Chris & Olin Bateman of Cork are Sailors of the Month (Junior) for September

2nd October 2019

Large and little……it’s not easy being the crew when your brother is twice your age and twice your size. 18-year-old (just) Chris Bateman and his 9-year-old brother Olin racing to the title at the All-Ireland Junior Championship in Schull at the weekend Credit: Irish Sailing/INPHO/Bryan Keane

Chris Bateman of Cork has been cutting a swathe through the dinghy sailing scene in Ireland at both junior and open level in a number of classes for some time now, and as he turned 18 on September 23rd, his 2019 national title in the RS 200s provided a final opportunity to put his stamp on the All-Ireland Junior Championship. But as it was to be raced in the relatively small TR 3.6s in Schull, his size meant that - to be competitive – he had to find a pint-sized crew, and the hand of destiny fell on his youngest brother, 9-year-old Olin.

The pair of them raced a truly masterful championship. But it’s not easy being the little guy crewing for the hyper-talented big guy, so we reckon that September’s Junior Sailor of the Month award should be shared between Chris and Olin.

chris and olin with trophies2 The Junior Champion 2019 – Chris Bateman turned 18 a week ago, his brother Olin is just nine. Photo: Irish Sailing/INPHO/Bryan Keane

Published in Sailor of the Month, Royal Cork YC, Youth Sailing

Published in Sailor of the Month

Tagged under

Chris Bateman

About The Author

Afloat.ie Team

Email The Author

Afloat.ie is Ireland's dedicated marine journalism team.

Have you got a story for our reporters? Email us here.

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven’t put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full–time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.