Gold fleet racing at the European Championships for the ILCA one-person dinghy get under way on Thursday morning with all three Irish sailors through following a very light wind day off Marstrand, Sweden.
Howth sailor Eve McMahon rose to third overall in the ILCA 6 women’s event and trails first place by nine points in her 90-boat event.
However, she caught a lucky break when her sixth race of the qualifying event was cancelled, even after finishing, when the second fleet was unable to complete their race due to the light winds.
In her final race, McMahon received two yellow flag technical penalties, first for excessive sculling and then for rocking her boat and was obliged to retire. She would have incurred maximum points had the race not subsequently been binned.
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For remainder of the series, she cannot afford a further penalty which would mean instant retirement from the competition, even though infringements of rule 42 are relatively commonplace when light winds make racing marginal.
Among the ILCA 7 men’s event, Ewan McMahon slipped down the ranks after a difficult day on the water when he followed a 17th place with a 46th after losing out in the strong current.
He now lies 30th overall and is behind his team-mate Finn Lynch, who also had a mixed day but holds 16th overall.
However, the points spread is very tight in the gold fleet with six races to come. That will also tell whether Britain’s under-23 leader Finley Dickinson can hold first overall. He has built that up over the past three days, including two notable race wins in the third day’s tricky conditions.
