Finn Lynch and Ewan McMahon ride strong winds to make Gold fleet in Mallorca

More breezy conditions swept two Irish sailors into the Gold fleet of the men’s single-handed event at the Princess Sofia Trophy for Olympic classes in Mallorca on Tuesday.

Rio 2016 veteran Finn Lynch ended the qualification series with all top 10 results to place 20th overall in the 163 boat ILCA7 class that was formerly the Laser.

Tuesday’s conditions proved almost as rigorous as the opening day of the regatta with winds again gusting to 30 knots, creating a short, steep seaway.

But the air temperature was a couple of degrees warmer and is forecast to improve as the week progresses.

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Howth’s Ewan McMahon also had a good qualification round and progresses to the Gold fleet, though his coach, double Olympic medalist Vasillij Zbogar from Slovenia, reckoned he had made some small errors that led to his 38th overall standing.

McMahon’s younger brother Jamie slipped from his opening day form and missed Gold fleet by a single place in 56th overall.

Two Irish boats are contesting the 49er skiff event that started racing on Tuesday, with two races split from the third scheduled race of the day to allow the women’s 49erFX event get their races in as high winds threatened the overall event schedule.

Capsizes were commonplace across all 10 events being sailed on the Bay of Palma, even among some experienced crews.

Tokyo 2020 veterans Rob Dickson with Seán Waddilove delivered a solid opening day with three top 10 results and lie eighth overall with another day of qualification racing to go to decide their Gold fleet standing.

Their Irish Sailing team-mates and newly formed partnership Seafra Guilfoyle with Johnny Durcan from Crosshaven endured a capsize but still managed three top 14 places for the day and lie 38th overall in the 71-boat class.

“It was pretty windy and our winter goal was to get better in the breeze and we had two races there in over 20 knots and we were able to play with the top boats,” said Guilfoyle. “There’s still a bit to go for us but it’s only our second event.”

Guilfoyle had previously been campaigning with double-Olympian Ryan Seaton until Dickson and Waddilove won the Irish place in Tokyo.

“As we’re so early in our campaign, we have a lot of process goals, so if we do well, we do well, but if we do the basics we’ll get there.”

Racing continues daily until Saturday’s medal race for the top 10 boats in each class.