INTERVIEW The flying doctor

COMING TO SHORE?Robert Wilkes is pictured behind the wheel of his hovercraft, coming ashore at Wexford harbour.

The Flying Doctor


Robert Wilkes from the EPA flies the only commercial hovercraft in Ireland

Interview
Ciara Galvin

People’s modes of transport for work in the west of Ireland aren’t exactly the most adventurous: cars, bikes, buses, maybe a train on the odd occasion if you’re lucky,
However, for Dr Robert Wilkes, the form of transport for his work is, a bit more adventurous. Dr Wilkes uses a hovercraft for his daily work with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The only commercial one in Ireland, the hovercraft is used by Robert to search inaccessible areas such as estuaries, in order to sample different species of sea weed and sea grasses.
A native of Dublin, Robert has been a resident of The Neale with his wife and daughter for the last eight years.
Although his profession is specialised, Robert explains that he found his passion for the environment and all its trappings, from a very early age.
“I used to spend all my summers down in Kerry on the beach looking at rock pools and eventually I made a career out of it.”
After pursuing his studies in Marine Science in the National University of Galway (NUIG), Robert worked for a time in the USA before returning to Galway to complete his PhD on seaweed. He then went on to undertake research in the Martin Ryan Institute at NUIG.
In his work with the EPA, Robert and teams around the country look at general water quality and more detailed ecological water quality of Ireland’s coastlines.
While navigating the dangerous exposed mud and sand flats as part of his field work, Robert explained that the ‘inherently dangerous places’ led him to looking into using a hovercraft.
“When the tide goes out I go out with it and collect seaweed and sea grasses but they are inherently dangerous places, you can get caught by the tide, the tide races in and the sand can be incredibly soft and you can sink into it,” he explained.
After one ‘particularly miserable day’ doing a survey, Robert decided there had to be an easier way of going about his work, and after researching various ways of getting around the flats safely, he decided on a hovercraft.
“We have a small hovercraft that takes two or three people and with that I can travel across the mud, sand and water quite safely and get to every bit of the estuary and don’t have to get out and get dirty or stuck in the mud.”
Along with staying safe and clean, efficiency is another huge bonus Robert points to from using the hovercraft, explaining that covering an entire estuary by foot could take two or three days, whereas by hovercraft he can get to two or three areas in half a day.
Since using the hovercraft for his work five years ago, Robert has found more types of seaweed that had never been found before due to their inaccessibility.
Not exactly like riding a bike, Robert explains that the hovercraft has a ‘very steep learning curve’. “The first time I got in to fly a hovercraft I was wondering had I made a horrible mistake. They travel very quickly, they have no brakes, and very little steering, and are incredibly affected by the wind,” he laughs.
But after ‘a few hairy moments’ Robert can now accurately map out the edges of sea-grass beds safely and efficiently.
The envy of many office workers, Robert’s work requires him to complete extensive fieldwork, and he has been whizzing around the beaches and bays of the west coast over the last three weeks in the summer sunshine.
But like all jobs, there’s also the not so enviable times. Completing his field work and sampling requires Robert to also contend with the elements in the winter – and when there is no growth, he must analyse his extensive summer samplings.   
“I love it though. It’s a great mix. Today’s a perfect example, I had to cancel my survey because the wind and rain was too bad. But if you think back to the last three weeks it was a pleasure to be on the beach.”  
Recently visiting The Neale National School, where his daughter is a pupil, Robert demonstrated how the hovercraft works, even giving the pupils the chance to experience being a passenger.
“I gave them a little demonstration of it flying around the car park and apart from blowing over one of the plastic goal posts, they were all very impressed,” noted Robert, whose visit was a big hit with his eight-year-old daughter who described it as ‘epic’.
After a long summer flying around Clew Bay, Sligo Bay and many more, Robert will return to his office to process his data, which will go towards a report on the classification of all water bodies around the coast to ensure they are in line with EU legislation.
Just a day in the life of the flying doctor.