Olympians give a splash course in the art of high-speed sailing

Irish Times

9 hours ago

As the newbie in The Irish Times sports department, I am still quite excited by assignments that a more seasoned (or sensible) reporter might turn down.
That's how I found myself in
Dún Laoghaire
, waiting to go out on a Team Ireland 49er – my first assignment that required a safety briefing.
Despite having never sailed, I needn't have worried. My crew, two-time
Olympians
Robert Dickson
and
Seán Waddilove
, had more than enough experience to go around.
Removed from the other Olympic sports which are largely based in Abbotstown,
Irish Sailing's
HQ is nestled behind the Commissioners of Irish Lights building near the west pier in Dún Laoghaire. By their own admission it's not the finished article.
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Set up in 2019, it's comprised of three blue shipping containers – one a store, another a briefing room, the third a small gym – arranged in a U-formation. They use the changing facilities in the Irish Lights building. On the weekends, when the building is closed, they have to do without.
And yet, what they do have they clearly use to great effect. Dickson and Waddilove are currently ranked fourth in the world in the men's skiff,
Finn Lynch
and Ewan McMahon are ranked seventh and 11th respectively in the ILCA 7 class, while Eve McMahon recently became the first Irish sailor
to achieve a number one world ranking
, claiming the ILCA 6 top spot. All use Dún Laoghaire as their Ireland training base.
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Of course, there's a reason for the invite. Team Ireland has renewed its partnership with Flogas, which also provides funding for athletes through its Performance Programme. For Dickson and Waddilove, that money will go towards getting outside expertise to help them with strategy and tactics. While they
smile for the cameras,
I nab Irish Sailing's performance director James O'Callaghan for a chat, and he tells me their master plan.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council
have given them permission to use the old lifeguard tower – a few minutes' walk up the marina from their current base – as a training facility. The catch? The building needs renovating to the tune of €3 million and Irish Sailing must foot the bill.
13 June 2025; The Irish Times journalist Muireann Duffy and Irish Olympic sailor Robert Dickson at Irish Sailing Performance HQ in Dun Laoghaire, Dublin as Flogas renew their partnership with Team Ireland through to LA 2028. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile *** NO REPRODUCTION FEE ***
But O'Callaghan believes they now have a trump card which might get things moving – Dún Laoghaire has been picked to host next year's ILCA (Laser) World Championships, so they're lobbying the Government to get funding to bring the old lifeguard tower into use before then.
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Unsurprisingly, I came utterly unprepared in terms of kit, but thankfully I get the kind donation of waterproof overalls, a wetsuit top, neoprene boots, gloves, a helmet and a life jacket. It's my best look yet.
O'Callaghan chats us through the T&Cs and then Dickson is tasked with leading the dry run. I'm put in a harness and shown how to hook myself to the trapeze which allows you to fully extend over the side of the boat while standing on the wing to counterbalance the wind in the sails.
After the briefing I'm all but certain I'll be taking an impromptu swim, but it's a sunny day so I reason that I'll at least dry off quickly.
Dickson and Waddilove launch the boat from the marina while O'Callaghan takes the rest of us out on a rib (that's a 'rigid inflatable boat' for the non-mariners among us). Once the lads get the 49er into open water, we're struggling to keep up with them.
Irish Times journalist Muireann Duffy and Irish Olympic sailor Robert Dickson at Irish Sailing Performance HQ in Dún Laoghaire, Dublin. Photograph: Seb Daly/ Sports File
Dickson steers from the back while Waddilove is his eyes up front, feeding him information on what's ahead and letting up and down the sail as needed. They make it look effortless and it's no wonder, their partnership has spanned over a decade and seen them to the
Tokyo
and Paris Olympic Games.
Then comes my turn. The lads manoeuvre the 49er alongside the rib allowing me to clamber aboard. Space is at a premium, so Waddilove makes way, safe in the knowledge that I'm unlikely to threaten his spot in the team.
Once I've managed to hook myself to the trapeze, Dickson has us on our way and it's time to get to standing. Scooting out to the edge of the left wing, the trapeze linked to the mast taking my weight, I have to lean backwards over the side until my legs are fully extended and I'm at a 45-degree angle over the water.
The lads had assured me that falling backwards isn't likely to happen because of the harness, unless I accidently manage to unhook myself, but that does little to ease the fear. Being so far reclined gives the same sensation of when you lean too far back in your chair and your life flashes before your eyes. We're hurtling north out beyond the west pier at a rate of knots (literally) and you best believe I'm hanging on to the trapeze rope for dear life (something I later come to learn was a useless exercise as it increased the chances of me accidently unhooking my harness).
Irish Times journalist Muireann Duffy and Irish Olympic sailor Robert Dickson at Irish Sailing Performance HQ in Dún Laoghaire, Dublin. Photograph: Seb Daly/ Sports File
The 49er glides through the water to start but as we pick up pace it starts to bounce over the waves, and I have to fight against the momentum to not end up flying forward into the side of the boat. Thankfully it's not too loud, because I need distracting from the thought that I'm going to fall, so I subject Dickson to a barrage of quick-fire questions. He has things well under control boat-wise, so with two of us hanging over the side of a boat, I get some interesting titbits.
Dickson started sailing as a very young child; winter conditions in Ireland make it hard to train for any lengthy spell so they instead head to places like Portugal on training camps; and the 49er can hit speeds of 45km/h (or 25 knots if you want the proper lingo). How about that for an interview under pressure?
He tries to show me how they can tell there's wind up ahead by the darkening of the water, but with that he's lost me.
♦♦♦♦
Back on dry land, the three of us sit down in the aforementioned gym container. After I thank them for not letting me get stranded at sea, we start by talking about the recent
European Championships
in Greece where they finished just outside the medals.
'I think the result maybe doesn't reflect the performance so much because we did actually have a lot of good races,' says Dickson.
'Unfortunately in the last race we had a crash with a German boat who didn't see us. It cost us a few too many points. We still had a chance going into the medal race, but we just didn't quite do enough.'
But the overarching feeling is positive. The pair are still in the early stages of their return from a post-Olympic break having finished fourth at the Games.
Irish Times journalist Muireann Duffy and Irish Olympic sailor Robert Dickson at Irish Sailing Performance HQ in Dún Laoghaire, Dublin. Photograph: Seb Daly/ Sports File
'[Paris] was our best performance to date, and after the debrief we all agreed that we could go one better,' says Waddilove.
On aiming for a third Olympics, he adds: 'It was quite a straightforward decision, and we believe we have the right team in place with the coaches and all the support staff, so that kind of guided the decision as well.'
[
The agonising story of how two Irish sailors lost out on an Olympic medal
Opens in new window
]
Fourth in Paris came after a difficult start in the medal race. The flag to indicate a false start was raised, the lads weren't sure whether they were at fault so turned back to restart to avoid disqualification. The sickener was they hadn't jumped the start at all.
'We know we can do better than that, and I don't think it would feel right to leave it at fourth place,' Waddilove adds.
Irish Times journalist Muireann Duffy and Irish Olympic sailor Robert Dickson at Irish Sailing Performance HQ in Dún Laoghaire, Dublin. Photograph: Seb Daly/ Sports File
'If Paris hadn't gone the way it did, we could be sat here feeling like we're never going to be able to get close to it,' Dickson chimes in. 'But actually we did get very close.
'Even though we just missed out, it gives you more confidence that we're right there, we only need a little bit to actually achieve that medal.'
The next Games may be three years away, but the medals that will catch the light of the LA sun are currently being earned in the shadows. In that regard, Dickson and Waddilove won't be found wanting.
'There's not really any magic bullet,' Dickson says of their approach for LA. 'You'd love to be able to say you can change it all up and do something completely different, but at the end of the day it's just going out and repeating the exact same things over and over a hundred times, and that's the thing that gets you better.
'There'll be small changes, and that's all really it's going to take, because we're very close, we're not reinventing the wheel.'
There may yet be difficult waters up ahead, the path to the Olympics rarely runs smooth, but this pair have shown they're capable. Stick to the plan and the winds of LA may yet blow in their favour.