Finn Lynch Makes Top 30 at Laser Euros in Poland – Afloat

The National Yacht Club‘s Finn Lynch made an impressive leap of 14 places from 42nd after four races to 28th overall this evening to complete the qualification stages of the Laser Radial Europeans on Gdansk Bay, Poland.

Light winds meant that the fleet only finished one race today in the final qualification day 2020 Laser Senior European Championships & Open European Trophy in Gdansk, Poland.

Both Lynch and Belfast Lough’s Liam Glynn make the gold fleet in 28th and 38th position but a black flag disqualification in race four cost Ireland’s 2016 Rio rep dearly with scores of 20,19,12,(64.0 BFD) and 8.0. 

Howth’s Ewan McMahon will continue racing in the silver fleet and currently places in 73rd.

Laser European Championships racing in Gdansk Photo: Thom TouwLaser European Championships racing in Gdansk Photo: Thom Touw

All three sailors are still trying to qualify Ireland for the Tokyo Olympics and take one of two final European berths available so this regatta represents an important opportunity before the Olympic qualifier early next season.

The leadership changed hands today after the single race contested with light wind. British sailor Michael Beckett GBR (4-15-4-1-2) is heading now the fleet with 11 points, sharing score with overnight leader Filip Jurisic CRO (1-4-3-3-41). Third place belongs now to multi-champion Pavlos Kontides CYP (2-21-2-9-4) with 17 points.

“Tricky and variable conditions so far which is visible from the results of the fleet. Tomorrow the real war begins in the gold fleet with the top 50% of the competitors battling it out in the 6 remaining races” – Pavlos Kontides CYP

Brits Lorenzo Chiavarini GBR (1-1-20-11-5) and Elliot Hanson GBR (3-8-1-7.3RDGq-17) are also close with 18 and 19.3 points respectively.
Joaquin Blanco ESP –26 pt–, Sergey Komissarov RUS –26 pt–, Alessio Spadoni ITA –33 pt–, William De Smet BEL –33 pt– and Jean Baptiste Bernaz FRA –37 pt– also wrapped the Qualifying series among the European top 10.

Juan Maegli GUA and Ryan Lo SGP are best non-European sailors, holding the 8th and 10th places in the overall ranking.

In the men’s Radial division, Tom Higgins of the Royal St George Yacht Club stays in the top ten of his 30-boat fleet in eighth overall.

The Final series will start tomorrow, where the Standard fleet will be split in Gold and Silver.

The first warning signal for the Standard will be at 11:00.

Results