Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove have emerged best of the two Irish contenders to compete in the men’s skiff event at Paris 2024 this summer.

The Dublin crew — from Howth Yacht Club and Skerries Sailing Club respectively — qualified for the medal race final in eighth overall at the 49er European Championships in La Grande Motte, France on Sunday 12 May, the third and final event of the selection trials.

Their rivals for the place, Séafra Guilfoyle and Johnny Durcan, delivered an outstanding performance of their own over the past six days, finishing in 12th place — their personal best result as a pair — and within striking distance of taking the place.

But the Royal Cork Yacht Club pair were denied a final chance at closing the gap on Dickson and Waddilove when light winds forced their final fleet race to be cancelled on Sunday despite two attempts to go afloat hoping for breeze.

Light winds were also threatening the possibility of the medal race on Sunday afternoon, though the best that the Dublin crew can achieve is sixth overall in a fleet that comprises the best sailors in the world that will all be competing in the Olympics.

Dickson and Waddilove competed for Ireland at Tokyo 2020 for their first Olympic appearance and qualified Ireland for this year’s games at the 2023 Europeans in Portugal last November.

This selection marks the conclusion of a 45-race series which took place over three regattas.

It’s expected the nomination will be ratified by the Olympic Federation of Ireland in the coming weeks when Dickson and Waddilove join Eve McMahon (Howth Yacht Club) and Finn Lynch (National Yacht Club) in their respective one-person dinghy events for Team Ireland.

With one last gold fleet race of the 49er European Championships in La Grande Motte, France, scheduled on Sunday morning before the medal race decider in the afternoon, Ireland's Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove of Howth and Skerries aren’t counting their chickens quite yet in the final Olympic trial to decide the Irish berth for Paris 2024.

The veterans of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, who have held a lead over Cork rivals Séafra Guilfoyle and Johnny Durcan all week, are now lying a creditable eighth overall and crucially four places ahead of the Crosshaven pair who have proved themselves able contenders this week.

In seemingly random conditions Hernan Umpierre and Fernando Diz appear to be rock solid aboard their Uruguyan 49er. They stretched their advantage to 12 points over the British in second, James Peters and Fynn Sterritt. 

“We just keep focusing on what we are doing,” said Umpierre but acknowledged that even if they were trying to keep a lid on their emotions the excitement back home in the southern hemisphere was starting to build.

While Peters and Sterritt might be a little disappointed to have lost their lead from earlier in the week, to be in second place has been a vital boost to British confidence in the lead-up to the Olympic Games.

“We’re pretty happy, especially how we sailed the first two days when there was a bit more wind. It feels like the last few days has been a great opportunity to look at the different techniques in the fleet.

“To be honest, we’ve been a bit off the pace in this lighter stuff. And then we’ve been able to make a few changes and today the boat speed felt a lot better. This is a great opportunity with all the best sailors in the fleet here to go through our paces and make those adjustments to see what works.”

Just back from the British in third are the Uruguayans’ training partners from Switzerland, Sebastien Schneiter and Arno de Planta, with the USA’s Ian Barrows and Hans Henken moving to fourth and within striking distance of the podium thanks to finishing this afternoon with scores of 2,1.

While today marked the end of the regatta for most, and for some the end of their Olympic careers, Sunday is the day when the medals will be decided across the three high-performance fleets.

The Nacra 17 World Championship along with the 49er and 49erFX European Championships are attracting 148 teams to La Grande Motte in the south of France for six days of racing from next Tuesday 7 to Sunday 12 May.

Of those crews registered, 39 will represent their country in less than three months in Marseille, location of the 2024 Olympics sailing events.

La Grande Motte effectively serves as the final dress rehearsal for the Olympic sailors, a final opportunity to line up on big start lines and experience the hurly-burly of high-traffic mark roundings and tight boat-on-boat tactics.

For some, this event is even important as the regatta is serving as the final part of their national qualification trials.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the 49er Europeans is the third and final event in the Irish men’s skiff trials series.

Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove (Howth YC/Skerries SC) hold a tiny five-point advantage over Crosshaven's Séafra Guilfoyle and Johnny Durcan, meaning the Royal Cork crew must beat the Dublin duo by five places and finish within the top 20 to win a place with Team Ireland for Paris 2024.

It will be far from an easy task. La Grande Motte’s organisers have remarked on how interesting it’s been to see how some of the teams that missed out on Olympic selection have been performing at such a high level in recent weeks.

“Perhaps with the pressure off, they’ve been able to sail with more freedom,” they say. “We can expect to see some of those ‘non-Olympic’ crews to be challenging hard for the podium. Because, after all, this is not just a warm-up for Marseille but a big deal in its own right.”

La Grande Motte International Regatta 2024 programme:

• 4-6 May: Boat inspection and registration confirmation
• 6 May: Official training regattas and opening ceremony
• 7-11 May: Qualifying regattas: 3 races per day and per series (weather permitting); daily race numbers for the top three provisional finishers in the three series
• 12 May: Medal Races — 10-boat finals, followed by medal ceremony

After a disappointing week for both Irish crews competing at 49er World Championship in Lanzarote a final-race second place on Sunday (10 March) for Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove was a welcome early season morale boost.

After a clean start, Dickson (Howth Yacht Club) and Waddilove (Skerries Sailing Club) led the fleet at the first mark but then jousted with the eventual overall winners of the championship for the two laps of the course.

While the score was welcome, it wasn’t enough to lift them from 25th place in the Gold fleet. Meanwhile, at the front, French sailors Erwan Fischer and Clément Péquin maintained their lead to secure their nation’s first world championship in the 49er skiff class. See the overall results HERE.

“The guys are world-class sailors and can perform in a lot of conditions with good starts and they’re very fast,” said Matt McGovern, Irish Sailing’s skiff coach. “We just struggled with a bit of the strategy so we need to get back to the drawing board and look at what we’ve learned from this event.”

Elsewhere, Crosshaven’s Séafra Guilfoyle and Johnny Durcan (Royal Cork Yacht Club) ended their championship in 31st place, narrowly missing their Sport Ireland funding goal of top 30 boats.

An opportunity to protest a Danish rival for a rules infringement wasn’t enough to close the gap on 30th place while racing in the 46-boat Silver fleet.

However, both Irish crews are now on level points after the first of three regattas for the selection trials to determine which crew will take the sole place for Ireland in the men’s skiff event for the Paris 2024 Olympic regatta in Marseille this Summer.

Both crews will be in action again in late April at the French Olympic Week in Hyères, where more than 1,000 sailors will gather for the ‘last-chance regatta’ to decide the remaining nation places for the games.

Ireland has already qualified in all three events that Irish Sailing’s Senior squad trains for, with Eve McMahon and Finn Lynch both confirmed for their respective single-handed events pending nomination by the Olympic Steering Group of Irish Sailing to the Olympic Federation of Ireland.

The skiff trials series will conclude at the start of May with the 49er European Championship at La Grande-Motte near Montpelier.

Tricky wind conditions have exposed a weakness for the leading Irish crew competing at 49er World Championship in Lanzarote on Friday (8 March).

Competing in the Gold fleet final round, Robert Dickson (Howth Yacht Club) and Sean Waddilove (Skerries Sailing Club) were unable to lift off the bottom of the leaderboard and remain in 25th place overnight.

The problem area for Dickson and Waddilove is how to handle the variable wind direction and strength blowing down from Lanzarote’s nearby mountains.

Few of the top sailors have escaped incurring high scores during the series so far, including three-time world champions Bart Lambriex and Floris Van de Werken from The Netherlands.

However, the Irish crew have yet to repeat their previous form of regular top ten results or higher in this series.

“It’s clear that we’ve found one of our weaknesses which is good as it’s definitely something we can focus on in the next couple of months,” said Sean Waddilove after racing ended for the day. “It’s different to Marseille [the Olympic regatta venue] which is a bit more predictable.

“These conditions aren’t what we used to find in Lanzarote but we’ve had them and we have to deal with them and do a better job.”

Waddilove maintains that the issue is fixable and points to their progress in previous weak areas that the pair addressed last year such as their light-winds boat speed and starting technique.

“When you’re at this level of sport, it’s hard to find weaknesses but the big lesson this week is that we’ve definitely found something that we can make gains in heading to Marseille,” he said.

Meanwhile, Crosshaven’s Séafra Guilfoyle and Johnny Durcan (Royal Cork Yacht Club) had a good day in the 46-boat Silver fleet where they included a race win and a second place to move into the lead of that class.

Both Irish crews have started a selection trials this week to determine which of them will represent Ireland in the men’s skiff event for the Paris 2024 Olympics this Summer.

With Dickson and Waddilove trailing in Gold fleet and Guilfoyle and Durcan leading the Silver fleet, the outcome of this event could be very narrow, setting the scene for a major contest at the French Olympic Week regatta in five weeks’ time.

Elsewhere, Day 4 showcased the dominance of Brazilian duo Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze, the only team with top 10 scores in all three races today.

The Dutch women’s team of Annette Duetz and Odile Van Aanholt also maintained consistency while their male compatriots Lambriex and Van De Werken struggled, allowing the local Spanish favourites to climb to second place.

In the men’s 49er, the French pair Erwan Fischer and Clement Pequin secured a significant lead. The battle among French teams for the home Olympic spot is intensifying.

After Friday’s fickle breeze and the mind-bending challenges of such a random race course, the fleet is hoping the forecast of stronger breeze might make things more predictable on Day 5.

One of the two Irish boats at the 49er World Championship in Lanzarote has qualified for the Gold fleet final series at the end of the nine-race qualification round on Thursday evening (7 March).

Robert Dickson (Howth Yacht Club) and Sean Waddilove (Skerries Sailing Club) placed 25th out of 71 crews after a tough day on the water at Playa Blanca that saw them narrowly qualify for the next three days of finals racing.

“Today had the hallmark of a great day for us with perfect conditions,” said Matt McGovern, Irish Sailing’s 49er coach. “But the day just got away from us and it isn’t very obvious why — it wasn’t what we wanted performance-wise.”

However, the regatta is still only at the halfway stage and Dickson reckons that its still all to play for.

“We’re last in Gold fleet so we have nothing to lose; we can probably take a little more risk and try and get up the leaderboard,” Dickson said after racing ended. “I definitely think that medal race is possible as the conditions have been very variable and the points are very tight.”

Earlier, Crosshaven's Séafra Guilfoyle with Johnny Durcan (Royal Cork Yacht Club) came agonisingly close to making the cut for Gold fleet but were disappointed to finish the qualification series in 27th overall.

The Cork crew placed second in the opening race of the day though Guilfoyle later conceded that it was due to a lucky windshift in their favour that saw them jump over 20 places in the space of one leg.

The pair will continue the world championships competing in the 46-strong Silver fleet while 25 boats will race in the Gold fleet to determine the top ten boats to sail in Sunday's medal race final.

“Obviously, it’s very disappointing that we’re not in Gold fleet and that’ll take a bit of time to process,” Guilfoyle said. “We definitely have to keep fighting for top 30 because our funding depends on it. With another nine races to go, we can do it.”

Guilfoyle and Durcan are in a trials series with the Dickson and Waddilove to decide which of the two boats will take the single Irish place for the Paris 2024 Olympic regatta in the men’s skiff event. Two more events will follow over the next eight weeks.

“We have to pick ourselves up now and attack the rest of the regatta — we can debrief fully later.”

It was a day of mixed and extreme emotions in the boat park after the fleet came ashore at the end of a vital third day of Qualifying at the 49er and 49erFX World Championships in Lanzarote.

For some this was perhaps the hardest day they will ever experience in their Olympic sailing career. For some who didn't make it through to Gold Fleet, who find themselves relegated to Silver, it could well spell the end of their dreams of making it to Paris 2024.

Racing continues with the fleets split into gold and silver for each fleet.

Irish sailors Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove have put their best foot forward at the 49er World Championship in Lanzarote. The duo is on the brink of qualifying for Gold fleet after the end of the nine-race qualification round on Thursday. However, they eagerly await the outcome of protest hearings tonight that could potentially push them out of the top 25. 

Meanwhile, Crosshaven's Séafra Guilfoyle and Johnny Durcan missed the cut for Gold fleet, finishing in 27th place overall. The Cork crew came agonizingly close to making it to the top 25, placing second in the opening race of the day. Guilfoyle later admitted that their success in the race was due to a lucky wind-shift in their favor. 

The world championships will continue with 25 boats competing in the Gold fleet to determine the top ten boats for Sunday's medal race final. Guilfoyle and Durcan will compete in the 46-strong Silver fleet. 

The Irish sailors are in a trials series with Dickson and Waddilove to decide which of the two boats will represent Ireland at the Paris 2024 Olympics in the men's skiff event. Two more events will take place over the next eight weeks. 

Speaking about the outcome, Guilfoyle said, "Obviously, it's very disappointing that we're not in Gold fleet, and that'll take a bit of time to process. We definitely have to keep fighting for the top 30 because our funding depends on it. With another nine races to go, we can do it." 

The International Jury hearings are expected to conclude shortly, and the Irish sailors will soon know their fate.

Dublin sailors Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove made a strong start on the second day of racing at the 49er World Championship in Lanzarote, Spain on Wednesday.

Despite challenging conditions, including an unstable northerly wind, the duo managed to score two top-ten results in their fleet. However, a 15th-place finish weighed down their overall standing, putting them in 18th place overall. With just ten points separating them from the top ten, the Dublin pair will be keen to improve their position in Thursday's races in order to qualify for the Gold fleet final round.

Meanwhile, Crosshaven's Séafra Guilfoyle and Johnny Durcan from the Royal Cork Yacht Club also had a strong showing, with a top result and two 20th place finishes. Although the latter result was discarded as their worst score, the Cork duo will need to find their form on Thursday in order to improve their position and secure a spot in the Gold fleet.

As Afloat previously reported, the 49er World Championship is the first of three selection trials for the single Irish berth at the Paris 2024 Olympics in the Men's single-handed event. With all eyes on the prize, the Irish sailors are giving it their all and leaving nothing to chance.

"Today was more of what we expected from Lanzarote," commented Matt McGovern, Irish Sailing's skiff coach. "After a light start for the first race, it got a little easier for the fleet as they just had to take the left track, so it was about getting off the start well."

Despite the challenging conditions, McGovern remained optimistic, saying, "Overall, it was a good day to survive." Gold fleet racing for the final round commences on Friday, followed by Sunday's medal race for the top ten overall to decide the podium.

On each side of the Yellow and Blue Qualifying Groups in the 49er, two different French teams put in some world-beating performances.

In Yellow Group, Julien D’Ortoli and Noe Delpech enjoyed an almost perfect day with scores of 2,1,1 to move up to 5th overall in the standings.

Meanwhile, in Blue Group, Erwan Fischer and Clement Pequin put the hammer down to score 3,1,3 and move to the top of the leaderboard. The French share equal points with reigning world champions Bart Lambriex and Floris van de Werken who hold second place with an 8 point gap on the Polish team, Mikolaj Staniul and Jakub Sztorch, in third.

49er World Championship in Lanzarote: results day two

Ireland has passed out Belgium in the Olympic race for the single Paris berth available at the 49er European Championships in Vilamoura.

On the first day of gold fleet racing, Ireland's Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove improved from 13th to sixth place overnight after three solid races on Saturday

Suffering a tumble down the rankings and falling out of the top spot for the one Olympic qualifying spot available from this championship are the Belgian team of Yannick Lefèbvre and Jan Heuninck, whose scores of 23rd and 12th have dropped them from 7th to 14th overall.

Ireland in the mix - Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove improved from 13th to sixth place overnight after three solid races on Saturday Photo: Prow Media

The Howth and Skerries duo have moved into Olympic pole position after scores of 10th and 2nd launched Dickson and Waddilove up into 6th overall. The closest threat for the Olympic ticket are the Italians, Simone Ferrarese and Leonardo Chistè, who have risen to 10th overall and are 10 points behind the Irish.

With six races remaining in the schedule before Monday afternoon's medal race, the Italian threat could be a big one.

As Afloat reported previously, Dickson and Waddilove came within one nation place of securing a berth in the Men's skiff event for the Paris 2024 Olympic regatta in Marseilles next August when they competed at the Sailing World Championships in The Hague in August.

Ireland's second crew in the competition, now in the Silver fleet had no racing due to the weather. Séafra Guilfoyle with Johnny Durcan (Royal Cork YC) are hoping that Sunday's conditions will allow the Silver and Bronze fleets an opportunity to continue.

The 49er European Championship dinghy park in Vilamoura, Portugal Photo: Prow Media

Read more about the progress of Irelaand's top 49er duo in our dedicated Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove category

Ireland's Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove survived the scramble to stay in the gold fleet qualification battle at the light air 49er Europeans Championships in Vilamoura, Portugal today.

For the five teams (including Ireland) in the battle for the sole qualification spot for next year’s Olympic Regatta, today’s racing was a make-or-break moment in the competition. As the final results were posted on the scoreboard, sailors and coaches were refreshing the page on their phones to see who had made the cut for the top 25 and Gold Fleet, and who had missed out.

Dickson (Howth YC) and Waddilove (Skerries SC) improved from 18th overall to 13th thanks to third and fourth places for the day while their discard took care of an 18th. 

Ireland's second crew in the competition also had their best day so far, but ultimately Séafra Guilfoyle with Johnny Durcan (Royal Cork YC) were unable to break into Gold fleet despite jumping from 60th to 38th place thanks to three solid results for the day including a fifth place.

Medallists at the past two World Championships, Diego Botin and Florian Trittel don’t expect to have to be checking whether they’ve made the cut for Gold. But it’s been that kind of week for the Spanish superstars, and quite a few other big name teams too.

Today was a much better day for the Spaniards who posted 8,3 from their qualifying group. When all the results were in from all three qualifying groups, it seems the Spaniards had done enough, scraping through in 22nd place and 6 points ahead of the German team in 26th. Normally 26th is the worst spot in a 49er regatta, but a quirk in the transition to the new 49er sails has given a bonus chance to Fabian Rieger and Tom Heinrich (GER) who, are the lone member of the 14-boat-strong German squad to squeek into gold fleet. Patryk Kosmalski with Tomasz Lewandowski (POL) sailed a wonderful qualifying series and made the gold fleet standard in 23rd overall. However, as they are youngsters in their first major championship, they are still using the old, transparent sails. By rule, only teams using the new sails may pass through to gold fleet so they have been relegated to Silver allowing the 26th place Germans into Gold.

With Erik Heil and Thomas Plœssel now retired from 49er competition, it would be unthinkable not to have a German representative following in the footsteps of the double Olympic bronze medallists. Except this is Olympic competition, and there is no tougher continent from which to qualify than from Europe.

Of the nations chasing the one Olympic spot in Vilamoura, highest placed are the Belgian team of Yannick Lefèbvre and Jan Heuninck, who are in 7th place overall.

Meanwhile Simone Ferrarese and Leonardo Chistè have kept Italian dreams alive as they responded to the pressure and posted scores of 5,1 to move into the Gold Fleet and up into 19th place overall. There’s still enough racing in the final three days for the Italians and others to overtake the Belgians for the golden ticket to Paris.

Also into gold fleet are Ireland, and Portugal, making five nations vying for the European Olympic berth. Maltese sailor Richard Schulties has also qualified to gold fleet but he is sailing with Frenchman Yoann Bertinn, and therefore they are ineligible for games spots at this event.

Three days and up to nine races remain in the series that will decide the medal race on Monday.

All teams not qualifying at the Hague or continental qualifiers will have to wait their turn at the ‘Last Chance’ regatta next April. That’s at Semaine Olympic Francaise in Hyères when there are five last-gasp Olympic berths up for grabs.

Best performers of the day were the young Spanish brother Martin and Jaime Wizner. A stellar performance of 2,1 lifts them to 3rd overall and within striking distance of the lead. Now topping the 49er standings are Ben Bildstein and David Hussl who are banishing the demons of a difficult year with an outstanding command of the tricky conditions. Just a point behind the Austrians in second place are the Polish duo, Dominik Buksak and Szymon Wierzbicki.