Irish Sailing on the rise as Eve McMahon and team-mates look to LA '28
It's a grey, cold Monday in Dun Laoghaire but the heat is rising in the harbour as Ireland's elite sailors get into it.
There are few observers to what's happening on an ordinary May weekday but that doesn't dilute the competitive nature of what's happening on the water.
Back home after making history in China by becoming Irish Sailing's first World Championship bronze medal winner, Eve McMahon is part of a group of six fighting to manoeuvre around the halfway mark in first place in the second of three races leading into a medal race.
The 21-year-old overcooks the turn and her dinghy overturns, and can only wait for her friends and rivals to speed past before she rights the vessel and is on her way again.
It's all part of pushing the envelope, why she has already been so successful. It's a frustrating moment for such a ferocious competitor but this day and this race is not her real focus.
Already twice a world champion at under-21 level, everything she does now is part of her preparation for LA 2028 and her second Olympics. For now, she is still coming to terms with her achievement in China.
"When you're competing so far away, you don't really get to experience what it's like back home and how much support you have, so it's nice to come back and have received that support," McMahon said.
And that competitive streak, where did it come from? "I think it was from having two older brothers, Jamie and Ewan, to be honest with you," smiled the young Howth woman.
"There was always kind of a fight at home, always something going on! But no, I'm hugely grateful. They've been such a great help in my life and my career so far.
"But yeah, I've just always seen a really fierce, aggressive sailor in the water. Sometimes it causes damage, but that's what you need to work on.
"And I've kind of worked on it over the years to a point where I'm still working on it. I'm only 21 years of age, so I still have a lot of experience to go and a lot of lessons to learn."
She talks of the many life skills that sailing imparts. "I don't think I'd be studying a degree and trying to balance high performance sport if I didn't have to learn the pressure that that sport gives you," said McMahon. "And it's a pressure that you don't get to experience unless you're on the start line of some sort of competition.
"But also it's just the freedom that sailing brings. It comes with a lot of highs and lows, so you really just have to stick with it. But it's an amazing sport."
Like many of her colleagues, sailing wasn't her first sporting love. She grew up playing a lot of sports. "It took me quite a long time to realise that I really love this, that I'm really kind of suitable for this sport," she confided.
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It's a sport that is growing in this country. Annalise Murphy's Olympic journey to gold in Rio nine years ago took in the frustration of finishing just outside the medals at London 2012.
But that 2012 near miss was the start of something big for Irish Sailing. "Following Annalise's fourth place in London, the profile of sailing really saw some growth at club level where total membership grew significantly," said Irish Sailing's performance director James O'Callaghan.
"There was particular growth amongst young people taking up sailing and this has led to a steady upward curve in junior sections in clubs around the country, where young sailors are regularly encouraged by our elite athletes in the form of coaching, talks and participation.
"Sailing is an extremely accessible sport and Irish Sailing is actively encouraging, promoting and supporting the recruitment of new sailors.
"With funding from Sport Ireland (and in particular the DAC) and with annual events like the Watersports Inclusion Games (held this year in Malahide YC 5/6 July) sailing is more accessible than ever.
"We also have a Clubs Disability fund where clubs can apply for grants to help support and provide inclusive opportunities for participation for people with a disability. These projects are built to help local clubs to connect in a meaningful way with their community.
"We currently have three fleets of boats strategically located around the country and accessible to all those who would like to use them such as schools, third level institutions and adults.
"These fleets encouraged almost 700 participants to take part in team racing last year, which is one of the fastest growing disciplines in sailing at the moment."
More than 8,000 people took part in Irish Sailing training programmes last year that directly support sustained participation in the clubs, training centres and the sport in general.
Schemes such as 'Start Sailing' and 'Cara Na Mara' for younger sailors are vital access points to the sport at a grassroots level in local clubs.
Irish Sailing have developed pathway programmes that can lead into more defined areas such as instructor training or competitive racing.
"Sports Capital grants have enabled clubs to purchase their own boats removing one of the biggest barriers to entry - owning a boat," O'Callaghan stressed. "Now you can literally try before you buy."
Ewan McMahon is also a full-time competitor and is racing today against Eve, and the sibling rivalry is evident in their determination to beat each other. He was in China when she won bronze but was competing in his own race at the same time.
"We definitely have a special bond," said Eve, speaking to Inside Sport before the racing got started. "It's not a bond that many competitors have. It's kind of like a comfort, like a piece of home that I'll always have when I'm sailing internationally. It's really nice to have him there."
Both are ranked 12th in the world in their category and Ewan remarked: "Super proud of her as always. I was doing my own racing, so I didn't exactly follow what was going on, but that's really cool that she got the medal. I'm not surprised."
While Eve went to her first Olympics last year - the sailors were in Marseilles, while the vast majority of the other Games action took place in Paris - Ewan just missed out on qualification.
The LA '28 cycle began for him while his colleagues recovered from that Olympic experience. "I really put the head down straight after the Games," he said. "I was already training and I could see that progress when competition started again. I've been really happy with the progress.
"I was in Marseilles watching and it was disappointing not to be a part of it. I tried my best to use it as motivation and focus towards my training and knew I needed step it up a gear.
"I've just been trying to take as many learnings as I can from my previous cycles and kind of streamline that into being the best that I can."
Surprisingly, Robert Dickson wins the first race. Dickson is one half of the men's 49er crew and, later the same evening, the pair are flying to Greece for the European Championships.
They finished an agonising fourth in Marseilles because they had to turn around and re-start the medal race while in second position.
Inevitably, rain begins to come down on Dublin Bay as the racing continues and there is drama as the wind shifts and with big gusts to fight through and use, if possible, for advantage, for the 10 competitors ranging from juniors to elite sailors to coaches.
Ultimately, it is Carlow's Finn Lynch who takes the honours on the day, with Ewan McMahon a close second. Lynch, 28, competed at the Tokyo and Paris Games and is eyeing up medal possibilities in his third Olympics in three years time after starting this cycle in top form.
Like several of his Ireland team-mates he will get his first recce in LA in the coming weeks. "We've got a nice little community of Irish people on the ground that are helping us," Lynch explained.
"Hopefully with that in place we'll get our feet quicker than if we hadn't. We'll be looking forward to the Olympic qualification when it comes around in a couple of years' time. The Olympics is a great thing."
He took a six month break after last year's Games and is now working with a new coach. "It's just a constant process of learning, improving, that's what I love, Lynch said. "It's just the process of trying to sail the perfect race, which is impossible.
"It's an amazing sport to get into when you're a kid. There's a sense of freedom, being out on the water, steering your own ship, taking care of your own boat. It's a big responsibility but there's so much enjoyment with that. It's a sport for life."
Dun Laoghaire's waterfront clubs are in a competitive bid process to try and secure the first Olympic Class World Championships to be hosted in Ireland in 25 years.
The 2026 championship encompasses both Men's and Women's titles from August 18th to September 12th next year. Ireland, with Lynch and Eve McMahon, will have genuine contenders for the title.
"With up to 70 nations represented it also gives Dun Laoghaire and Ireland the opportunity to showcase itself as a tourist destination," said James OCallaghan. "Ideally, we would also have a refurbished performance HQ to welcome training partners prior to the event."
Irish Sailing is also still trying to secure government funding to redevelop the iconic old lighthouse building in Dun Laoghaire harbour into a new world class high performance centre.
Currently using repurposed shipping containers with minimal amenities, Irish Sailing's temporary HQ is 'insufficient for world-class training', Irish Sailing claims. 'The current facilities lack basic amenities for elite athletes, such as toilets, showers and changing rooms.
Irish Sailing pointed out that the facility, to be located in the historic Coastguard Station, is ready for renovation. The building has been vacant for over 20 years.
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council has agreed to lease it to Irish Sailing on a long-term, nominal-rent basis once the refurbishment is completed.
Detailed architectural plans and cost estimates are already in place, with construction ready to begin as soon as funding is secure. It was costed at €2.59m overall had the redevelopment got underway at the start of 2024, so the cost is predicted to be higher now.
The proposed HQ would be part of the National Watersports Campus and, insists Irish Sailing, 'is expected to elevate Irish sailors' performance on the global stage'.
A new base would also reduce the amount of time the elite sailors have to spend away from Ireland. "We see it as a no-brainer and can be delivered relatively cheaply for a capital project," said O'Callaghan.
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