RYA Northern Ireland’s 50th Anniversary: The evolution of performance sailing
2024 is an historic year for RYA Northern Ireland as we celebrate 50 years since its foundation.
Prior to RYA Northern Ireland, the UDRA (Ulster Dinghy Racing Association) organised much of the sailing in Northern Ireland, however the Youth and Recreation Order of 1973 meant that a National Governing Body was needed if Sports Council grants were to be offered to sailing activity in Northern Ireland.
The birth of the RYA in Northern Ireland marked a new era for sailing and boating in Northern Ireland and the sport has developed massively during this time-period.
One of the major areas of development has been performance sailing. Since RYA Northern Ireland’s inception, we have seen the introduction of performance squads, improved funding for athletes, new forms of sailing open for sailors to try and international standard coaches working in Northern Ireland.
Former Olympian Curly Morris commented: “Our athletes now get funding which is maybe not as good as the centrally funded athletes, but they get meaningful support that allows them to develop an international career.”
Over the last 50 years we have seen 8 Olympians come from Northern Ireland across a range of boat classes.
- Curly Morris- 1972- Dragon
- Bill O'hara- 1984, 1988- Finn
- Peter Kennedy- 1988, 1992- Flying Dutchman
- John Driscoll- 1996- Finn
- Stephen Milne- 2008- Star
- James Espey- 2012- Laser
- Matt McGovern- 2012, 2016- 49er
- Ryan Seaton- 2012, 2016- 49er
Northern Irish sailors have also made their mark on the world stage outside of Olympic competition such as Debbie Hanna winning a Commonwealth Gold in the Laser (ILCA) or Bill O’Hara, Chris Lindsay and Matt McGovern working at the 2024 Olympic Games as a Rules Advisor, a Judge/Umpire and a Coach respectively.
The impact of performance squads
Today, there are multiple pathway options for junior and youth sailors across Northern Ireland which allows them to gain access to top level coaching at a very early age.
Sailors have the opportunity to be a part of Topper, ILCA or Feva squads and recent initiatives such as Project Theia have opened up the opportunity to try new forms of racing such as team racing.
Many of these changes began to happen in 2001, when Bill O’Hara was appointed as RYA Northern Ireland’s very first Performance Manager.
Speaking on the Crest of The Wave Podcast, Bill O’Hara touched on the evolution of performance sailing in Northern Ireland over the last 50 years.
“We had the Laser (ILCA) Europeans at Ballyholme Yacht Club in 1979 and that was a gamechanger because we didn’t have internet or Youtube to look at- we didn’t have an any idea what was going on in the rest of the world with Lasers.
“It was different in every way. The way they sailed the boat, the fact that they had squads and the fact that some people were nearly full-time at it.
“When I started (in 2001) I put down that each sailor should try and achieve six hours of sailing per week, because I figured if we’re not doing six hours, we’re not doing anything. With the performance side, if you want results, you really have to commit.”
Performance sailing in Northern Ireland today
With Northern Ireland’s last Olympic representatives being Matt McGovern and Ryan Seaton in 2016, we are now aiming to support the next generation of sailors attempting to sail at that level.
Recent success such as Bobby Driscoll producing a podium result at the Topper World Championships and Tom Coulter winning the Irish National Championships in the ILCA 6 class suggests promise towards this goal. On top of this there are currently 4 girls (Erin McIlwaine, Ellen Barbour, Jenna Reid and Charlotte Eadie) on Irish Sailing’s 49er FX Squad. The progression of more girls to elite levels of sailing is extremely positive as we aim to support Northern Ireland sailing’s very first female Olympian.
Speaking about the current state of performance sailing in Northern Ireland, RYA Northern Ireland’s current performance manager Andrew Baker recognised: “These recent successes are representative of just a few results, and I hate to ‘cherry pick’ as we will miss a lot of things out.
“For all of our successes, we must continue to work hard as the custodians of the sport, recognising that it’s easy to suggest things are better than they are.”
The majority of Olympic classes are now double-handed and a key evolution of RYA Northern Ireland’s performance programme has been the development of this side of the sport.
Andrew Baker said: “I am very pleased with the efforts and progress in the RS Feva class. We have worked with parents and key volunteers to help with coaching and event support. Coaches have been bought in to develop the sailors’ skills. It is now becoming a thriving Junior fleet.
“However, we need clubs to take ownership and support these fleets and now look to develop the next step for these up-and-coming young sailors who can't jump straight to classes like the RS400.”
We have also seen the introduction of foiling across the world, capturing the imagination of the public through events such as Sail GP and The America’s Cup. Over half of Olympic classes now foil and RYA Northern Ireland recently ran its first wing foiling course.
Athletes in the Northern Ireland have benefited from external support from organisations such as Sport Northern Ireland and The Mary Peter’s Trust however performance manager Andrew Baker admitted: “resources become limited at an elite level.”
As we look ahead to the next 50 years, we aim to reduce these financial barriers. On top of an increased drive to form partnerships ourselves, we recently organised for our elite sailors to take part in a series of workshops led by ‘The Brand Builders'. The aim of this is to give them the skills to proactively form financial partnerships themselves.
We are extremely optimistic about the future of Northern Irish performance sailing. There has been large amount of progress already made, but we are working hard to put in place structures to allow this part of the sport to develop even further.
If you have any questions about performance sailing in Northern Ireland, get in touch with RYA Northern Ireland’s performance manager Andrew Baker by emailing Andrew.baker@rya.org.uk .