Ireland’s top skiff sailors opened their 49er World Championship campaign in Quiberon, France today as challenging light winds tested crews from the outset. Competing in both the Men’s and Women’s Skiff fleets, the Irish teams recorded mid-fleet results on a day where shifting and patchy breeze made consistency hard to find.
Two time Olympians Robert Dickson (Howth Yacht Club) and Sean Waddilove (Skerries Sailing Club) arrived at the championship in strong form following their silver medal performance at French Olympic Week in Hyères last month.
After a lengthy delay ashore waiting for conditions to stabilise, the Irish pair endured a frustrating opening day and struggled to find consistency in the difficult conditions. A number of strategic errors proved costly across the races, with a best finish of 12th leaving them 40th overall after the opening day of competition.
The North Dublin duo were upbeat after racing though and will continue to build their understanding of this tricky course ahead of racing tomorrow.
The Women’s Skiff pairing of Erin McIlwaine (Royal St George YC / Newcastle YC) and Ellen Barbour (County Antrim Boat Club) completed three races after a lengthy delay waiting for the wind to fill in.
The young Irish crew were forced to circle back at the start of their opening race which left them with a 22nd place finish, but they responded strongly as the day progressed. Building confidence with each race, McIlwaine and Barbour followed up with results of 15th and 11th to end the opening day 32nd overall in the highly competitive 52 boat fleet.
Olympian and coach Matt McGovern said of today’s performance, “It was a solid start today and the girls are very much in the mix in this competition. Tomorrow the focus will be on sharpening up the boat handling, improving the starts and building more consistency across the races. This event is a massive learning opportunity for them and one we’ll definitely take a lot from.”
Racing continues tomorrow with two further days of Qualification Series racing before the fleet splits for the Elimination and Gold Fleet stages on Friday. The championship then concludes on Sunday 17 May with the top ten boats advancing to the Final Series for two podium deciding races.