It’s no breeze but foiling multihull pair fight for success in Tokyo

Micah Wilkinson has to laugh at the absurd position he’s now in.

Nine months ago, the 24-year-old was sitting at home wondering what life was going to look like. He even had to go back to university.

Now he’s heading to an Olympic Games.

Wilkinson and Erica Dawson were this week named as the New Zealand crew for the Nacra 17 boat in Tokyo, less than a year after working together in the foiling multihull. Wilkinson was previously partnered with Liv Mackay in the Nacra 17, but Mackay’s now teamed with Jason Saunders, still in the Nacra.

Dawson, on the other hand, had previously raced in 49erFX boats. But with Rio silver medallists Alex Maloney and Molly Meech the custodians and incumbents in the boat, she was unlikely to get a lookin. Wilkinson and Dawson subsequently decided to link.

“Ian Stewart, the high performance director for Yachting New Zealand, was trying to get us into it and we just thought, ‘let’s have a crack’. And now we’re here, it’s amazing,” he said.

“We just work well together, learn well together and get on well as friends, and we don’t bring a lot of ego into the boat.

“We’re there to have fun and learn, and somehow we’ve ended up here. It’s amazing.”

It’s not the first time the Cambridge resident had felt lost when it comes to the sport. Having started sailing when he was six, the self-confessed petrolhead switched to racing gokarts at high school.

“I love the Supercars. I love anything fast. Sailing’s the path I’ve taken, though. I enjoy being on the ocean, it’s such an amazing office. We go out every day in beautiful conditions around the world.”

But coming together wasn’t as simple as just transferring the already established skills they had.

Wilkinson’s moved from steering to crewing, while Dawson’s done the reverse. In layman’s terms, he points the boat in the right direction, while she controls the sails.

“She’s got strong and turned herself into a machine, and I’ve had to learn the fine intricacies of steering,” Wilkinson says with admiration.

Wilkinson is honest, though. He knows he and Dawson still have a long way to go if they’re to improve on their seventh-placed finish at this year’s world championships in Geelong, and be in contention in Tokyo.

“The hard part with sailing is when it’s really windy and wavy, and we haven’t mastered that yet. So we’ll have to do some time in waves, maybe go to the west coast or go to Japan and just get used to being in big, gnarly conditions.

“That’s our biggest weakness. In the lighter stuff, we’ve developed well, but if we can smash it in the breeze, that’ll be really helpful.”

At a time where numerous events around the world are being postponed or cancelled because of coronavirus, Wilkinson and Dawson will next week head overseas.

“We’re off to Spain for the first event of the European season. Off the back of the worlds, we’re keen to test ourselves again, we feel like we’re learning fast, so it’s another opportunity to figure out where we are.”

Surely there are concerns though, right?

“Not really. We’ve got this amazing support team, so if they say not to go, then we won’t, but until then, we’ll just keep yachting.”