Ireland's Finn Lynch enjoyed a better second day at the Olympic qualifier in Japan as he posted a tenth and eleventh for the day.
After four races, the Carlow man's overall standing jumped from 78th to 46th place with just two races on Saturday left to decide the gold fleet.
Conditions were windier than Thursday's opening day with a warm sea breeze of 12-17 knots.
"Finn definitely looked better this morning and he definitely performed although he is still off what he is capable of," commented Vasilij Zbogar, the Irish Sailing head Laser coach. "He needs to stop thinking of the overall result and just sail race by race."
"I tried to tell him that he doesn’t have to do anything special, just do as he knows and not over-think; if you have too many things in your head then everything can fall apart."
Ireland's two other squad-members had mid-fleet results with Howth's Ewan McMahon now in 42nd overall while Liam Glynn slipped from 35th to 65th overnight in the 159-boat event.
Five nation places at Tokyo 2020 will be decided by Tuesday morning's last race; Ireland must get into the gold fleet after tomorrow fifth and sixth races in the qualification round.
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