When Tom Dolan became Ireland's new "Sailor of the Year" in Dublin on Friday night (February 28th), it was scarcely a surprise in view of his clear, total and unprecedented overall win in the annual Solitaire du Figaro 2024. It was a win that was trebly welcome, as it was achieved in a season when other high-profile Irish international campaigns had seemed well set for top-level success, but then fell short in the final stages.
The Dolan campaign by contrast simply looked better and better, with so many stylish and successful strategic and tactical moves being smoothly executed in a variety of conditions - with some very tough sailing involved at many stages – that it produced extreme and positive reactions among observers.
BEAUTIFUL
Thus although you will often hear a well-tuned boat being properly sailed to her maximum potential as something beautiful, you'll seldom hear "beautiful" being applied to a particular skipper's way of dealing with a three stage offshore race in some of Europe's most challenging waters. Yet "beautiful" was the word on many lips as Tom Dolan did the business.
Tom Dolan and a win for Ireland
We get some idea of the distance he has travelled from farming in Meath to being the international tops in specialised sailing when we remember that he was "Sailor of the Year" back in 2020 on the strength of coming fifth overall in that year's Figaro. By that stage enough Irish sailors had been involved in the Figaro Solo series over the years for us to realise that getting into the top ten was a big achievement, and making it to fifth was truly remarkable.
THE BACKGROUND STORY
But now, complete victory. And beautifully done. So much so that it is surely time to acknowledge the people and circumstances that have created the life-path that enabled a young man from a farming background at Moynalty in County Meath to undergo a total transformation into L'Irlandais Volant, the "Flying Irishman", French offshore racing superstar.
An unlikely sailing school – Baltimore Railway Station had many useful and important years as Ireland's first Glenans base.
Although he'd done some "total beginner" sailing in a little Miracle dinghy on Lough Ramor near home, it was Glenans Ireland that recognised his talent and potential. Glenans is now only a memory in Ireland, but in its prime with bases at Baltimore, Lawrence Cove on Bere Island, and Rosmoney in Clew Bay, it provided very economical introductions to all forms of sailing to those of modest means who had no connections to the sailing establishment.
THE GLENANS IRELAND STORY
This may all sound rather pompous. But there was a romance to Glenans, as the original very basic sailing school had been set up post-World War II in 1945 by French Resistance veterans at a primitive base in the Isles des Glenans off south Brittany.
Their hope was to re-build the depressed spirit of the young people of France, and it worked. Then in the late 1960s, it was introduced to Ireland by Dermot Kennedy of Baltimore, with the first base in the former Baltimore Railway Station, and it soon began to build up its own remarkable ethos.
The new boy on the block – a younger Tom Dolan at a pre-race briefing during his early years in France
It worked very well as long as Ireland was at a very average level of prosperity, and when Tom Dolan became involved, it was still buzzing, with lead administration figures such as Gerry Jones recognising Tom's exceptional talent, which soon saw him becoming a leading figure in the Glenans Ireland sailing setup.
VICTIM OF PROSPERITY?
However, when the situation was reached of Rosmoney pier being scarcely accessible because of the Glenans Ireland members' cars being parked on it (and not an old banger among them), it was clear that Ireland's new wealth invalidated the original Glenans business model. Potential members now learned their sailing in the Greek Isles, so the Glenans operation in Ireland was steadily down-sized to the point of invisibility.
But Tom Dolan had long since made a mighty leap to free himself. He moved to France in 2011 and somehow began to make his way up the solo offshore racing ladder in Brittany. Then, when a small inheritance came into the equation in 2014, he literally bet the farm and bought himself the bare hull of a Mini-Transat racer, and spent long hours, and then long hours again, working to make her into a viable racing proposition.
"Betting the farm" – Tom finally with his very own self-completed Mini Transat boat.
SURVIVES ATLANTIC PITCH-POLING
He was in the frame in the mini-Transat racing both along the coasts of Europe and across the pond, writing himself into the record books of the Mini-Transat history by pitch-poling the boat while driving hard in the final approaches to the Caribbean. Yet he emerged from it with the rig still intact (most unusual) such that he took sixth place, albeit in "a rather subdued state of mind" as he crossed the line.
Getting into the picture – Tom sailing Smurfit Kappa (second left) looking good in Mini Transat racing.
But all roads led ultimately to the Figaro, and the new foiling Beneteau Figaro 3. This is big bucks territory, but after the usual stressful presentations on the corporate circuit he secured lead sponsorship from Smurfit Kappa and Kingspan, and the show was on the road.
SUPPORTERS INTO FIGARO
Throughout it all, he continued to have active encouragement and management input from Gerry Jones, while the late Jack Roy was another strong supporter, both while President of Irish Sailing and in a private capacity.
Presidential support. Solo sailors Joan Mulloy of Mayo (left) with Irish Sailing President Jack Roy and Tom Dolan at the Paris Boat Show.
Gradually the numbers came right, and after he was boosted up to first on a leg which finished in Kinsale, he was able to bring his mother Ann to town to see the boat and fully appreciate that the Man from Moynalty (as The Meath Chronicle would have it) was doing very well in this crazy career on the sea.
Tom and his mother Ann in Kinsale after he'd won a Figaro leg from France.
FUTURE PROSPECTS?
But now with 2024's great win safely in the can, a peak has been reached. And though Tom has announced he is currently aiming for a back-to-back double Figaro in 2025, at the recent ICRA Conference, while accepting a prize on Tom's behalf, Gerry Jones revealed that thoughts of an IMOCA 60 and the Vendee Globe are never far away.
Meanwhile, this second-time very special - and very well-earned - "Sailor of the Year" accolade for Tom Dolan is surely enough to be going along with this weekend.
Fast, and then some. Tom Dolan burning off the 2024 Figaro fleet
