The Olympic authorities see the Laser as the floating equivalent of the pole-vaulter’s vaulting pole, thereby making Laser sailors into proper individual athletes, and very worthy of Olympic inclusion.
But meanwhile, some in the upper echelons of Olympic decision-making see two-person boats as being group-operated machines, thereby precluding double sailors from serious consideration as true Olympic athletes unless it’s with a boat that is a gymnastic challenge in itself. Step forward the 49er.
As for three-person boats….forget it. This would be all well and good were the Olympics in a self-contained bubble. But the reality is that it is the Olympic imprimatur which brings sailing more effectively to public attention than any other branch of the sport – and we don’t exclude the America’s Cup from that grouping.
Thus the glorification of solo dinghy sailing as the ultimate ideal of sailing sport has trickled through to become the accepted group-think in much of sailing, and there are indications that this tough-minded attitude – one thinks of the Spartans leaving newborn babies on the hillside overnight as a quick and convenient selection process to weed out the weak – is really off-putting for shy and mildly introverted kids.
"the glorification of solo dinghy sailing as the ultimate ideal of sailing sport has trickled through to become the accepted group-think"
They like the idea of going sailing, but are put off by the general gung-ho attitude of the more competitive helms, and the possible sense of loneliness in being sent forth solo alone in an Optimist. For this provides all the challenges of being alone, while at the same time having your efforts conspicuously on display in front of one of the toughest-minded bunch of kids in the country.
Spartans afloat - the sharpest sharp end of the Optimist fleet is not for the faint-hearted or shrinking violets, as seen here at Balyholme
The huge national Optimist fleet in Ireland is a force of nature, while - as several clubs have discovered – the International Optimist Dinghy Association of Ireland is so powerful and effective it can function successfully more or less as a law unto itself. And the fact of the matter is that when the demanding Optimist system of encouraging rising talent works, it works very well indeed. But we’d be kidding ourselves if we tried to pretend that it isn’t ultimately elitist, and inevitably causes the elevation of individual talent at the expense of a team approach.
That said, when the situation arises that a top Optimist sailor has to sail in a crewed boat, it’s rarely that they don’t quickly learn the ropes in every sense. And the recent National Junior Championship at Schull was dominated by present or past Optimist sailors who not only adapted to two-person sailing – in some cases almost overnight – but showed clever strategic thinking in selecting crews who were of a size to match their own weight in order to provide the optimum all-up weight to race a TSR 3.6.
That’s the way it is in the fast track. But by its very nature, most potential recreational sailors are never going to be in the fast track, yet they can find their pleasure in sailing by choosing the right boat in an environment in which they feel comfortable when they go afloat.
Yet as soon as you move up from a one-person junior boat to something requiring two or even three to sail, the logistical and expense problems expand exponentially. Nevertheless, at the more competitive level, there are shrewd observers who bewail the thin spread of the International 420 in Ireland, despite Doug Elmes of Kilkenny and Colin O’Sullivan of Malahide winning the Bronze in the Worlds in Malaysia back in 2016.
Doug Elmes and Colin O’Sullivan after winning Bronze in the 420 Worlds in 2016
It certainly seemed inspirational at the time, yet apart from a few notably enthusiastic clubs with keen 420 fleets, you could hardly say the 420 is a nationwide success. But even with the demands implicit in sailing a 420 locally and occasionally campaigning it nationally, there are those throughout Ireland who think that any family that finds itself becoming involved in 420 racing through junior participation deserves every encouragement.
One such is Pierce Purcell, former Commodore of Galway Bay SC, where the small but keen 420 feet has found itself raised to new heights of enthusiasm by the success of their top 420 duo of Adam McGrady and Alistair O’Sullivan, who won the 420 Nationals at Rush at the end of August.
The 2022 420 Nationals at Rush SC at the end of August. Photo: M Gosson
Much and all as Galway is the centre of the universe, the McGrady/O’Sullivan team know they have to travel for top competition, and it really is team travel with their fathers Paul and Gerry totally committed to providing logistics support.
National Champions. Galway Bay SC’s 420 stars Alistair O’Sullivan & Adam McGrady (centre) with their fathers Gerry O’Sullivan (left) and Paul McGrady (right). Photo: Pierce Purcell
But even with Galway now the pinnacle of 420 sailing, there are still those there – and elsewhere in Ireland - who reckon that the ultimate contribution to the development of two-handed, sociable and accessible sailing here was provided by the advent of the Mirror dinghy. I yield to no-one in my admiration for the Mirror, it’s one of the cleverest boat designs ever conceived, and it’s a matter of wonder why someone doesn’t put a computer to work to analyse why the Mirror provided so much for so many people in such a little boat.
It should be possible to then provide a computer-aided design which may look like a contemporary boat of 2023, yet ticks all the boxes on the factors that made the Mirror so very special and useful.
One of the most effective boat designs of all time – sport for all ages in the Mirror dinghy
You’d be surprised how many people are thinking along these lines, and meanwhile look around to see what readily available production boat most nearly fits the bill. And that shrewd observer of the sailing scene, Bob Bateman of Cork, who is the patriarch of an active three generation sailing dynasty while somehow also finding the time to take great photos of just about everything that floats along the south coast, reckons he has found that boat, hidden away in plain sight.
It’s the RS Feva. But though this 12-footer has been around for some time, the performance potential has been so emphasised that casual observers overlook the fact that the Feva is also a low maintenance – almost zero maintenance, in fact – knockabout boat, one that can happily take a bunch of kids for a fun sail.
Yet like the Mirror, she’s an all-generation boat in which a sympathetic adult with the ability to provide kindly teaching – it’s a very special ability, and not given its proper respect – can bring shy young children into sailing and build their confidence in every way, both afloat and ashore.
In the weekend in which some of those who have reached the highest peaks of Irish sailing are contesting the Champions’ Cup in its 75th year reiteration of the Helmsman’s Championship, it is very timely to reflect on the other end of the sailing continuum, and on what – in an ideal world – would be a boat deserving more encouragement in playing its key role in making sailing seem more genuinely accessible.
And apart from that, like the Mirror – which served our family very well indeed for multiple purposes – the RS Feva is simply great fun to sail.
Hidden away in plan sight behind the apparently performance-oriented RS Feva is an excellent little all-round knockabout boat for fun sailing. Photo: Robert Bateman
