After a nail-biting penultimate day that saw an unco-operative Dublin Bay withhold any breeze, organisers of the KBC Laser Radial World Championship breathed a collective sigh of relief on Saturday as three races were neatly clipped off to deliver a championship result.
Irish sailors were to the fore across the event’s three main disciplines with Howth Yacht Club’s Ewan McMahon taking silver in the boys event, narrowly missing the gold that went to Henry Marshall of the United States.
Johnny Durcan of the Royal Cork YC was next best of the Irish in seventh, while Conor O’Beirne of host club the Royal St George YC was 12th, in spite of two race wins earlier in the series. A total of 58 boats contested the gold fleet in that event.
Silver fleet
Meanwhile, Daniel Raymond of the National YC won the silver fleet, while Noah McWatters was best of the Irish in 25th place in the bronze division, with Peter Gilmore second overall in the Emerald fleet.
Meanwhile, Nicole Hemeryck of the National YC was best of the girls, in a field of 76, and with Olympic hopeful Aoife Hopkins from Howth edged out of the top 10 to 11th overall, the stage is being set for a qualification and selection battle for Tokyo 2020.
Poland’s Marcin Rudawski won the men’s event while Darragh O’Sullivan was unlucky to miss a podium finish by three points when he placed fourth.
