In Around My Island (RTÉ, Tuesday, 9.35pm), solo sailor Thomas Dolan sets out to become the fastest person to sail single-handedly around Ireland. But there’s a twist: both attempts come unstuck, resulting in an anticlimactic documentary. He’s open to trying a third time. Wouldn’t it have been better to hold off making a film until he finally achieves his goal?
The documentary also suffers from falling between two stools. Featuring stentorian narration by Bryan Dobson, former titan of the RTÉ newsroom, Around My Island initially feels like an extended Nationwide report – a regional news item about a local man who has achieved great things (Meath native Dolan is regarded as one of the best solo sailors in his adopted home of France).
But then it swerves somewhere far darker as Dolan speculates that his remarkable drive as a sailor may flow from his broken relationship with his late father, a heavy drinker with whom he has not been in contact since he turned 12. It’s a handbrake turn that more or less comes out of nowhere (though earlier on, Dolan speaks darkly about things going “wonky” at home).
The key to unlocking this side of his personality was Gerry Hussey, a sports psychologist with whom he worked after his first failed attempt to set the around-Ireland record. “My dad had a bit of a drinking problem,” Dolan recalls. “Things got a bit complicated at home. He was a bit hard to live with. He was quite hard to live with. Me and my mam left when I was about 12. Then, I never saw him again.”
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Dolan is an engaging figure, and it is fascinating to follow his story from landlocked Mullagh in Meath to France, where local sailors have dubbed him the “flying Irishman” on account of his breakneck style.
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Alas, in addition to the lurching change of tone halfway through, the documentary fails to convey the daunting challenge posed by sailing around Ireland. There are a few clips of Dolan whipped by rain and winds – and what looks like stock aerial footage of the coastline. However, Around My Island often tells rather than shows. For instance, while the Irish coast is described as “beautiful, untouched, wild, savage, romantic”, the footage does not communicate those qualities.
Around My Island also features an interview with Pamela Lee, who, along with Cat Hunt, set a new record in 2020 for an all-female crew sailing around Ireland. She speaks with admiration of Dolan, but you have to wonder why RTÉ didn’t screen a doc about her achievements and hold off on Dolan’s story until he accomplishes his dream of circumnavigating the country. Lee and Hunt’s triumph would surely have made for a gripping film. Instead, we get an agreeable but inessential documentary that feels as if it is telling a story yet to reach its conclusion.
