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.

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

Irish Olympic class sailors did not make it to Saturday's medal race final at French Olympic Week in Hyères, France on April 26th, 2024. This week's regatta saw all events conclude their series despite moderate winds and torrential rain on Friday.

Séafra Guilfoyle and Johnny Durcan from Royal Cork Yacht Club Photo: Sailing Energy

49er Trial to be Decided in A Fortnight

The Men's skiff event saw a two-boat selection trial building towards an epic conclusion after two inconclusive regattas, with only five points separating the two crews. Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove from Dublin's Howth Yacht Club dropped back five places to 16th after a lacklustre four-race final day. Crosshaven's Séafra Guilfoyle and Johnny Durcan from Royal Cork Yacht Club ended the series in 21st overall after a final day that included a disqualification for early starting.

The third and final event in their trials series, the 49er European Championships at La Grand Motté, France, begins in less than two weeks. Dickson and Waddilove hold a tiny five-point advantage, meaning the Cork crew must beat them by five places and finish within the top 20 at the Europeans to win a place with Team Ireland for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Details of the scoring for the Irish trials series process are:

4. Scoring
4.1 Points shall be awarded to the Athlete in each Trial Regatta exactly corresponding to that Athlete’s final overall placing in that Trial Regatta as shown on the official final results sheet published by the regatta organisers. For example, an overall first place shall score one point; a second place shall score two points and so on. The maximum points an Athlete will be awarded in a Trial Regatta is 25 points for double handed events and 30 points for single handed events. This score will be awarded to an Athlete either where they do not compete at the Trial Regatta or where they finish with a higher score then indicated above, other than where an Athlete’s overall score is higher than indicated above as a result of a breach of RRS 2 Fair Sailing for illegally hindering an opponent (Case 78), in which case the points as shown on the official results sheet shall apply.

4.2 In the event of a double handed team not continuing together and where both seek qualification for the Games the minimum standard to be included in a Trial Series or points accrued from the Trial Regattas may, by agreement between the parties and the OSG, be awarded to either the helm or the crew. If the parties cannot agree the Performance Director will decide which, if any of them, benefits from their past performances together.

4.3 Points for the Trials Series for each Event shall include the points from each Trial Regatta.

4.4 If there is a tied score between two or more Athletes in any Trials Series, each Athlete’s Trial Regatta scores shall be listed in order of best (lowest) to worst (highest) and at the first point where there is a difference the tie shall be broken in favour of the Athlete with the best score. If a tie still remains between two or more Athletes, the Athlete with the best final overall placing in the last Trial Regatta shall be recommended.

4.5 If no Athlete scores better than 25th place overall (for double handers) or 30th place overall (for single handers) in the Trial Series for an Event, the Trial Series results shall not apply and the OSG will recommend the Athlete who they feel shall best represent Ireland at the Games.

4.6 Subject to Section 4.4 & 4.5 above, the Athlete with the lowest number of points at the conclusion of the Trials Series shall be recommended by the OSG to the Board.

Amendments

No amendment to these procedures shall be made in respect of any Event without the prior written consent of each Athlete for that Event. However the OSG reserves the right to amend the procedures unilaterally if agreement cannot be reached between the Athletes.

Eve McMahon from Howth Yacht Club Photo: Sailing Energy

ILCA 6

Eve McMahon from Howth Yacht Club needed a big jump to reach the top ten for a place in the medal race on Saturday in the women's one-person dinghy (ILCA6 class). She scored a creditable ninth in the morning but was unable to secure her spot in the medal race.

ILCA 7 campaigner Ewan McMahon of Howth at full speed at French Olympic Week  Photo: Sailing Energy

ILCA 7

In the men's counterpart event (ILCA7 class), Finn Lynch from Carlow's National Yacht Club dropped from 23rd to 31st for the regatta after a disappointing run. Ewan McMahon from Howth Yacht Club held his overnight 22nd place after a 14th place in the morning, followed by his worst score of the regatta, a 38th, which he was then able to discard.

Performance Director with Irish Sailing, James O'Callaghan, said, "For sure, there are a lot of positives after a week with the outcome we've had. We got to do the dry-run for the games which was the intention for this event."

The coming three months will see the full squad based in Marseille for fine-tuning and re-familiarisation with the Olympic sailing venue where the Irish Sailing Foundation has provided a training base for the past three years.

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.

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