Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: Amsterdam

In Amsterdam, a city council moves to 'keep' cruise ships out of the city-centre, according to Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), the world's largest cruise industry trade association.

As Tradewinds reports, Amsterdam is certainly looking to prevent massive sized cruise ships from berthing in close proximity to the centre of the city. This would reduce in port terminal based air pollution and hinder partygoers in their thousands from laying siege upon residential areas.

But CLIA in a press release said that city officials do not plan to ban outright cruise ships from calling to the popular tourist destination, as some media reports have suggested, among them BBC coverage as featured previously.

On Thursday, the city’s Local Council approved a proposal however, to relocate the 600m quay Passenger Terminal Amsterdam (PTA) to a less central area within the city, to be determined.

CLIA also in their statement said “We are aware of the media reports about the future of cruise in Amsterdam".

“As the port has publicly stated, cruise ships have not been banned from Amsterdam.”

CLIA added that the Port of Amsterdam and the PTA have pledged to invest millions in port infrastructure with upgrades and shoreside electricity “for the long-term”, but the terminal may get moved to a less central area within the city.

Since 2016 there have been discussions on its relocation outside of the city centre and that talks are still ongoing.

For more, Tradewinds has the story.

Published in Cruise Liners

In the Dutch capital, cruise ships have been banned from the city-centre by Amsterdam's council, as it tries to limit visitor numbers in addition to curb on pollution.

According to politicians, the vessels were not in line with the city's sustainable ambitions.

The ban will mean that the central cruise terminal (Passenger Terminal Amsterdam) on the River Ij near Amsterdam's main 'Centraal' train station will close. The PTA caters for around 200,000 visitors annually.

The move marks the latest measure to clamp down on mass tourism affecting the city where the 600m quayside facility also used by naval ships is 14kms from the open sea.

More on the story from BBC News which reports that the cruise ships have become a symbol of the problem, as the capital receives more than 100 such vessels berthing every year.

Published in Cruise Liners

#Rowing: Trinity’s senior eight were the fastest crew at the re-fixed Erne Head of the River in Enniskillen today. It was their fourth consecutive win, achieved this year in rainy conditions. Junior crews did well: Enniskillen RBC’s junior men’s eight were third fastest overall and the fastest women’s crew was the host club’s junior eight.

 In Amsterdam, UCC’s men’s eight were the best Irish crew at the Heineken Roeivierkamp. They took 32nd in the men’s race over 2,500 metres in seven minutes 36.8 seconds.

Erne Head of the River, Saturday (Selected Results)

Overall: 1 Trinity men’s senior eight 19 minutes 17 seconds, 2 Commercial sen eight 19:50, 3 Enniskillen jun eight 20:04, 4 Trinity inter eight 20:27, 5 Neptune club two eight 20:49, 6 Lagan senior quadruple 20:57: 17 Enniskillen women’s junior eight 22:39.  

Men

Eight – Senior: Trinity 19:17. Inter: Trinity 20:27. Club Two: Neptune 20:49. Nov: Trinity A 21:26. Junior: Enniskillen 20:04. Masters: Commercial (D) 21:42. Jun 16: Col Iognaid 22:20.

Four – Jun, coxed: Commercial 22:35.

Sculling, Quadruple – Sen: Lagan Scullers 20:57. Inter: Belfast 21:53. Nov, coxed: Commercial 27:13. Jun: Neptune A 21:12. Jun 16, coxed: Bann 23:17. Masters, coxed: City of Derry (E) 24:31.  

Women

Eight – Inter: Trinity 22:48. Club One: Bann 22:46. Club Two: Carlow 25:59. Jun: Enniskillen 22:39. Jun 16: Enniskillen A 23:53. Masters: Portora (D) 30:27.

Four – Sen: Trinity 24:25. Inter, coxed: Trinity 26:35.

Sculling, Quadruple – Jun: Col Iognaid 25:22. Jun 16, coxed: Carlow 25:08. Masters, coxed: City of Derry, Lagan, Offaly (C) 29:42.

Roeivierkamp, Amsterdam (Selected Result)

Men, 2500 metres: 1 Nereus 1e Eight 6:48.6; 8 Nereus 2e Eight 7:10.8; 32:UCC 2e Eight 7:36.8.

Published in Rowing

#ROWING: The Afloat Rower of the Month for August is Sanita Puspure. The Old Collegians oarswoman took fourth place at the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam in the single sculls, just outside the medals in this elite discipline. She had won her heat, placed second in the quarter-final and third in a semi-final where conditions were very difficult.

The performance topped off an outstanding season for this gritty competitor. She started her run with silver medals on both days of the Memorial Paolo d’Aloja regatta in Italy in April. She took a bronze medal at the European Championships – a breakthrough for an Ireland heavyweight woman – and then made the A Final at the World Cup regatta in Aiguebelette, and won the B Final at Lucerne.

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times and David O'Brien, Editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie and the overall national award will be presented to the person or crew who, in the judges' opinion, achieved the most notable results in, or made the most significant contribution to rowing during 2014. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2014 champions list grow.

Published in Rower of Month

#ROWING: Sanita Puspure secured an A Final place for Ireland with an admirable performance in difficult conditions in the semi-final of the women’s single sculls at the World Championships in Amsterdam today. Puspure fought her way into third place behind the impressive Emma Twigg of New Zealand and Magdalena Lobnig of Austria early on and held this down the course in choppy water. She refused to yield to a strong challenge from Genevra Stone of the United States and closed up on Lobnig in the run to the line.

The Ireland women’s double of Helen Hannigan and Monika Dukarska finished sixth in a record-breaking semi-final. Sally Kehoe and Olympia Aldersey of Australia won in a new world’s best time. Ireland started quite well, but were not in real contention for a place in the A Final.

There was also a new record in the lightweight men’s four semi-final. Denmark ousted their own country’s great crew of the 1990s from the record books while second-placed Britain, with the Chambers brothers, Peter and Richard, in the two and three seats, also came in under the old record.

World Rowing Championships, Amsterdam, Day Six (Irish interest, selected results)

Men

Lightweight Four – Semi-Final (First Three to A Final): 1 Denmark 5:43.16 (world best time), 2 Britian (M Aldred, P Chambers, R Chambers, C Bartley) 5:43.97, 3 New Zealand 5:47.95.

Lightweight Pair – B Final (Places 7 to 12): 1 China (Zhenwei Hou, Fangbing Zhang) 6:28.29, 2 Bulgaria 6:30.40, 3 Netherlands 6:31.01, 4 Ireland (M O’Donovan, N Kenny) 6:34.06, 5 Austria 6:37.65, 6 Chile 6:43.01.

Women

Four – B Final (Places 7 to 10): 1 Netherlands 6:28.95, 2 Italy 6:35.51, 3 Germany 6:37.90, 4 Ireland (M O’Neill, E Tormey, A Keogh, B O’Brien) 6:43.62.

Double – A/B Semi-Final (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final) 1 Australia (O Aldersey, S Kehoe) 6:37.31 (new World Best Time), 2 Lithuania (D Vistartaite, M Valciukaite) 6:30.34, 3 New Zealand (F Bourke, Z Stevenson) 6:43.34; 4 Netherlands 6:46.40, 5 Ukraine 6:59.20, 6 Ireland (H Hannigan, M Dukarska) 7:14.75.

Lightweight Double Sculls – C Final (Places 13 to 18): 1 Russia (D Stepochkina, O Arkadova) 6:58.21, 2 Ireland (C Lambe, D Walsh) 7:00.11, 3 Denmark 7:03.49, 4 Switzerland 7:03.51, 5 Belarus 7:09.08, 6 Greece 7:14.20.

Single – A/B Semi-Final (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 New Zealand (E Twigg) 7:18.68, 2 Austria (M Lobnig) 7:23.93, 3 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:25.61; 4 United States 7:29.18, 5 Lithuania 7:33.09, 6 Czech Republic 7:43.150.

Published in Rowing

#ROWING: Ireland’s men’s lightweight pair finished fourth in their B Final, 10th overall, at the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam today. China won in a fast time in tailwind conditions, with Bulgaria and the Netherlands battling each other and finishing second and third. Ireland’s Niall Kenny and Mark O’Donovan were fifth through the middle stages but won their own battle with Austria to take a clear fourth.

The women’s four of Marie O'Neill, Emily Tormey, Aifric Keogh and Barbara O'Brien were fourth in their B Final, behind the Netherlands, who won impressively from Italy, with Germany third.

World Rowing Championships, Amsterdam, Day Six (Irish interest, selected results)

Men

Lightweight Pair – B Final (Places 7 to 12): 1 China (Zhenwei Hou, Fangbing Zhang) 6:28.29, 2 Bulgaria 6:30.40, 3 Netherlands 6:31.01, 4 Ireland (M O’Donovan, N Kenny) 6:34.06, 5 Austria 6:37.65, 6 Chile 6:43.01.

Women

Four – B Final (Places 7 to 10): 1 Netherlands 6:28.95, 2 Italy 6:35.51, 3 Germany 6:37.90, 4 Ireland (M O’Neill, E Tormey, A Keogh, B O’Brien) 6:43.62.

Lightweight Double Sculls – C Final (Places 13 to 18): 1 Russia (D Stepochkina, O Arkadova) 6:58.21, 2 Ireland (C Lambe, D Walsh) 7:00.11, 3 Denmark 7:03.49, 4 Switzerland 7:03.51, 5 Belarus 7:09.08, 6 Greece 7:14.20.

Published in Rowing

#ROWING: Ireland’s lightweight double scull of Claire Lambe and Denise Walsh came second to Russia in their C Final at the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam this morning. The Russian crew of Diana Stepochkina and Olga Arkadova led all the way down the course, with Ireland snapping at their heels. But the Irish fell short by just under a boat length. The result places Lambe and Walsh 14th overall in this Olympic-class event.

World Rowing Championships, Amsterdam, Day Six (Irish interest, selected results)

Women

Lightweight Double Sculls – C Final (Places 13 to 18): 1 Russia (D Stepochkina, O Arkadova) 6:58.21, 2 Ireland (C Lambe, D Walsh) 7:00.11, 3 Denmark 7:03.49, 4 Switzerland 7:03.51, 5 Belarus 7:09.08, 6 Greece 7:14.20.

Published in Rowing

#ROWING: Paul O’Donovan gave Ireland its first A Final place at the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam today with a stirring performance which yielded second place in the lightweight single sculls semi-final. The UCD man lagged the field in the early stages; he was sixth at 500 metres as Zhao Jingbin of China and Marcello Miani of Italy commanded the race. By halfway O’Donovan was marginally in third place, but still over three seconds behind the leaders. As Miani moved clear in the final 1,000 metres, O’Donovan chased down and passed the Chinese. In a close finish, O’Donovan and Perry Ward of Australia took second and third, with Zhao Jingbin pushed into fourth and the B Final.

The Ireland lightweight men’s pair of Mark O’Donovan and Niall Kenny finished sixth in their semi-final and must settle for a B Final place. This was an exciting and fast race where all the boats were in with a chance of qualification until the very final stages, Switzerland, France and Australia took the A Final spots.

World Rowing Championships, Day Five (Irish interest; selected results)

Men

Lightweight Pair – A/B Semi-Final One (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Switzerland (S Niepmann, L Tramer) 6:38.67, 2 France (A Mouterde, T Baroukh) 6:41.22, 3 Australia (A Foot, D Purcell) 6:42.39; 4 Bulgaria 6:44.00, 5 Netherlands 6:45.00, 6 Ireland (M O’Donovan, N Kenny) 6:46.60.

Lightweight Single Scull – A/B Semi-Final One (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Italy (M Miani) 7:02.00, 2 Ireland (P O’Donovan) 7:03.59, 3 Australia (P Ward) 7:04.10; 4 China 7:04.99, 5 Denmark 7:08.21, 6 Hungary 7:15.08.

Women

Pair – A/B Semi-Final Two (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 United States (M Kalmoe, K Simmonds) 7:16.35, 2 New Zealand (L Trappitt, R Scown) 7:22.12, 3 Australia (C Sutherland, L Stephan) 7:30.02; 4 Serbia 7:34.92, 5 Ireland (L Kennedy, L Dilleen) 7:35.18, 6 Czech Republic 7:45.68.

Lightweight Double Sculls - C/D Semi-Final (First Three to C Final; rest to D Final): 1 Denmark 7:25.98, 2 Ireland (C Lambe, D Walsh) 7:26.35, 3 Russia 7:26.65; 4 Argentina 7:27.24.

Published in Rowing

#ROWING: Paul O’Donovan put in a brilliant second 1,000 metres to secure a semi-final place in the lightweight single sculls at the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam today. O’Donovan needed to finish in the top three of the quarter-final to progress, but he was was fifth at half way, over one-and-a-half seconds behind third-placed Steffen Jensen of Denmark, with Russia’s Alexandr Tufanyuk fighting it out with Lars Hartig of Germany at the head of the field. O’Donovan turned it on in the second half. As the Russian faded, the Irishman took over in third behind Hartig and Jensen, and then passed the Dane to take second – just over a second behind Hartig.

 In a major shock, the World Under-23 champion, Andrew Campbell Jr of the United States, made his exit when he fell out of the boat in the immediately preceding heat.

World Rowing Championships, Day Four (Selected Results; Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Single Sculls – Quarter-Final (First Three to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to C/D Semi-Finals): 1 Germany (L Hartig) 7:13.67, 2 Ireland (P O’Donovan) 7:14.76, 3 Denmark (S Jensen) 7:33.91; 4 Azerbaijan 7:25.84, 5 Russia 7:33.91, 6 Algeria 7:43.76.

Published in Rowing

#ROWING: The new Ireland women’s double scull of Monika Dukarska and Helen Hannigan (neé Walshe) took fourth in their heat at the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam today. Lithuania and the Ukraine fought it out at the head of the field, with Lithuania pulling away at the end. Ireland were in third at 1500 metres but yielded this to Denmark at the finish.

The Ireland women’s four were off the pace in their heat and finished fifth. The New Zealand four were extremely impressive in their win, and France held off Canada to take the second qualification spot for the A Final.

World Rowing Championships, Amsterdam, Day Two (Selected Results, Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Pair – Heat Two (First Two to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Ireland (M O’Donovan, N Kenny) 6:53.54, 2 China (Zhenwei Hou, Fanbing Zhang) 6:54.57; 3 Switzerland 7:03.74, 4 Australia 7:10.31, 5 Bulgaria 7:13.05, 6 Austria 7:19.39.

Women

Four – Heat One (First Two to A Final; rest to Repechage): 1 New Zealand 6:46.42, 2 France 7:01.16; 3 Canada 7:03.68, 4 Italy 7:09.17, 5 Ireland (M O’Neill, E Tormey, A Keogh, B O’Brien) 7:19.28.

Double Sculls – Heat One (Winner to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Lithuania (D Vistartaite, M Valciukaite) 7:05.28; 2 Ukraine 7:09.74, 3 Denmark 7:24.04, 4 Ireland (H Walshe, M Dukarska) 7:24.59, 5 Austria 7:29.06, 6 Bulgaria 7:49.72.

Published in Rowing
Page 1 of 2

Irish Olympic Sailing Team

Ireland has a proud representation in sailing at the Olympics dating back to 1948. Today there is a modern governing structure surrounding the selection of sailors the Olympic Regatta

Irish Olympic Sailing FAQs

Ireland’s representation in sailing at the Olympics dates back to 1948, when a team consisting of Jimmy Mooney (Firefly), Alf Delany and Hugh Allen (Swallow) competed in that year’s Summer Games in London (sailing off Torquay). Except for the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, Ireland has sent at least one sailor to every Summer Games since then.

  • 1948 – London (Torquay) — Firefly: Jimmy Mooney; Swallow: Alf Delany, Hugh Allen
  • 1952 – Helsinki — Finn: Alf Delany * 1956 – Melbourne — Finn: J Somers Payne
  • 1960 – Rome — Flying Dutchman: Johnny Hooper, Peter Gray; Dragon: Jimmy Mooney, David Ryder, Robin Benson; Finn: J Somers Payne
  • 1964 – Tokyo — Dragon: Eddie Kelliher, Harry Maguire, Rob Dalton; Finn: Johnny Hooper 
  • 1972 – Munich (Kiel) — Tempest: David Wilkins, Sean Whitaker; Dragon: Robin Hennessy, Harry Byrne, Owen Delany; Finn: Kevin McLaverty; Flying Dutchman: Harold Cudmore, Richard O’Shea
  • 1976 – Montreal (Kingston) — 470: Robert Dix, Peter Dix; Flying Dutchman: Barry O’Neill, Jamie Wilkinson; Tempest: David Wilkins, Derek Jago
  • 1980 – Moscow (Tallinn) — Flying Dutchman: David Wilkins, Jamie Wilkinson (Silver medalists) * 1984 – Los Angeles — Finn: Bill O’Hara
  • 1988 – Seoul (Pusan) — Finn: Bill O’Hara; Flying Dutchman: David Wilkins, Peter Kennedy; 470 (Women): Cathy MacAleavy, Aisling Byrne
  • 1992 – Barcelona — Europe: Denise Lyttle; Flying Dutchman: David Wilkins, Peter Kennedy; Star: Mark Mansfield, Tom McWilliam
  • 1996 – Atlanta (Savannah) — Laser: Mark Lyttle; Europe: Aisling Bowman (Byrne); Finn: John Driscoll; Star: Mark Mansfield, David Burrows; 470 (Women): Denise Lyttle, Louise Cole; Soling: Marshall King, Dan O’Grady, Garrett Connolly
  • 2000 – Sydney — Europe: Maria Coleman; Finn: David Burrows; Star: Mark Mansfield, David O'Brien
  • 2004 – Athens — Europe: Maria Coleman; Finn: David Burrows; Star: Mark Mansfield, Killian Collins; 49er: Tom Fitzpatrick, Fraser Brown; 470: Gerald Owens, Ross Killian; Laser: Rory Fitzpatrick
  • 2008 – Beijing (Qingdao) — Star: Peter O’Leary, Stephen Milne; Finn: Tim Goodbody; Laser Radial: Ciara Peelo; 470: Gerald Owens, Phil Lawton
  • 2012 – London (Weymouth) — Star: Peter O’Leary, David Burrows; 49er: Ryan Seaton, Matt McGovern; Laser Radial: Annalise Murphy; Laser: James Espey; 470: Gerald Owens, Scott Flanigan
  • 2016 – Rio — Laser Radial (Women): Annalise Murphy (Silver medalist); 49er: Ryan Seaton, Matt McGovern; 49erFX: Andrea Brewster, Saskia Tidey; Laser: Finn Lynch; Paralympic Sonar: John Twomey, Ian Costello & Austin O’Carroll

Ireland has won two Olympics medals in sailing events, both silver: David Wilkins, Jamie Wilkinson in the Flying Dutchman at Moscow 1980, and Annalise Murphy in the Laser Radial at Rio 2016.

The current team, as of December 2020, consists of Laser sailors Finn Lynch, Liam Glynn and Ewan McMahon, 49er pairs Ryan Seaton and Seafra Guilfoyle, and Sean Waddilove and Robert Dickson, as well as Laser Radial sailors Annalise Murphy and Aoife Hopkins.

Irish Sailing is the National Governing Body for sailing in Ireland.

Irish Sailing’s Performance division is responsible for selecting and nurturing Olympic contenders as part of its Performance Pathway.

The Performance Pathway is Irish Sailing’s Olympic talent pipeline. The Performance Pathway counts over 70 sailors from 11 years up in its programme.The Performance Pathway is made up of Junior, Youth, Academy, Development and Olympic squads. It provides young, talented and ambitious Irish sailors with opportunities to move up through the ranks from an early age. With up to 100 young athletes training with the Irish Sailing Performance Pathway, every aspect of their performance is planned and closely monitored while strong relationships are simultaneously built with the sailors and their families

Rory Fitzpatrick is the head coach of Irish Sailing Performance. He is a graduate of University College Dublin and was an Athens 2004 Olympian in the Laser class.

The Performance Director of Irish Sailing is James O’Callaghan. Since 2006 James has been responsible for the development and delivery of athlete-focused, coach-led, performance-measured programmes across the Irish Sailing Performance Pathway. A Business & Economics graduate of Trinity College Dublin, he is a Level 3 Qualified Coach and Level 2 Coach Tutor. He has coached at five Olympic Games and numerous European and World Championship events across multiple Olympic classes. He is also a member of the Irish Sailing Foundation board.

Annalise Murphy is by far and away the biggest Irish sailing star. Her fourth in London 2012 when she came so agonisingly close to a bronze medal followed by her superb silver medal performance four years later at Rio won the hearts of Ireland. Murphy is aiming to go one better in Tokyo 2021. 

Under head coach Rory Fitzpatrick, the coaching staff consists of Laser Radial Academy coach Sean Evans, Olympic Laser coach Vasilij Zbogar and 49er team coach Matt McGovern.

The Irish Government provides funding to Irish Sailing. These funds are exclusively for the benefit of the Performance Pathway. However, this falls short of the amount required to fund the Performance Pathway in order to allow Ireland compete at the highest level. As a result the Performance Pathway programme currently receives around €850,000 per annum from Sport Ireland and €150,000 from sponsorship. A further €2 million per annum is needed to have a major impact at the highest level. The Irish Sailing Foundation was established to bridge the financial gap through securing philanthropic donations, corporate giving and sponsorship.

The vision of the Irish Sailing Foundation is to generate the required financial resources for Ireland to scale-up and execute its world-class sailing programme. Irish Sailing works tirelessly to promote sailing in Ireland and abroad and has been successful in securing funding of 1 million euro from Sport Ireland. However, to compete on a par with other nations, a further €2 million is required annually to realise the ambitions of our talented sailors. For this reason, the Irish Sailing Foundation was formed to seek philanthropic donations. Led by a Board of Directors and Head of Development Kathryn Grace, the foundation lads a campaign to bridge the financial gap to provide the Performance Pathway with the funds necessary to increase coaching hours, upgrade equipment and provide world class sport science support to a greater number of high-potential Irish sailors.

The Senior and Academy teams of the Performance Pathway are supported with the provision of a coach, vehicle, coach boat and boats. Even with this level of subsidy there is still a large financial burden on individual families due to travel costs, entry fees and accommodation. There are often compromises made on the amount of days a coach can be hired for and on many occasions it is necessary to opt out of major competitions outside Europe due to cost. Money raised by the Irish Sailing Foundation will go towards increased quality coaching time, world-class equipment, and subsiding entry fees and travel-related costs. It also goes towards broadening the base of talented sailors that can consider campaigning by removing financial hurdles, and the Performance HQ in Dublin to increase efficiency and reduce logistical issues.

The ethos of the Performance Pathway is progression. At each stage international performance benchmarks are utilised to ensure the sailors are meeting expectations set. The size of a sailor will generally dictate which boat they sail. The classes selected on the pathway have been identified as the best feeder classes for progression. Currently the Irish Sailing Performance Pathway consists of the following groups: * Pathway (U15) Optimist and Topper * Youth Academy (U19) Laser 4.7, Laser Radial and 420 * Development Academy (U23) Laser, Laser Radial, 49er, 49erFX * Team IRL (direct-funded athletes) Laser, Laser Radial, 49er, 49erFX

The Irish Sailing performance director produces a detailed annual budget for the programme which is presented to Sport Ireland, Irish Sailing and the Foundation for detailed discussion and analysis of the programme, where each item of expenditure is reviewed and approved. Each year, the performance director drafts a Performance Plan and Budget designed to meet the objectives of Irish Performance Sailing based on an annual review of the Pathway Programmes from Junior to Olympic level. The plan is then presented to the Olympic Steering Group (OSG) where it is independently assessed and the budget is agreed. The OSG closely monitors the delivery of the plan ensuring it meets the agreed strategy, is within budget and in line with operational plans. The performance director communicates on an ongoing basis with the OSG throughout the year, reporting formally on a quarterly basis.

Due to the specialised nature of Performance Sport, Irish Sailing established an expert sub-committee which is referred to as the Olympic Steering Group (OSG). The OSG is chaired by Patrick Coveney and its objective is centred around winning Olympic medals so it oversees the delivery of the Irish Sailing’s Performance plan.

At Junior level (U15) sailors learn not only to be a sailor but also an athlete. They develop the discipline required to keep a training log while undertaking fitness programmes, attending coaching sessions and travelling to competitions. During the winter Regional Squads take place and then in spring the National Squads are selected for Summer Competitions. As sailors move into Youth level (U19) there is an exhaustive selection matrix used when considering a sailor for entry into the Performance Academy. Completion of club training programmes, attendance at the performance seminars, physical suitability and also progress at Junior and Youth competitions are assessed and reviewed. Once invited in to the Performance Academy, sailors are given a six-month trial before a final decision is made on their selection. Sailors in the Academy are very closely monitored and engage in a very well planned out sailing, training and competition programme. There are also defined international benchmarks which these sailors are required to meet by a certain age. Biannual reviews are conducted transparently with the sailors so they know exactly where they are performing well and they are made aware of where they may need to improve before the next review.

©Afloat 2020

Tokyo 2021 Olympic Sailing

Olympic Sailing features a variety of craft, from dinghies and keelboats to windsurfing boards. The programme at Tokyo 2020 will include two events for both men and women, three for men only, two for women only and one for mixed crews:

Event Programme

RS:X - Windsurfer (Men/Women)
Laser - One Person Dinghy (Men)
Laser Radial - One Person Dinghy (Women)
Finn - One Person Dinghy (Heavyweight) (Men)
470 - Two Person Dinghy (Men/Women)
49er - Skiff (Men)
49er FX - Skiff (Women)
Nacra 17 Foiling - Mixed Multihull

The mixed Nacra 17 Foiling - Mixed Multihull and women-only 49er FX - Skiff, events were first staged at Rio 2016.

Each event consists of a series of races. Points in each race are awarded according to position: the winner gets one point, the second-placed finisher scores two, and so on. The final race is called the medal race, for which points are doubled. Following the medal race, the individual or crew with the fewest total points is declared the winner.

During races, boats navigate a course shaped like an enormous triangle, heading for the finish line after they contend with the wind from all three directions. They must pass marker buoys a certain number of times and in a predetermined order.

Sailing competitions at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo are scheduled to take place from 27 July to 6 August at the Enoshima Yacht Harbour. 

Venues: Enoshima Yacht Harbor

No. of events: 10

Dates: 27 July – 6 August

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Dates

Following a one year postponement, sailing competitions at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo are scheduled to take place from 23 July 2021 and run until the 8 August at the Enoshima Yacht Harbour. 

Venue: Enoshima Yacht Harbour

No. of events: 10

Dates: 23 July – 8 August 2021

Tokyo 2020 Irish Olympic Sailing Team

ANNALISE MURPHY, Laser Radial

Age 31. From Rathfarnham, Dublin.

Club: National Yacht Club

Full-time sailor

Silver medallist at the 2016 Olympic Games, Rio (Laser Radial class). Competed in the Volvo Ocean Race 2017/2018. Represented Ireland at the London 2012 Olympics. Laser Radial European Champion in 2013.

ROBERT DICKSON, 49er (sails with Seán Waddilove)

Winner, U23 49er World Championships, September 2018, and 2018 Volvo/Afloat Irish Sailor of the Year

DOB: 6 March 1998, from Sutton, Co. Dublin. Age 23

Club: Howth Yacht Club

Currently studying: Sports Science and Health in DCU with a Sports Scholarship.

SEÁN WADDILOVE, 49er (sails with Robert Dickson)

Winner, U23 49er World Championships, September 2018, and recently awarded 2018 Volvo Afloat/Irish Sailor of the Year

DOB: 19 June 1997. From Skerries, Dublin

Age 24

Club: Skerries Sailing Club and Howth Yacht Club

Currently studying International Business and Languages and awarded sports scholarship at TU (Technology University)

Featured Sailing School

INSS sidebutton

Featured Clubs

dbsc mainbutton
Howth Yacht Club
Kinsale Yacht Club
National Yacht Club
Royal Cork Yacht Club
Royal Irish Yacht club
Royal Saint George Yacht Club

Featured Brokers

leinster sidebutton

Featured Webcams

Featured Associations

ISA sidebutton
ICRA
isora sidebutton

Featured Marinas

dlmarina sidebutton

Featured Chandleries

CHMarine Afloat logo
https://afloat.ie/resources/marine-industry-news/viking-marine

Featured Sailmakers

northsails sidebutton
uksails sidebutton
watson sidebutton

Featured Blogs

W M Nixon - Sailing on Saturday
podcast sidebutton
BSB sidebutton
wavelengths sidebutton
 

Please show your support for Afloat by donating