Dickson and Waddilove Narrowly Miss Out on Final Series at 49er Worlds
Ireland’s Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove’s run at the 49er World Championships came to an end in Quiberon, France today, with the Irish pair falling just short of qualification for tomorrow’s medal-deciding Final Series.
Heading into the final day of Gold Fleet racing with an outside chance of breaking into the top ten, the North Dublin sailors needed a strong set of results to stay in contention. A run of mid-fleet finishes over the past two days ultimately left them 14th overall, eight points adrift of a place in the Final Series.
Lighter winds continued in Quiberon today with several fleets facing delays ashore while waiting for the breeze to fill in. After a week of racing across a wide range of conditions, Dickson and Waddilove continued to adapt well as the day unfolded, posting results of 10th, 12th and then finishing strongly with a fifth-place result to secure 14th overall in Gold Fleet.
Despite narrowly missing out on the Final Series, Dickson was positive when reflecting on the regatta overall.
“Overall we’re quite happy with our performance. Unfortunately the opening day left us on the back foot, but we improved steadily throughout the week, gaining places each day and finishing within touching distance of the medal series,” he said.
With this championship now complete, attention quickly turns to the next phase of the season. Waddilove confirmed the pair will spend two weeks at home before heading to Kieler Woche ahead of another quick turnaround into the European Championships, where they are looking forward to getting back on the racecourse.
The Women’s Skiff pairing of Erin McIlwaine (Royal St George YC / Newcastle YC) and Ellen Barbour (County Antrim Boat Club) also took plenty from the regatta, relishing the experience of competing at a senior World Championships.
Their coach, Olympian Matt McGovern, was positive about the way the pair handled the conditions throughout the week.
“The composure and ingenuity Erin and Ellen have shown throughout is a huge positive for their future sailing careers,” he said. “Their resilience and handling of the huge range of conditions we’ve experienced here will certainly stand to them as we head on to Kiel next, with the main aim of the season being to contend at the Europeans in July. We’ll take a lot from this past week and put it into action in training and at the next regattas.”
McIlwaine and Barbour finished today 12th overall in Silver Fleet after posting results of 10th and 11th before finishing strongly with a third-place.
Both crews will now take a short break before travelling to Germany for training ahead of Kiel Week and the European Championships. Meanwhile, Ireland’s ILCA sailors begin their European Championship campaign in Croatia tomorrow, with Olympians Eve McMahon and Finn Lynch joined by Ewan McMahon and development sailor Fiachra McDonnell.