Dickson and Sean Waddilove will race in Sunday's Final Series at the 49er European Championships after securing their place in the Gold Fleet finale at Eckernförde, Germany.
The Howth and Skerries pairing entered Saturday in contention for a European Championship podium finish. However, another day of light and unpredictable Baltic conditions saw them slip to sixth among the European crews and ninth overall in the Open Championship.
Their opening race produced a 25th place, which became their discard. They recovered with finishes of 11th and 13th in the 25-boat Gold Fleet to remain inside the top ten overall.
The results leave the Irish crew too far behind on points to challenge for medals, but they will have one final opportunity to improve their overall placing on Sunday.
"Overall, Rob and Sean sailed well this week," said 49er coach Benjamin Bildstein.
"It was a difficult regatta in challenging conditions, but our downwind speed still needs work and that proved costly today. Making the Final Series gives the guys one more chance to put together some good races and move up the standings."
The Final Series is scheduled to begin at 1.15pm local time on Sunday.
New Zealand's Seb Menzies and George Lee Rush lead the Open Championship heading into the concluding races. Great Britain remain the highest-placed European crew, with Poland's Mikołaj Staniul and Jakub Sztorch just two points behind in the race for the European title.
In the 49erFX Silver Fleet, Erin McIlwaine of the Royal St George Yacht Club/Newcastle Yacht Club and Ellen Barbour of Newcastle Yacht Club continued their first full senior international campaign with encouraging performances.
The pair recorded a best finish of 12th during the day's racing and identified improvements after a difficult opening to the regatta.
"Our starts were probably our weakest area earlier in the week, particularly yesterday," McIlwaine said.
"It was good to have the chance to reflect overnight and come back today with a real focus on improving them. I think we executed them much better today, so we're pleased with the progress."
Meanwhile, development crew Ben O'Shaughnessy of the Royal Cork Yacht Club and Ethan Spain of the National Yacht Club continued their learning in the men's Silver Fleet. Their best result of the day was 13th as they build towards next week's World Championships.
