Van Gelderen back on top

After one of the windiest weekend's in the season so far, as many as 70 board sailors gathered at Malahide's Broadmeadow Estuary to see Oisin Van Gelderen storm home to victory, regaining the overall lead of the Heineken Windsurfing Tour. The past two events have been dogged by light, windless conditions with racing declared "non-ranking" as a result.

However, this weekend proved to be the long-awaited break the leaders of the national championship series have been waiting for. Westerly winds of around 25 knots swept the venue with gusts of up to 43 knots recorded at times. The conditions suited Van Gelderen well although Masters champion Derek Lambert, tied with his younger rival in joint first place overall, found the going harder and dropped out of the event top six.

The main bunch of boards in the Gold fleet used 5.8 to 6.0 metre sails for most of Sunday's racing with estimated speeds of up to 35 knots achieved at the height of the gusts. The 25 top sailors were joined by up to 50 more sailors in the `Fun' division yesterday.

Van Gelderen put in almost a clean record at Malahide, winning four out of the five rounds. The slalom courses didn't go entirely the national champion's way and the first of the finals on Saturday afternoon was won by top Youth contestant Maurice Owens who edged Van Gelderen into second place on the final lap of of three on the 800 metre course. While Owens performed well throughout the weekend, the Skerries-based national champion didn't slip a second time and won Sunday's finals by at least one leg.