Two-time Olympians Rob Dickson and Seán Waddilove will need a miraculous day three at the 49er World Championships in Sardinia on Thursday if the Irish pair are to salvage any hope of a strong result by the weekend.
After six races in the qualification round, which will decide the gold fleet for the top third of the 84-strong class, the Tokyo and Paris veterans lie 44th overall, some 20 points off the likely break.
Their standing reflects a drop in performance after winning Tuesday’s opening race in style.
Despite showing clear strength in their race starts and boat speed, the Dubliners haven’t been able to convert early leads into single-digit results with the exception of the opening win on Tuesday and an eighth-place finish in Wednesday’s second race.
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But a 14th and 22nd in Wednesday’s other sailings will prove weighty, with only transformational results from each of the three remaining qualification races on Thursday likely to be enough to turn things around.
Dickson and Waddilove have shown they are capable of doing it, but the question remains, will they?
That seems to depend on their ability to read the light and shifting breeze that savagely penalises the unwary, as shown in Wednesday’s first race when the pair were second at the first mark but went to the wrong side of the course for the wind with another group of boats, finishing 15th.
“Their starting has been a real strength – amazing,” said Irish Sailing coach Matt McGovern. “If they can put that together and execute their plan there’s no reason why they couldn’t have all top-fives (on Thursday).”
Meanwhile, there was cause for cheer for the second Irish crew as Ben O’Shaughnessy and Ethan Spain, competing in their first senior World Championships, delivered three impressive results in Wednesday’s races.
The pair had first and second-place finishes in the opening two races, finishing with a 12th to climb the leader board to 33rd, within reach of the gold fleet cut-off if they can repeat those performances in the remaining qualifying races.
