Day 6 was a crucial day for the Irish squad. The Star class finished preliminaries and the top 10 for the medal race on Monday were decided. In the 49er the gold fleet was for scheduled for decision but adverse weather conditions postponed those plans.

Star

Races 8 & 9 were completed in the Star fleet today. Maurice O'Connell & Ben Cooke, sailing in the gold fleet, finished 22 nd and 20th, leaving them 14th overall. This means they will not race in the medal race for the top ten crews tomorrow, which will be between boats from ten different countries, thus securing them all nation spots for the 2008 Olympics.

Instead O'Connell & Cooke will face a tense final race where they will try to secure the 11 th and final nation spot, racing with the other 21 boats from the gold fleet. The three main contenders for the coveted spots are USA 12th (80 points), Ireland 14th (85 points) and Croatia , 15th (88 points).  

49er

Russell McGovern and Matt McGovern placed 2nd in race five in their class. This excellent finish will improve their overall standing from 35 th and enhance their chances of making the gold fleet. However the picture remains unclear as all other races in the class were incomplete today.

470

The 470 class completed races 3 and 4 today.

Gerard Owens and Phil Lawton finished 13th in race 3 and 11th in race 4, pushing them up to 32th overall and within sight of gold fleet qualification.

The Mac Colgáin brothers, Tuathal and Dualtach, from the ISA Academy, were black flagged in race 3 and finished 36th in race 4 to leave them 110th overall.

Sunday was a rest day for the Finn class which will resume tomorrow. A complete update on all Irish competitors will be provided tomorrow.

James O'Callaghan, ISA Performance Director: "We are disappointed that the Star did not make the medal race but there is big job to do tomorrow and hopefully we will secure the Olympic spot."