Olympic sailors prepare for light winds European Championships in Greece
Double Olympians Robert Dickson (Howth Yacht Club) and Sean Waddilove (Skerries Sailing Club) will begin their second major event since their narrow fourth place at the Paris 2024 Olympics when the 49er class European Championship begins tomorrow.
Following ILCA sailor Eve McMahon's (Howth YC) bronze medal result at her World Championships in China, the Dublin crew will be seeking a strong top ten result or better at the Europeans that mark a busy Summer season ahead.
Like the ILCA worlds in China, Thessaloniki looks set to be a challenging venue for wind with light winds forecast for the week. Postponements ashore and delays to racing are likely.
The light winds will be good practice according to Matt McGovern, Irish Sailing's 49er coach who competed in the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics.
"It's going to be very light and very warm - long, drifty races so a real tough regatta ahead, time and heat wise," said McGovern. "This is kinda what we want... it's exactly the area that we've been looking to improve on and we think we're going to get a season of this."
German and Polish venues follow later in the Summer and both have tricky offshore light winds so the Europeans will be good practice.
"Practice racing has been decent (and) what we expected for regatta ahead," he said. "It'll be a good learning regatta while also trying to perform at it."
A fleet of 54 crews from 27 nations will contest the six-day championship beginning with three days of qualification round before a Gold fleet series to decide the medal race featuring the top ten boats next Sunday 8th June.