Finn Lynch wins but more top 10s needed

By David Branigan

Ireland’s Finn Lynch opened his gold fleet series in the Laser event of the Sailing World Championships yesterday with a masterclass in light wind tactics to deliver an emphatic first place.

The gold fleet series comprises four races on top of the six qualification races already sailed since last Friday.

An earlier attempt at sailing the opening race had to be abandoned when the wind died to a calm at the first mark. It would be over an hour before the breeze improved again for a race.

The Carlow sailor made a clean start and trailed an American boat at the first mark, but it was clear that Lynch had better downwind speed, even in the light conditions as he opened up a 40-metre lead.

On the next lap, he again chose the left side of the course, where the wind was strongest, so was able to protect his position all the way to the finish for his best result of the series to date.

The win boosted him to 18th place overall and 12th by nation, essential for Ireland’s hopes of qualifying for the Laser event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Critically, the top 10 ranked sailors in the class all had bad results for the race, underlining just how tricky the light winds on the ‘Stadium’ course just off the Aarhus waterfront were, but with three races remaining in the series, more top ten places would be needed to seal the result.

Instead, in the race that followed, Lynch found himself disqualified for early-starting, along with three other boats. He continued with the race and eventually placed 32nd, which will stand as his result if an appeal against the disqualification is successful.

That, though, puts greater pressure on him to deliver top-10 results for the final two races today.