In the aftermath of the biggest ever, combined classes Sailing World Championships at Melbourne last week, the Irish squad for Sydney 2000 is starting to take shape. At this point, it is likely that we will have a representative in all three of the single-handed dinghys. The double-handed classes are less certain.
Maria Coleman's sterling performance in Melbourne, in which she ended 10th out of 104 boats is a testament to her preparation that predates the last Games regatta in Savannah. Her result last weekend qualifies Ireland for Sydney in the Europe fleet and counts towards her own nomination criteria for the national squad.
This process is an arduous one for the all the crews. To sail in the Olympics, an Irish sailor must first reach the top third of a particular class only in the relevant world championship. Such a result permits that sailors country to send a representative in that class to the Olympics.
To qualify for the Irish team, a crew in a qualified class must then achieve two results, both of which must be a top third by fleet and top third by nation at the same regatta which must in turn be a Grade One event such as a European Championship or a pre-Olympic regatta such as Hyeres or Spa. The crew is then nominated by the Irish Sailing Association (ISA) to the Olympic Council of Ireland for selection to the national squad.
Such is the process for Coleman who has now qualified Ireland for the Europe and achieved one of her two crucial results. The situation for the Finn single-hander is different as three sailors are vying for the team. Atlanta '96 veteran John Driscoll put in a fine series in Australia to reach 13th thereby qualifying the class for the country.
Instead of the result counting towards his selection, however, he now faces David Burrows and Colin Chapman at Kiel and Spa Olympic Weeks plus the Finn European Championships in the early summer as the national selection trials for the class. While his two rivals ended 30th and 56th overall respectively in Melbourne, all three are quite close in performance terms with Driscoll edging slightly ahead.
The Australian event proved disappointing for Jon Lasenby who qualified Ireland for the Laser class last Spring in Dubai at the ISAF World Sailing Championships. The 140 boat fleet proved a formidable challenge and while Olympian Ben Ainslie (Britain) popped off a series of first places like he was taking his morning run, Lasenby's 28th was way below his target of a top 15 overall for the event but he recorded a creditably fourth place in his last event.
The double-hand crews performance in Melbourne is a stark contrast to their solo colleagues. Interestingly, all four boats in the 470 men and women's codes plus the newly introduced 49er Skiff were relatively late in starting their campaigns. Apart from morale issues, experience in large fleets plus funding problems will be high on their agendas over the coming months.
Possibly the most disheartened Irish in Melbourne was the Royal Cork YC pairing of Mel Collins and Fraser Brown in the 49er. Having just started in the class last summer, they have been attracting considerable attention as a crew to watch as they gained more and more time in this tricky boat. Melbourne was to be their entry in the serious ranks of the class and qualification for Sydney.
However, in spite of regularly placing very acceptable top 12 results, the pair suffered rig damage mid-way through the series and lost three valuable races. Upon re-entering the fray, the were disqualified from their next race for an `On-Course-Side' starting infringement. Sixth overall in the bronze fleet was not in the plan and the pair return to Cork next week to review their plans.
Laura Dillon and Ciara Peelo in the 470 Women's class ended 13th in the Silver fleet and team management were not displeased with the result given that it was their first major event together. A Gold fleet qualifying result could follow shortly. In the men's fleet, Tom Fitzpatrick and David McHugh ended in a disappointing third overall in the bronze, a broken rudder mid-way in the series dumping them out of the Silver fleet.
The Howth pair are well capable of better but with Gerbil Owens and Philip Lawton ending six places behind them in Melbourne, and gaining valuable experience at the same time, a sail-off for the Sydney 2000 nomination cannot be ruled out as yet. Either way, all four 470 crews must wait until the summer of 2000 and the next class world championships to qualify the class for Ireland at the games.
