Familiar winds blow little good for struggling Irish

SAILING: Strong winds, then light, then strong again. The Aegean Sea cannot be blamed for its attempt to match Irish Sea conditions since Saturday but none it seems are suiting five of the six Irish boats that have so far set sail at
Agios Kosmos.

David Burrows awaits his Olympic fate  this morning, after yesterday's rest day, as he enters the crucial final five races of his Olympic regatta, assured that a further slip removes all medal hopes – at least for another four years.
Yesterday's light breezes brought little in the way of uplift in Irish performance, the four Irish boats competing all posting mediocre results outside the elusive top 10.
The 49er class, with a regatta programme now seriously behind schedule, will aim for five races today and Howth's Tom Fitzpatrick and Fraser Brown, who scored 11th in yesterday's opener, could yet upset the international pecking order – a feat they are capable of having won Germany's prestigious Kiel week regatta in 2001 – if they get off
to a good start today.
In the women's dinghy category, the talking point is the run of misfortune that has plagued Maria Coleman – mainly injury andspeed issues. Her
Europe campaign has long since stalled and now it appears too late
for the dedicated 36–year–old.
The double Olympian, previously ranked second in the world, knows she is capable of a lot more than she has so far scored in Agios Kosmas (18, 12, 13 and 20).
In spite of an early sixth place in race four yesterday, the Baltimore star dropped to 20th on the trapezoid course, another costly result that leaves her 17th overall. In the west of the bay, Dún Laoghaire 470 debutants Gerald Owens and Ross Killian continue to post consistent mid-fleet results
in their 27-boat fleet, which sailed to the halfway stage of the regatta yesterday.
They are counting 11, 14, 16, 14, 15 and 14 to be 18th overall, at least on a par with team officials' pre-regatta expectations. Rory Fitzpatrick, also of Dún Laoghaire, and another Olympic debutant, continues to battle away at the back end of the 41-boat Laser fleet and with scores of 33, 26, 38 and 31 is placed 37th, somewhat farther back than management predicted, after four of 11 races.