the Gold Fleet in first place, they entered the championship proper third overall. A series of scores in the mid-to-high twenties saw them plummet to 23rd overall - eight places shy of the national qualifying criteria.
McHugh is blunt about what went wrong. Had they kept their form from the weekend going through to the finals, a top-10 placing was certain. But good boatspeed in the heavier conditions proved to be lacking, which is surprising, as this is usually one of their strengths according to their coach.
Their place will now switch to the Korean 470 crew as the Irish Sailing Association (ISA) standard has not been met. The ISA handle the selection process on behalf of the Olympic Council of Ireland which formally enters the combined national squad for each Olympiad.
Responding to whether the ISA criteria is too strict McHugh points to the difference between the 1996 regatta and this year's when the emphasis was on a large sailing team. "We don't feel hard done by - we knew the standard before we started," McHugh said. "On one hand we're disappointed because this does little to promote double-handed dinghy sailing in Ireland but on the other, we know we have a good quality team going to Sydney."
Olympic Sailing Team Manager Bill O'Hara praised the 470 crew yesterday. "It was an excellent effort but perhaps the Olympics came a year too early for them." However, Fitzpatrick and McHugh have indicated that they will be retiring from 470 racing after Kiel. Their campaign has been a costly effort to date and they are currently in debt to the tune of £20,000. After the boat and equipment are sold, each will owe approximately £7,000 although McHugh reckons this is worth the experience gained and is thankful for the substantial funding received.
Meanwhile, Lasenby is competing at the Laser European Championship in his quest to achieve his remaining qualifying result to attain the national nomination. Yesterday's single race saw him slip from 11th place by nation to 15th but the performance is his best to date. Team officials are optimistic that he can achieve his result at this event but he still has Kiel Week to decide if he can make the Laser the fourth Irish boat at the games.
The other confirmed team members have also been in action at various events this week. Finn sailor David Burrows is currently lying eighth in the Gold Cup at Weymouth where racing was cancelled on Wednesday due to weather. The Malahide singlehander had been aiming for a podium result at this event but a hand-injury and head cold have dampened his performance.
Ahead of next week's Kieler Woche in Germany, Olympic veteran Mark Mansfield and Irish Times Sailing Correspondent David O'Brien have been competing in a warm-up series at the venue. Celebrating their renewed sponsorship from Eagle Star, the pair won two races ahead of world champion Mark Reynolds and finished the event in fourth place overall.
