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Irish Sailing has declined to expand on the findings from its review of its Tokyo Olympic Team performance by publishing the 'full report' instead of an executive summary released this week.

A 'summary of findings' was published on Tuesday that concluded the Tokyo performance was "a disappointing Olympic Games that did not deliver on the high expectations post-Rio".

"Fewer boats qualified than the expected targets, and the performance of the boats which did qualify was disappointing", the summary stated.

The review, commissioned by the ISA, was prepared by sports coaching guru Gary Keegan of consultants Uppercut and a summary was published on the association website on Tuesday evening.

Introducing the report, Irish Sailing President David O'Brien said, "I am very pleased to share the independent external review of the Tokyo Olympics with you, Irish Sailing members and the wider sailing community".

The report author notes on page 3 of the summary: "A comprehensive report was issued to the Review Steering Panel which outlined the detailed findings, supporting evidence and recommendations based on the data and information shared during the review and also shares some perspectives and comparatives based on our experience of HP environments".

In response to a request for details of the 'comprehensive report', O'Brien told Afloat yesterday that "there is only one report “Summary of Headline Findings” published as a result of the review, which is as it indicates an Executive Summary of the full report, presented to and accepted by the Board. It is not intended to publish the full report".

The review follows criticism from a number of key sailing observers including Olympians and former coaches as well as plain-speaking former ISA President Roger Bannon, who called for some 'dispassionate reflection on Ireland's sailing performance' post-Tokyo.

Specifically, there are ongoing misgivings over the manner in which the Tokyo Olympic selection process was cut short by Irish Sailing in the women's Radial class, a point not mentioned in the published summary except to say 'consideration could be given to building in a “force majeure” provision to the Selection Policy' and 'communication with athletes who do not qualify needs to be enhanced'.

Sport Ireland has also commissioned its own independent Tokyo review.

In the five years from Rio, Irish Sailing received €3.87m in High-Performance state funding making it one of the top three funded Olympic sports.

A copy of the summary findings document is available to download here

Published in Tokyo 2020
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#Rowing: Ireland’s Molly Curry and Rhiannon O’Donoghue finished second in their heat of the junior double sculls at the World Junior Championships in Tokyo this morning.

 There was just one direct qualification spot for the A/B Semi-Finals, and the Netherlands were outstanding winners of this race. Lisa Bruijnincx and Jacobien van Westreenen made strong claims for being the best crew in this class with a big win.

 Curry and O’Donoghue fought an exciting battle with Italy in the second half and won this by a length and a third. Greece, China and Belgium were the other heat winners.

 Because of a worry about adverse weather, racing was run at five minute intervals, which brought forward the time of this heat.

World Rowing Junior Championships, Tokyo, Day One (Irish interest)

Women

Junior Double Sculls – Heat Four (Winner to A/B Semi-Final; rest to Repechages): 1 Netherlands 7:08.18; 2 Ireland (R O’Donoghue, M Curry) 7:16.55, 3 Italy 7:19.59.

Published in Rowing

#disabledsailing – The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) is to campaign for Disabled Sailing's inclusion in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and has appointed VERO Communications to advise and support its campaign. The decision to press the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to add Disabled Sailing to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games comes on the back of ISAF formally taking over the management of Disabled Sailing in November 2014, and the integration of the International Association for Disabled Sailing (IFDS) into ISAF.

Carlo Croce, ISAF President said, "Following the merger of IFDS into ISAF at the end of last year, Disabled Sailing is now under new professional management. This is a new era for Disabled Sailing with ISAF now able to fully utilise its technical, financial, promotional and strategic resources to bring significant benefits to Disabled Sailing. For example, we are now working hard to put in place a much enhanced, professional and aligned four year competition programme for Disabled Sailing, as well as generate greater media, broadcast and promotional opportunities for the sport following integration into ISAF's wider communications planning and activities.

"These are all new developments since the merger of IFDS into ISAF and it is important that we now effectively communicate this new era for Disabled Sailing to the IPC. I'm delighted that we have the proven expertise of VERO Communications to support us in this cause. Our focus now is to build the case for Disabled Sailing's inclusion in Tokyo 2020, much of which will be centred around new evidence, as well as stressing some of the unique attributes of Disabled Sailing, including the fact that it is the only sport where athletes with the highest level of disability can compete equally against athletes with other disabilities. I very much hope, upon receipt of this new evidence, that the IPC will look favourably on our case."

Mike Lee OBE, Chairman of VERO added, "VERO is delighted to support ISAF in their campaign to see Disabled Sailing included in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. The sport has a strong story to tell, especially since it was merged into ISAF at the end of 2014, and we look forward to working with the sailing community to ensure that this new era for Disabled Sailing is effectively communicated."

Published in World Sailing
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#Olympics - With Tokyo announced as the host city for the 2020 Olympic Games, World Rowing takes a look at what may be the course that the world's top rowers will race seven years from now.

The Sea Forest Waterway is a new regatta rowing course planned for Tokyo Bay, close to Haneda Airport and the proposed location of the Olympic Village.

The new course will comprise an existing shipping canal in an area of reclaimed land that's earmarked for new development, and would become a permanent fixture on Tokyo's expansive waterfront.

World Rowing has more on the proposals HERE.

Published in Rowing
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Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta

From the Baily lighthouse to Dalkey island, the bay accommodates six separate courses for 21 different classes racing every two years for the Dun Laoghaire Regatta.

In assembling its record-breaking armada, Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta (VDLR) became, at its second staging, not only the country's biggest sailing event, with 3,500 sailors competing, but also one of Ireland's largest participant sporting events.

One of the reasons for this, ironically, is that competitors across Europe have become jaded by well-worn venue claims attempting to replicate Cowes and Cork Week.'Never mind the quality, feel the width' has been a criticism of modern-day regattas where organisers mistakenly focus on being the biggest to be the best. Dun Laoghaire, with its local fleet of 300 boats, never set out to be the biggest. Its priority focussed instead on quality racing even after it got off to a spectacularly wrong start when the event was becalmed for four days at its first attempt.

The idea to rekindle a combined Dublin bay event resurfaced after an absence of almost 40 years, mostly because of the persistence of a passionate race officer Brian Craig who believed that Dun Laoghaire could become the Cowes of the Irish Sea if the town and the local clubs worked together. Although fickle winds conspired against him in 2005, the support of all four Dun Laoghaire waterfront yacht clubs since then (made up of Dun Laoghaire Motor YC, National YC, Royal Irish YC and Royal St GYC), in association with the two racing clubs of Dublin Bay SC and Royal Alfred YC, gave him the momentum to carry on.

There is no doubt that sailors have also responded with their support from all four coasts. Running for four days, the regatta is (after the large mini-marathons) the single most significant participant sports event in the country, requiring the services of 280 volunteers on and off the water, as well as top international race officers and an international jury, to resolve racing disputes representing five countries. A flotilla of 25 boats regularly races from the Royal Dee near Liverpool to Dublin for the Lyver Trophy to coincide with the event. The race also doubles as a RORC qualifying race for the Fastnet.

Sailors from the Ribble, Mersey, the Menai Straits, Anglesey, Cardigan Bay and the Isle of Man have to travel three times the distance to the Solent as they do to Dublin Bay. This, claims Craig, is one of the major selling points of the Irish event and explains the range of entries from marinas as far away as Yorkshire's Whitby YC and the Isle of Wight.

No other regatta in the Irish Sea area can claim to have such a reach. Dublin Bay Weeks such as this petered out in the 1960s, and it has taken almost four decades for the waterfront clubs to come together to produce a spectacle on and off the water to rival Cowes."The fact that we are getting such numbers means it is inevitable that it is compared with Cowes," said Craig. However, there the comparison ends."We're doing our own thing here. Dun Laoghaire is unique, and we are making an extraordinary effort to welcome visitors from abroad," he added. The busiest shipping lane in the country – across the bay to Dublin port – closes temporarily to facilitate the regatta and the placing of six separate courses each day.

A fleet total of this size represents something of an unknown quantity on the bay as it is more than double the size of any other regatta ever held there.

Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta FAQs

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is Ireland's biggest sailing event. It is held every second Summer at Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Dublin Bay.

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is held every two years, typically in the first weekend of July.

As its name suggests, the event is based at Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Racing is held on Dublin Bay over as many as six different courses with a coastal route that extends out into the Irish Sea. Ashore, the festivities are held across the town but mostly in the four organising yacht clubs.

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is the largest sailing regatta in Ireland and on the Irish Sea and the second largest in the British Isles. It has a fleet of 500 competing boats and up to 3,000 sailors. Scotland's biggest regatta on the Clyde is less than half the size of the Dun Laoghaire event. After the Dublin city marathon, the regatta is one of the most significant single participant sporting events in the country in terms of Irish sporting events.

The modern Dublin Bay Regatta began in 2005, but it owes its roots to earlier combined Dublin Bay Regattas of the 1960s.

Up to 500 boats regularly compete.

Up to 70 different yacht clubs are represented.

The Channel Islands, Isle of Man, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland countrywide, and Dublin clubs.

Nearly half the sailors, over 1,000, travel to participate from outside of Dun Laoghaire and from overseas to race and socialise in Dun Laoghaire.

21 different classes are competing at Dun Laoghaire Regatta. As well as four IRC Divisions from 50-footers down to 20-foot day boats and White Sails, there are also extensive one-design keelboat and dinghy fleets to include all the fleets that regularly race on the Bay such as Beneteau 31.7s, Ruffian 23s, Sigma 33s as well as Flying Fifteens, Laser SB20s plus some visiting fleets such as the RS Elites from Belfast Lough to name by one.

 

Some sailing household names are regular competitors at the biennial Dun Laoghaire event including Dun Laoghaire Olympic silver medalist, Annalise Murphy. International sailing stars are competing too such as Mike McIntyre, a British Olympic Gold medalist and a raft of World and European class champions.

There are different entry fees for different size boats. A 40-foot yacht will pay up to €550, but a 14-foot dinghy such as Laser will pay €95. Full entry fee details are contained in the Regatta Notice of Race document.

Spectators can see the boats racing on six courses from any vantage point on the southern shore of Dublin Bay. As well as from the Harbour walls itself, it is also possible to see the boats from Sandycove, Dalkey and Killiney, especially when the boats compete over inshore coastal courses or have in-harbour finishes.

Very favourably. It is often compared to Cowes, Britain's biggest regatta on the Isle of Wight that has 1,000 entries. However, sailors based in the north of England have to travel three times the distance to get to Cowes as they do to Dun Laoghaire.

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is unique because of its compact site offering four different yacht clubs within the harbour and the race tracks' proximity, just a five-minute sail from shore. International sailors also speak of its international travel connections and being so close to Dublin city. The regatta also prides itself on balancing excellent competition with good fun ashore.

The Organising Authority (OA) of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta is Dublin Bay Regattas Ltd, a not-for-profit company, beneficially owned by Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club (DMYC), National Yacht Club (NYC), Royal Irish Yacht Club (RIYC) and Royal St George Yacht Club (RSGYC).

The Irish Marine Federation launched a case study on the 2009 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta's socio-economic significance. Over four days, the study (carried out by Irish Sea Marine Leisure Knowledge Network) found the event was worth nearly €3million to the local economy over the four days of the event. Typically the Royal Marine Hotel and Haddington Hotel and other local providers are fully booked for the event.

©Afloat 2020