Murphy shows Laser class

There was no doubting Annalise Murphy’s form yesterday as the National Yacht Club sailor clicked off two race wins in her qualification flight at the Laser European Championships on Dublin Bay.

With a solid 15 knot westerly breeze plus gusts over 20 knots at times, a short sea off the East Pier for her course area meant challenging racing for some.

Not so for the London 2012 veteran, who extended her lead in both races to win comfortably. She did have some problems in both races when her mainsail control sheet became knotted, though her lead on the water allowed some margin for error.

Four more races, two today and two tomorrow, will complete the qualification round that decides the splits into gold, silver and bronze fleets until Friday’s final.

Currently in the Yellow flight, Murphy’s two wins are closely matched by Finland’s Heidi Tenkanen, who also had two wins in the Blue flight. That group also contains Murphy’s rivals from the London Games, who beat her to the podium just over a year ago.

Marit Bouewmeester from The Netherlands and Belgium’s Evi Van Acker took silver and bronze last year and will come together with Murphy on Wednesday in the Gold fleet assuming their usual form continues.

Winds are due to remain fresh and gusty today but could go light from tomorrow and possibly freshen again later in the week. By reputation, Murphy has an edge in the fresh conditions, but a light airs test on home waters may reveal if her progress towards equal performance in this lighter wind range has been achieved.

Meanwhile, in the Men’s Laser Radial event, Irish boats were also faring well.

Baltimore’s Fionn Lyden tops the combined leaderboard in this division with a second and a first yesterday and is top U21 sailor as well.

He is on equal points with Australia’s Tristan Brown, who had a matching score from the second flight in this event, but there was other good news for the host nation as well.

Finn Lynch, also of the National YC is listed in third overall in the standings after he placed fifth and first yesterday, while Seafra Guilfoyle of the Royal Cork YC had a fourth and a ninth and was eighth in the standings.

A total of 88 boats are contesting this event that is also the world championship.

Meanwhile in the 124-boat Laser Standard rig championship, five-time Olympic medallist Robert Scheidt made a conservative return to the Laser class after his absence while competing in Star keelboats.

The Brazilian placed fourth and third yesterday and accepted that he was not yet back on top form.