Ireland eye world crown

IRELAND’S elite Olympic sailors are amongst the favourites at the third multi-class ISAF Sailing World Championships which start this weekend at Perth, Australia.

Annalise Murphy has repeatedly proved herself as among the quickest in the world in the Laser Radial class and the wind speeds in this area would be the perfect prescription for the powerful helm from Rathfarnham who has was third at Skandia Sail for Gold in June. Murphy has just finished eighth at Sail Melbourne, the first ISAF Sailing World Cup event of the new season, when surging into contention after a poor start.

Cork’s Peter O’Leary, sailing with David Burrow in the stars, has also repeatedly shown substantial medal potential but will not have raced since the Star European Championships. “Peter and David are in good shape,” confirmed the Irish Sailing Association’s Performance Director, James O’Callaghan, “They have made some small adjustments to their boat, to the layout, along with their German coach, Marc Pickel, so hopefully that will add an extra edge to the good form they have shown in the breeze through the summer.”