Make or break on the Mediterranean

THIS weekend sees most of Ireland's Olympic sailing hopefuls facing the "make or break" phase of their campaigns as the controversial European nations qualification regattas get underway at three Mediterranean venues.

The need for qualification regattas was recognised only relatively recently when it became apparent that most classes would be heavily over subscribed. Numbers at Savannah have been strictly limited to 432 competitors even though pre Olympic regattas such as Miami in January saw over 700 serious participants. In spite of this, European competitors will be in the majority with 60 per cent.

The pressure of the regattas next week are proving frustrating for some crews that plan to "peak" nearer the Olympics proper while concentrating on building performance in the meantime. The converse opinion suggests that if a crew is not within the main bunch of the fleet at this stage of a campaign that boat is unlikely to be "at the races" in four months' time anyway, so elimination is justified.

Clearly, a qualification standard result next week will be sufficient although the distraction of these trials is seen as "an uneven playing field" according to Derek Jago, the Irish team manager. "All the non-European nations are focused on the games while our sailors have been working towards these events next week before looking at Savannah" he said yesterday.

Ironically, last summer's European and World Fireball champion helm John Lavery has declared his intention of representing Ireland in the 470 class which does not need a European pre-Olympic trial. However, while Lavery and his crew Ben O'Donoghue have additional time to prepare for Savannah, the Dun Laoghaire pair must first reach the Irish Sailing Association's Olympic nomination standard before their place can be recommended to the Olympic Council of Ireland.

Laser sailor Mark Lyttle is the only definite member of the team so far as that class does not have a European qualifier either. Of the remaining squad currently campaigning, ISA officials are optimistic that most or all the others will make the required grades in each fleet. If their expectations are realised, the sailing team will be the biggest ever from Ireland and among the best represented sports in this country's squad.

In the Star keelboat class. Mark Mansfield and David Burrows are in top form of late and failure to qualify would be a shock out come single handed Europe sailor Aishling Bowman has been working towards Savannah for nearly three years and is also expected to go through. Of the remaining hopefuls, Finn helms man John Driscoll from Belfast, the 470 duo of Denise Lyttle with Louise Cole and the Soling keel boat trio of Marshall King, Dan O'Grady and Garret Connolly just need consistent, good results next week and their places on the team are assured.

Meanwhile, a collective sigh of relief from the sailing community was almost audible in Dun Laoghaire last weekend when the HSS ferry, the Explorer, finally arrived. Expectations of a monster vessel proved unfounded and the 179 year old harbour was well able to accommodate its latest user. Nevertheless, with a service speed of 40 knots, changes in traditional practices for sailing appear inevitable, so the coming season should be an interesting time for all.

This weekend sees a warm up with mostly dinghy events at various locations around the country. The Irish Skiff class is racing at Bray while the Laser Munster and Laser II Nationals are being held at Kinsale and Schull respectively. The latter events also form part of the indicator trials for the

IYRU Youth Worlds to be held in Newport, Rhode Island this August. Also in the Easter programme is the Mirror Northern Championship on Lough Erne, which is a qualifier for the world event in Canada in 1997.