FRESH to strong winds suited several of the Irish crews at the Olympic regatta at Medemblik, Holland yesterday. The 470 women's pairing of Denise Lyttle and Louise Ann Cole stormed to the head of their fleet and hold a one point overnight lead from Barcelona gold medallist and current World champion Theresa Zabell of Spain.

"We weren't stretched to our limit by any means," said Lyttle, "and if these conditions hold, we can certainly produce a good result." Three races were sailed yesterday and the Dublin crew scored a third and an eighth in addition to a second place in the final outing.

In the Europe class, Aishling Bowman continued to pull up the 77 boat fleet. The former Optimist sailor from the National Yacht Club had a second, ninth and 13th placings yesterday to lie 13th overnight. Baltimore's Maria Coleman, currently training for the Sydney 2000 Games, has moved up to 19th.

Finn sailor John Driscoll holds an overnight third place following race two and three yesterday, having led the 26 boat pack after the first race on Wednesday.

Ireland's Soling keelboat crew of Marshall King, Dan O'Grady and Garrett Connolly struggled in yesterday's conditions, slipping from 12th overall on Wednesday to 19th, counting a 15th and 19th placings.

In the Laser single handers, Ireland's Mark Lyttle had two eigths and a 17th to fall from 20th overall to 25th last night. In the 470s, John Lavery and Ben O Donoghue were 40th out of 52 boats.